I harp a lot about personal responsibility and self-discipline. You'd think I was an expert. All I am, however, is a practitioner (and a novice at best). This practice means that on a daily basis, regardless of my emotional states, the basic goal is to not blame anyone or anything for how my Life is going. Instead, my daily intentions are to create meaningful connections by discovering and expressing an internal sense of freedom and contentment. Granted, I'm not always successful at this endeavor, but I'm certain it's not even possible unless I practice the personal responsibility of self-discipline.
I think meaning, freedom and contentment are only possible if one fully understands and practices this collective reality of Life: all behavior is purposeful and internally motivated. To us humans, this reality means it is hypocritical, self-defeating and a diffusion of responsibility whenever we blame others or otherness for our behavior. Of course, I am not perfect and do catch myself blaming from time-to-time, mostly as an internal dialogue. But therein lies the practice! Catching my ego-self, that part of me that has been conditioned to firmly believe in a fundamental misunderstanding that external stimulus is controlling my reactions. Such catching can then become new consciousness for how Relationships, Experiences and Perceptions factor into and influence my purposeful behavior. (Of course, if the brain has some sort of physiological anomalies or outright trauma I still think behavior is purposeful and internally motivated but the factors of Life take on a whole new dimension of influence. I am not addressing those situations in this writing.) To practice the personal responsibility of self-discipline, therefore, means to understand the conditionings of my ego-self and then disempower those conditionings through a searching and fearless examination. The result is that instead of going through Life blaming and reacting to everything, anxiously excusing my behavior in the process, I practice the personal responsibility of self-discipline and begin to Experience the freedom and contentment of consciously choosing my behavioral responses in every moment.
I think that practicing personal responsibility results in consciously realizing and regulating the behavior of "How I Am" in accordance with the purposeful and internal motivations of that behavior - i.e., the physiological/survival, psychological/safety, social/belonging, mental/fun-learning, emotional/power and spiritual/freedom needs we are all challenged to fulfill every day. Such conscious realization and regulating also includes awareness and examination of the factors and influences of genetics, family, community, peers, education, environment, temperament and calling. Add to all that the originality, sexuality, imagination and mortality of "How I Am: Being Human" and it's easily apparent that the practice of realizing and regulating is not at all easy or straight-forward. In the words of Paulo Freire, "Becoming human is a project."
I think that practicing self-discipline means to grasp how we are all consciously and unconsciously disciples - followers, learners and co-creators - of Internity, positive or negative. That is to say we are each internally driven to have, to feel, to act, to love, to speak and be heard, to see and eventually to "know thyself" in the context of others and otherness. And because I cannot be swayed from this collective reality of "How I Am: Being Human" - that all behavior is purposeful and internally motivated - I must seek full awareness of this discipleship. Only by intentionally discovering, expressing, connecting and making meaning of my internal world can I take full responsibility for my Potentials, Relationships, Experiences and Perceptions in the external world.
The conscious challenges, choices and changes of Life push us all to become aware of what's really going-on with our Internity of beliefs/thinking patterns, values/feelings and emotional recordings. In effect, to practice the personal responsibility of self-discipline means to be rooted in the understanding that the Potentials, Relationships, Experiences and Perceptions of and with others and otherness are the "here and now" conduits to my internal dialogue, not the reasons. And that reality means that it's a fear-filled act of hypocrisy to blame others and otherness for presenting me what are ultimately the challenges, choices and changes necessary for the conscious Experience of being alive!
I practice the personal responsibility of self-discipline because it has proven to be the path toward a better understanding of "How I Am: Being Human." I also practice because I know that every moment of every day I am creating the psychological remains I'll be leaving behind. Basically, I intend to die knowing that the personal responsibility of self-discipline I practiced in this Life will live on as a meaningful example of freedom and contentment for future Life.
