Today, I want to send you all out there a quote from my spiritual teacher where he describes discipline as an act of love.
" The secret with children, as with all human beings, is to allow them to stay Happy, ecstatic, full of true pleasure. If you can find the native pealsure, or the free attention, in a child then you can redirect him or her. But if you confront the aberration that is present in the moment of any dramatization, the child will not come out of it, because he or she has a ritual to perform. It is the same with everybody.
Therefore, the secret of living is to remain in a state of pleasure, or pleasurable Oneness. That is your responsibility. The secret of living with others is to locate the free attention and essential pleasure in them and in yourself and redirect them to their sanity by that means."
This is of course not easy because we very often find it very difficult to be happy in that way ourselves! This is the art then and this is why I am so grateful to spend time with children. It somehow reminds me of what is described above. It is easier with children to remind them of that happiness and not let them indulge in their drama, then it is to do with adults. Children can just as easily forget to dramatize as they can forget to be happy. They are naturally a happy life sign!
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This quote is so true, not only in our relationship with children but also in our relationships with each other. I am a coach and I see this to be true in that relationship as well.
ReplyDeleteIf I can help the client get in touch with what is already free, happy and pleasurable he (or she) can sense that and make a choice, because their current behavior is not an expression of THAT! Without it, it is just all problem oriented