The Soul Disciplines and Keeping Your Spirit on Track
What comes to mind when you hear the term ‘disciplines’? Do you consider the term negative and the equivalent of punishment, or rather, a positive that can help keep your body and soul on track?
If you prefer to listen to this article, here is Sven reading it.
From a Badass Counseling perspective, disciplines are intensely positive and play a critical role in helping you keep your soul and spirit in the best condition possible.
The Origin of the Word ‘Discipline’
The word 'discipline' comes from the word 'disciple,' which in Latin simply means 'to learn,' 'learner', or 'follower.'
Therefore, disciplines are those things that you've taught yourself and you comply with as a way to train your life into what you want it to be.
In athletics, music, and sales, for example, the notion of being disciplined means to get after the work each day, of practicing and staying focused on the task you are trying to improve. That’s whether it's your hockey stickhandling, your cello fingering, or your sales closing. It's about training your body, mind, soul, or what have you to respond at optimum performance when called upon.
The soul disciplines, or spiritual disciplines, then, at least as I see them, are those things in your life, unique to you, that enable you to stay on top of life rather than feeling like life is sitting its fat ass right on your head (and not in a good way).
The soul disciplines are all of those things in your life that you know you want to make and keep part of life because they make you feel something that nothing else does, either in the moment or, more importantly, as they accumulate over time.
Putting ‘Discipline’ Into Context
The hardest part about disciplines is getting started and sticking with them. Once you embrace them and fully commit to them regularly and consistently over time, you reach a point where your body and soul memorize them. So that, when later in your life you aren’t as consistent with your disciplines they are still there, ready to keep both body and spirit on track.
Here’s an example.
I generally work out once or twice per week. In my workout, I lift extremely heavy weights for 3-5 hours. I get all jacked up on caffeine then bang hard on all lifts concerned with anything above my waist. From my chest to my abs, triceps to my sternocleidomastoids, serrati anterior to my teres major, and on and on. And, I kill it. Hard.
Even at my age, 56, I hit it very hard because it's what I've always done since my very first workout in 1978, at the age of 11. And, I only do it once every 5-6 days (and do no other gym work in between) because I'm largely sick of gyms, having been working out for 45 years and having been a D-1 college athlete and a former NCAA strength coach.
I’m able to do that and even skip workouts because of my workout disciplines.
What’s the Payoff of Years of Discipline? Focusing the Mind.
Listen, I could tell you some shit about how it keeps me healthy and so forth.
And, for the record, the fitness community and medical community are only recently catching up to what the lifting community has always known that lifting (or 'resistance training' as all the kids call it nowadays) is one of the single best things any person can do for long term health.
While I enjoy having a spring in my step and a healthy heart, I lift primarily for vanity's sake. How others perceive me matters to me. It impacts the work I'm trying to accomplish in life. It impacts my vigor to attack the work I do. It impacts how my girlfriend looks at me, even though she seems to love me, no matter what. It impacts how tall I stand and feel when I look in the mirror.
So, one of the 'disciplines' I keep semi-religiously in my life is working out with heavy weights, not because each workout feels good or is fun or because I can see it in my body after I finish and feel 'pumped up.' No, because I know that pump will fade by evening.
I do it because the accumulation of heavy-ass workouts creates a body that I can look at after skipping three workout days in a row and still be proud of. I can skip months of workouts and still know not only that my body is still looking great but, infinitely more importantly, that I have done this shit for so damn long that even if I put on 25 unwanted pounds and fall out of workouts I can go back into the gym 25 pounds later and climb right back into the saddle and get to work of tearing that weight off me.
In other words, the accumulation of all those workouts means that I know how to re-focus my mind.
I know the focus necessary to get the work done. And as my athletes always used to hear me bellowing across the weight room,
“There is no success in any venture in life without the capacity to focus your mind.”
So, what my lifting discipline has provided me for 45 years is the mental toughness to know I can get my ass in there and do the work when I've reached the point where the work really needs to be done.
