Success vs. Joy
- IX -
Discipline Means Reining the Mind
What, after all, is discipline? It is concentrating one’s efforts in a secluded environment and training yourself to focus on what you are enthused by.
To maintain such discipline, it is not just the physical self but also the mind that has to be trained. The mind can easily be distracted and corrupted by all kinds of external influences. It has to be constantly reined in.
The kind of schedule Prakash Padukone maintained inevitably strengthened his character and calmed his mind. It had to. Successful sportspersons are prepared to push their body and mind to the limits of endurance.
But why are some individuals able to achieve this harmony of body and mind and not others? Sometime, somewhere, during the early stages of their career, they have experienced the joy as it flows naturally once, twice, then again and again, till it becomes an obsession. Having experienced this sublime feeling, they become hooked, and crave for more and more of these moments. They won’t settle for anything less.
This quest for joy becomes the driving force to keep at it, learning and growing. And it is this force that aligns the body, mind, and spirit.