Self-discipline does not develop overnight. It is a muscle that must be exercised in order to grow. Strengthening our will is where the practice of Kaizen pays off. It makes it possible for us to strengthen it painlessly through small changes. Say for instance, we are trying to form the habit of meditating twenty minutes each night before we go to bed, but some nights, we just do not feel like it. When we give into the urge to blow it off, our will grows weak. It fails to back up our good intentions, which means the next night, when faced with the same choice, we will find it even easier to blow off meditation.
If we apply the principle of Kaizen to our aim to meditate, we get a very different outcome. Now, instead of giving into the voice of our ego to blow off meditation all together, we compromise. We sit down and meditate for five minutes instead of twenty. Our ego does not offer much resistance to five minutes of mediation and so we do not have to struggle to make ourselves do it. Meanwhile, our will grows stronger because it succeeded in carrying out our intention to meditate. Our will continues to push us to meditate each night for five minutes until our mind gets used to the idea and drops its resistance all together. It is at this point, we up the ante. Now we aim to meditate seven minutes each night. Our mind concedes because, after all, what is two more minutes. Eventually, our will gets us to our goal, twenty minutes of meditation each night, and it never had to struggle against our ego to get us there.
If we apply the principle of Kaizen to our aim to meditate, we get a very different outcome. Now, instead of giving into the voice of our ego to blow off meditation all together, we compromise. We sit down and meditate for five minutes instead of twenty. Our ego does not offer much resistance to five minutes of mediation and so we do not have to struggle to make ourselves do it. Meanwhile, our will grows stronger because it succeeded in carrying out our intention to meditate. Our will continues to push us to meditate each night for five minutes until our mind gets used to the idea and drops its resistance all together. It is at this point, we up the ante. Now we aim to meditate seven minutes each night. Our mind concedes because, after all, what is two more minutes. Eventually, our will gets us to our goal, twenty minutes of meditation each night, and it never had to struggle against our ego to get us there.
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