What my lifting discipline has provided me for 45 years is also just plain energy. I have a lot of energy in life, always have. But it's not strictly because of the medical payoff of physical health, but because I like how I look, even as I age through my 50s. I've built something I'm proud of, and that alone gives me literal physical energy.
Other Important Soul Disciplines: Time Alone, Journaling, and Regeneration
But this physical energy is also the result of my other, far more important disciplines.
I'm talking about massive time alone, semi-frequent journaling or other releasing techniques, time on my bicycle, occasional physical labor, time to play with my friends, hot baths, special times with my adult children and their partners, writing, eating healthy but also eating fun, and long drives.
Every single one of these things isn't just fun for me; actually, each is regenerative.
Going out for a hard night of boozing occasionally with my closest friend/friends is fun. Watching great TV is fun. But those aren't regenerative, per se. I could live without booze and TV but not without the other things I mentioned. The other things make me feel something that nothing in life does.
Writing, long drives, physical labor, hot baths, journaling, and the like give me a sense of fulfillment, deep joy, ALIVENESS, and just plain energy.
And THAT is what I live for, in no small part because the more energy I get from filling my own love cup – i.e., loving myself, as it were – the more energy I have to be an instrument of love, generosity, graciousness, and help for others in the world.
Thus, the grand joy for me is filling my own love cup in ways that excite me and bring me soul peace AND then pouring out my love cup (or letting it flow through me, like a funnel) into the love cups of others who are in need, especially those who can benefit me in no possible way.
But it's not one or the other. It's not self-love vs. love and care for others. It's both, simultaneously, constantly, every f**king day. So, even right now, as I have skipped my work out, I am massively enjoying at 6:45am the opportunity to write, express my passions and thoughts in words while simultaneously helping others with those same expressed thoughts.
Soul Disciplines Keep You Alive and On Track
Thus, the purpose of the disciplines, really, is the same – to create a lasting feeeeeel in me that I then get off on helping others feeeeeel, too. But, it starts with that feeling in me. When I maximize the joy, peace, sheer vigor, laughter, spontaneous energy, and ALIVENESS in me, I naturally want to give that to others.
I mean, let's be honest, what sucks about depression and anxiety is that they feeeeeel shitty. They really, really do. Your mind is working overtime. Your body feels crappy or heavy, or you're completely disconnected from it. Your relationships often become unpleasant. A career can become yuck, too. Or, maybe one of these things feels good, but the rest stinks.
The point is that they don't feel good. How stuff feels matters. What we're really trying to change when we engage in self-care, spirituality, or even a Springsteen concert is how we feeeeel, even if only for a few minutes or hours. Everything in life is about trying to create a feeling that feels good.
I, personally, aim for ALIVENESS. And I believe that is what most people are shooting for, in one way or another. It is to come out of a state of deadness.
But, the purpose of disciplines isn't just to come OUT of deadness, but to sustain, daily, that feeling of ALIVENESS with, if I'm honest, as little effort as possible.
I don't know about you, but I want to experience maximum ALIVENESS with minimum effort. That way, the rest of my time can be spent giving to others or just playing in the sandbox of life. I've been around the block enough times in my teens, 20s, and 30s to know that life can't be all playing in the sandbox.
That shit gets old really fast because it drains our spirit because we know our life ain't going anywhere. We're not actually building anything, not building a life that I am proud of (regardless of whether anyone else thinks it's pride-worthy).
I don't want to booze every day, for instance, or skip workouts every day, or just watch lots and lots of TV. Because that's when I feel like I'm wasting my life, and my own body feels crappy and feels heavy inside.
Disciplines = Small, Daily Self-Investments
So, the purpose of disciplines is to invest a little bit each day or each week which is like a small deposit into a self-bank account, because I've learned in the past that I feeeel best when I'm making these small deposits.
