The Ultimate Discipline blog is about how to build to muscle of happiness, from the experience of a practitioner.
It all started when I was eight and was able to overcome the physical world... with just a little will power
When I was eight years old, I was laying in my mom’s bed and I had pain in my knee. Serious pain. I wasn’t one to complain so I kept my mouth shut. A few days later I told my mom my know was hurting for a while and she took me to the doctor.
They couldn’t find anything wrong with it so they said I had “growing pains” and these are common for people on pace to be over 6 feet tall. So they gave me a little brace with magnets to put on my knee at night. They also told me to take Ibuprofen as needed for the pain.
Well, that didn’t work. And it was getting worse. I kept playing sports as all kids did, but the pain was there. So we went back. This is when they assured me, nothing shows in the X-ray, nothing in the MRI.
I had a history of being a kid who never mentioned anything about pain, discomfort, or was too needy… but this was real… it hurt!
Soon, I started to play little league football. This is when my low back hurt. Here, the same story… nothing wrong with me but now another pain.
I remember vividly sitting in my room, trying to go to sleep. When the knee pain was unbearable. I started to rub it, focus on it intently and I told myself simply…
"...I was going to remove the pain… for good!"
So I slowly massage my knee and slowly moved my hand down my legs as I was continuing the massage. This is when the pain moved with it. Once I got to my foot I simply told myself the pain was going to leave forever… and it did when I woke up I told my mom I have no more pain in my knee and I don't have the need for my brace.
Although this was at a young age I realized that somehow I had caused the pain in my body and therefore I can remove the pain. I didn't fully understand the role that the ego played and how that probably was a big factor in it (but more to come on that) but I did know that I was confident in the power of my mind.
I knew it was the most powerful tool I had… and I just hadn’t used it like that before.
I felt this with unwavering confidence.
Through my early years I was always naturally happy which I'm extremely grateful for I need to thank my family for raising me well, genetics for keeping me mostly healthy, and the environment in which I grew up in. But this doesn't mean that everybody doesn't have the potential to tap into their mind and realize the power of their mind. I have seen people who grew up in horrible situations without their parents around and with every reason to be a s*** head... but still have found the power of their own mind.
But I did see the correlation between being unconditionally happy and optimistic and the reality in which I lived in. The discipline to remain unconditionally happy shapes your reality.
This was clear.
I just didn’t grasp it at the time. I remember coming home from a football game that I lost and I was laughing and clearly having a good time. My dad, was not upset that I was laughing but more surprised since he knew how important football was to me and how seriously I took it. As we entered the home she asked me, "I thought you'd be more upset Sean? Football means the world to you." Well, I did not know how to clearly put my thoughts into words but what I said was, "Dad, nothing really matters to me. It is all good."
At first glance, this might seem like a negative thought but it is actually this is one that stoic philosophers have been promoting for years.
That everything just “is.” Things are not good, nor bad, they just “are”.
That’s what I was trying to explain to my dad but couldn’t clearly get it out… nothing mattered because good or bad, they were a good and a bad side. So everything just “is.”
Because of this, life is about how you interpret it. And your way of interpreting life is up to you.
Later in life, I had a slightly better way to explain this, although not bulletproof. "Everything in life is either fun or a learning opportunity."
Since then I've become a practitioner of positive thought, unconditional happiness, and a deep believer in being optimistic. This requires reflecting on anything negative as a learning experience and enjoying the rest.
Now as I am reading more about the law of vibration (better know by its secondary law, down funnel from it call the law of attraction, made popular by the book, “The Secret”), working daily with behavioral scientists on helping people develop the best habits, and surrounding myself with a social circle it's filled with people talking about these topics, I've chosen to become a student of this fascinating topic.
And that topic is me. And you. It is humans and how the mind can be used in our favor. How powerful we are. How reality bends with our mind. How we can bring anything into our lives we want and how to remain unconditionally happy.
This blog is the findings of my studies and what the journey looked like. Enjoy.
Also, make sure to check out one of my latest articles, "How Pushing Yourself to Your Physical Limits Promotes Happiness."