Further, I've learned that a long time of making deposits means I can occasionally make big withdrawals if I so choose. So, watching my food intake during the week or for weeks on end means I can blow my brains out with too much pizza and dessert at 9:30 p.m. on a Friday night when out with my girlfriend. I can't eat that way every day, nor would I even want to, in no small part because that pizza doesn't taste nearly as good the 4th night of that. (Google: Law of Diminishing Returns)
To a very large degree, disciplines are about not just what some experience makes me feel right now, but how the accretion of an experience can make me feel over an extended period of time.
Y'know, it's the difference between training for a marathon every morning at 5 a.m. vs. crossing the finish line and the hours afterward. It's the difference between building a business over years vs. having a lot of money at 60 because you built a business. It's the difference between foreplay and climax/post-orgasm.
In one, you're building something, and the real joy is in the building, even if every moment of the work of building doesn't feel good or fun.
In the other, it's the happiness of reaching the mountaintop and savoring the view. The joy of building lasts longer than the fleeting happiness of achievement.
Disciplines are the building of something, even on days it doesn't feel good.
Soul Disciplines Help You Purge Accumulated Crap
If you've followed me at all you know that I'm a big believer in the cleansing, purging, or flushing of the soul of all the accumulated crap from a lifetime of pain and people putting their BS messages into you.
>> See How To Do An Effective Soul Detox
I happen to believe that journaling, letter-writing, and writing poetry/lyrics are extraordinarily powerful in doing so. Hell, I think they're even better than most therapy because they don't cost anything, except for pen and paper. (Though, I've journaled on plenty of napkins in restaurants, paper towels at the gym, cardboard boxes, and even on the back of my hand when I had nothing else.)
Not only that, you can stay in the crap longer. The hour doesn't expire. I would spend hours upon hours fiercely journaling out a lifetime of heavy crap, for years. And, I loved it, because I could see the effects of the work, not just when I was done that day, but accumulated over time. I could feel myself getting lighter, having more inner calm, more strength in interactions with family and lovers where in the past I would have caved or been a nervous wreck wondering what they'd think.
In fact, after a decade and a half of journaling and also just living life in my early 30s, I had the very distinct and recognizable experience of slowing down inside. I just began to calm down inside. The motor wasn't always running. Maybe you know that experience of having the inner motor always on and draining the f**k out of you.
I knew that my just slowing down inside (in a good way, while still having plenty of physical energy, if not more) was the direct result of the inner work I had been doing in purging so much life pain, inner mental wrangling, and BS messages from people I loved who had meant well but whose messages did not jibe with the life that felt great for me to live. The journaling was working in massive, recognizable ways.
The Value of Intense Journaling and Letter Writing
Back then, I was journaling and writing constant letters every day, sometimes for hours, each day. I, foolishly, made the mistake of actually sending most of those letters, which is why I tell people to write the letters but don't send 'em. Why?
The goal isn't them knowing what I feel is going on, but purging out all of my thoughts and shitty feelings, and the loving feelings. I can do the flushing out of all that without ever having to send it to them. And, I just found it's not better to send them because rarely does something good come out of it, except I feel good getting it off my chest (which, again, can be accomplished by not sending it).
Instead, often they got sick of reading my crap and I felt heavy to them and pushed me away further. Or, I'd embarrass myself later when they rejected me for the very letters I thought would help. (Though, in honesty, my feeling embarrassed or rejected was a huge blessing because it made me very adroit on the subject of telling you to definitely not send letters.)
Flush Your Feelings About People
The purpose of letters is to flush out EVERY DAMN THING you're feeling toward this person, living or dead. Everything.
This is also why you NEVER give it to the person or hit 'send.' If you know you might give it to the person, you're going to edit it. You're going to think, “Oh, they would never like that. So, I'll keep that out” or “She'd get sooooo mad at me if I brought that up” or “They hate it when I talk about how I was hurt by them.”
If you're worried, even one ounce, about how it's going to be received, you'll never let it all come out. And the goal is 100% to get it all out because all that crap still staying inside you is the precise problem that letter-writing and journaling are there to solve.
I recommend a cup of coffee or a glass of wine if that lubes the releasing, and just let 'er fly! Write out the anger, pain, love, loss, longing, passion, rage, hate, betrayal, and every other doggone feeling you feel.
DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT hold back on language.
The fiercer, more vile and intense the language, the more powerful the release. Why? Because if you're checking your language, you're holding back from the rawness of the experience now and thereby robbing past you of the feelings they actually felt, whether they were allowed to give it strong words or not.
To fully scrub the frying pan of your soul, you gotta get in there and scour the f**k out of it with every tool at your disposal, especially the choicest language to express the fullness of every feeling you have toward this person, group, god, or memory.
How to Get Started on the Soul Disciplines?
Start with a question.
I learned over time that the surest way to get my mind and feelings going for journaling was to put a question at the top of the paper, often centered around how I'm feeling or what I was pissed about that day, or what was vexing me; something such as, “What am I feeling, right now” or “What has my mind been running about most, lately?”
Then it was off to the races.
I believe that the mind responds to questions. It naturally engages, never more so than when it is asked about itself or oneself. Now, whether you like to actually talk about, with others, all that you are thinking and feeling is a different story. I believe everybody spends their whole damn life thinking about all the crap they're thinking and feeling. They may not want to think about the deep stuff, at first, but they spend all their time and energy obsessing over every other damn thing in their lives.
So, to ask yourself the question, any question, is to get it marching in one direction, and the mind and feelings are happy to oblige you with plenty of content, even if it's just about how your boss pissed you off, yesterday, or about how your leg has been hurting since you turned your ankle last week. Whatever comes up, start there.
Then, when it takes a hard turn in a new direction and your brain is now thinking about, or your feelings are feeling, something completely different about that other thing that happened, whether last week or 24 years ago, write about that.
Just keep flushing. Let the natural impulses and feelings/thoughts in you lead you, at first. Just keep writing everything.
It doesn't matter if your spelling sucks or your grammar sucks. No one is ever going to read them or judge them. This is just for you. And, to that end, journaling really isn't about capturing thoughts, or capturing anything, it's about purging/letting go of feelings (and thoughts).
A Cluttered, Overthinking Mind Needs to Be Emptied.
So, you start flushing on a subject. But then your natural curiosity has to kick in, wanting to know more. And nothing – NOTHING! – will better extract a greater understanding of your feelings and thoughts in this moment or on this subject than the question, Why?
A million times, I would get into a deep dive in my journaling because I kept wanting to know what was driving this feeling or these thoughts.
Why? Why? Why? Deeper I'd go.
One answer would instantly breed another 'Why?' And that is where the real magic happens in healing the soul because we begin to understand our lives, people's reactions and actions, our feelings, and so much more in more complete ways.
If I didn't/don't know a 'why,' I speculate. I use my brain to ask myself what makes sense or what likely reasons are for these feelings or that person's actions.
I never, ever let the words “I don't know” rest on my page, unanswered.
I always give my permission, even forcing myself, to speculate a guess, knowing I can change my mind tomorrow or next week. That way, my mind is constantly digging deeper; there are no roadblocks.
How Often Should You Journal?
I’m a fan of daily journaling, and I always ask people, Well, how badly do you want healing?
I constantly give exercises or journaling/letter-writing prompts to clients for when they're outside of session. I tell them there's no pressure to ever do the exercises. I couldn't give two shits if they do the exercises or not. I just put them out there, because I know they work and I want the people who want to run faster in their healing to have tools for doing so.
So, how often should you journal? As often as you want to.
If it feels good and you see it healing your soul, you'd think you'd want to do it more. But if you don't, then don't do it. But, then you can't complain if you're not getting the results you want, because you're not doing the work.
Again, your life is your choice. Heal, don't heal; who cares? It's your life; live it however you want. But you cannot simultaneously claim to want to heal and grow, but then not do the work to do so.
So, yeah, I'm a fan of daily journaling and letter-writing.
I'm a fan of getting the books:
The Artist's Way, by Julia Cameron, which was an international bestseller and is still a wonderful tool to prompt your journaling practice;
There's a Hole in My Love Cup, which is for the really deep work;
Make Miracles in 40 Days, by Melodie Beattie, won't change your entire life in 40 days, but it will give you some great tools.
And there are other lovely journaling books out there to guide and push you. But in the end, again, all you need is pen and paper; or type your journals into your computer. I do that, sometimes, because my typing fingers can move faster than they can with a pen. Or, thumb-type into your phone.
I am not a fan of voice-journaling into your phone unless you're going back later and either putting those to text for you to print and read or going back later and listening to it. There is just something more interactive and hard about staying in the thoughts and feelings long enough that you have to really experience them while flushing them out.
For more on “There’s a Hole in My Love Cup” see What Makes “There’s a Hole In My Love Cup” So Badass Effective?.
Journaling Is NOT About Judging Yourself
If you're judging yourself or your writing, or trying to make it perfect for fear that it won't be perfect, then you're missing the point.
The point is to flush your feelings, thoughts, and beliefs about yourself and life. The point is to have safety in one place in your life where you can just be yourself without judgment. But if you edit as you write and judge every thought or feeling, you're only creating one more place in life where you are not safe.
Nothing is off-limits in your journaling. Let it all out.
Soul Disciplines Include Exercise and Good Eating!
Don't stop with just writing. As I've already talked about, exercise and good eating are important, too. They are just as much spiritual/soul disciplines as anything else. These are the tending of the body and the mind, as well, because they so directly impact the functioning of everything else.
Some people take their eating/exercising to intense or extreme degrees. And, I'm all for that, if that's what rocks your shit. For me, it did crank me up, when I was younger. For some people, that stuff cranks them up well into old age. That's fantastic. I just personally found other stuff that really feeds my soul more.
And that's really the point.
It's not about what others say your spiritual disciplines you “should” have. I couldn't care less what anyone else says my disciplines should be. My life; my choice. X, Y, and Z are the things that really breathe life into my soul, not just feel good in the moment.
And for me, what I eat does matter. I have more energy when I eat less, even though I'm 6'4” and around 250lbs. I often don't even eat dinner. Over decades, I've found my own body's rhythm and sweet spot.
Disciplines Are Personal and Unique to You
But I tell you what, there are two things I monitor more closely than anything else: sleep and water.
Sleep
If I'm not sleeping generally well, my creativity sucks, my energy dives, and I'm just enjoying life far less. I don't strive to get a good night's sleep, every night. Nah, but I do strive to keep the number of good nights of sleep to at least four per week. And, when I have a shitty night of sleep, I always allow myself to lie down midday, if time allows, and just close my eyes in a quiet room.
Even if I don't sleep, my body and mind have a chance to slow down and reset.
Sleep and rest are non-negotiables in my life. They are absolutely integrated into my happiness, peace, high-octane energy, creativity, and enjoyment of life. As I said, naps or eye-closings are weekly occurrences. Time just sitting on my butt doing nothing is so important to me, which is in part why I like long drives.
My soul needs all of this downtime, whether with sleep or without.
Water
The other is water.
In my 40s, I remember telling my 80-something mother that my thumb joints and a few finger joints were hurting. She, who had had lifelong arthritis, said,
“Sven, it's water. Deep plunge on your water intake, and give it a week and a half.”
I did it. Boom. The joint pain went away.
For me, in my life, 90% of my shit is solved with more water. My appetite decreases. My muscles don't tighten up as much. I have more physical energy. My joints don't hurt. My body functions smoothly. I'm a hardcore water believer.
Again, all of these elements are spiritual disciplines as much as they are physical ones because the systems are integrated.
Each depends on the other. All systems functioning well create greater energy, fulfillment, better decision-making, and all the other things I've described here.
The Role of Music as a Soul Discipline
Okay, so now we're on to one that is another universal life-giver, along with water, food, and rest. I'm sure there's good strong science on why music rejuvenates the soul, releases pain, and transforms how we feel life. But, I also don't think it requires much science to know that music is powerfully life-changing. We all know it. We all have music that lights us up, soothes us, makes us happy, gives us permission to be sad, and more. We all do.
That is precisely why I included music recommendations in my book, There's a Hole in My Love Cup.
Music transforms.
Music can drive a point infinitely deeper than any crap I can write because music opens us up. It's fucking magical.
And, when it has the right message for the right moment, it transforms the soul from all that it was to all that it can be.
You don't need me to tell you to listen to more of what works for you. That would get a resounding, “Yeah, no shit!” from anyone. Just give yourself permission to let your music speak your truth.
And, if you're really smart, you'll use your music as a tool to open up your journaling, too, and to unlock yourself inside to aid other spiritual disciplines, such as your exercise, too.
As I write this article, I'm listening to classical music, specifically right now it is 'Vivaldi Variation (arr. For piano from Concerto for strings in G minor).'
In fact, a lot of my writing is done to classical music.
Yet, if I were in the gym, it'd be a harsh mix of metal, hip-hop, classic rock, and inspirational Broadway hits, because that's the stuff that fires me when I'm lifting. And, sometimes I journal with music, or sometimes in silence.
Integrate Your Spiritual Disciplines
Integrate your spiritual disciplines, as with music.
Often, I have a pad of paper (or two) next to me as I close my eyes in the afternoon, or when I wake up in the middle of the night to a racing mind. In the quiet, I start flushing out the thoughts that keep my mind from resting. And I go as long as it takes. (The second pad of paper is to make a note or two that pops up that will need attention later, such as “Pick up dry cleaning” or “Buy dog food TODAY!”)
Often, the purging of those random, persistent thoughts slips me back into relaxation or I'll fall asleep, only to wake up a bit later with the light still on, pen in hand, and a small puddle of drool on my pillow.
Integrate your disciplines.
Hacks For Purging the Soul and Keeping It Clean
Here are some hacks as you move forward with your soul disciplines journey.
Letter-writing is a journaling hack because anyone can write a letter and it makes it easier.
There's a hack, or two, for both of those, even. I didn't find them, until about 15 years ago. You will still need pen and paper to help you find the roots of your feelings, and my book will help that at a deeper level.
The Sedona Method
When it comes to the actual process of releasing big feelings or lots of emotion, there is nothing that works faster that I've ever found than the Sedona Method, as created by Lester Levenson. The book by that name was written by his disciple, Hale Dwoskin.
Don't buy that book, however, until you're into beginning to identify your feelings. Because, if you can't identify feelings and name them, that tool will be useless.
Once you can start to feel your feelings and name them, then Sedona can be a highly effective tool if it is done regularly.
Again, like journaling, it's not a one-off. You have to do it daily to reap maximum benefit. And it's soooo simple, requiring no pen or paper. I do it in my car when driving, when in a line at the store when lying in bed at 3 a.m., and every other odd place.
I literally use it every single day, because it releases momentary and stored feelings quickly. It can and should be used on every single memory from your past that has any emotional charge attached to it. It's fast and effective in de-charging memories, which is what journaling is ultimately for, as well.
Accepting Technique
There's another tool that does so, as well. It's the 'accepting technique' as taught by Doreen Banaszak in her book, “Excuse me, your life is now.” It's not as detailed a book as Sedona, but the tool is effective, too.
What About Meditating or Prayer?
A lot of people swear by meditation and/or prayer. My mother and father based their lives on an hour or two of prayer and meditational reading, every single day of their lives. They would say their very strength and joy came from these more than anything else. So, natch, I'm a staunch supporter of them.
But, for me personally, all of the other things I've listed here are my meditation.
My life, really, is one big meditation composed of a million small meditations.
The solitude: meditation time with the still pools of water deep in my soul.
The ferocious workouts: meditation with my warrior spirit, who must always be ready to do battle with the pain in others it is called to help slay.
The time with friends: meditation with the life-giving spirit of laughter.
Writing and counseling others: meditation with the gods of flow and the Muses of creativity that keep me connected to all life forms.
For me, everything is meditation, especially just plain rest.
Should You Continue Your Soul Disciplines For the Rest of Your Life?
Yes.
As I said, I'm in my mid-50s and I've been doing all of this stuff for decades. These are absolutely instrumental to my happiness. Even if I had unlimited money, I wouldn't stop any of these, because these are the real joy-producers and peace-bringers in my life.
Even in the years when I was poor and living on the street among the homeless, ministering to them, these same disciplines brought joy to my life, infusing me with strength, fulfillment, and ALIVENESS.
And, just like missing workouts for days or months, if you fall out of practice in any of these, who gives a shit? Just go back in and start over. No need to spend the BS time and energy beating yourself up. God, why does everything have to be an opportunity to kick our own ass, all the time? That self-flagellation is usually some other person's or society's voice telling you you suck, in one way or another. So, why not journal also on those condemning voices, so that eventually they are no longer in you? If you've missed workouts, journaling, good sleep, or time alone, restart.
One of the benefits of doing your spiritual disciplines, more and more, is that when you fall off the bike for a while, you can get right back up on it and start pedaling again.
Letter-Writing Advice
Oh, and one more thing, if in any way you feel that your journals or letters might not be safe, might be used against you, or it just weirds you out having them existing in the world...burn 'em! Flush 'em down the toilet. Shred 'em. I've done all of these things at different times.
In fact, now it's quite routine for me to do my journaling between sets at the gym. It helps me unleash any pent-up rage to be working out, and the journaling gives me words for it. Then, when I'm done journaling, I tear it up and flush it down the toilet in the locker room. Boom! Done.
I had my journals used against me in court, once. So, I tell clients to journal with a pen in one hand and a lighter in the other. Boom! Done. Yeah, you won't be able to go back and read them. But, for me, I discovered that the real healing is in getting the pain out. I stopped going back to re-read journals, decades ago. But some people love to go back, and that's great. Do it, as long as it's safe for you to keep them.
What Disciplines Feed Your Soul?
So, whether it's journaling, going for walks, time in nature, releasing using Sedona, listening to moving music, working out intensely, or eating strictly a plant-based diet, whatever it may be for you that feeds your soul, do that!
Whether it's lots of solitude or walking in a bustling city, do that! Good rest or long swims, do that! Time in the studio or hands in the soil, do that!
You must begin to both read your soul for what it is telling you will give it life, and also then having the courage to do it... your way.
The goal is, as always, greater ALIVENESS!
Thank you for reading!
P.S.: About Not Working Out Legs at the Gym
Nah, I don't skip legs. I just never write it into the workout calendar. I stopped doing leg day decades ago.
Yeah, as a former competitive powerlifter, I just got sick of expending soooo much mental energy to do squats and deads. It wasn't the physical. It was the mental. It demands so much mental energy and focus to do that shit; and what's the payoff? Seriously, what do I get out of it?
“You get big, strong legs, Sven! Duh!”
Yeah, and what am I gonna do with that? Men's fashion since the late 1980s has put all men's shorts to roughly knee-length. So, no one is ever going to see those giant hams, tight butt, or chiseled quads unless I'm naked. And, I'm generally only naked with one person, my girlfriend. So, seriously, what's the point?
Lifting legs is a massive outlay of physical and mental energy that I'd rather direct in about a million different directions that yield far greater profits for me in terms of ALIVENESS. So, I couldn't give a shit what the young twats say about guys who skip leg day. Yawn. I distribute my time, energy, and focus into avenues that generate the most life for me.
Plus, I enjoy riding my bike. I have a 12-mile loop I do in my city, and I often rent a bike at midday in Manhattan, NYC, between clients, and bike down into the financial district. Nothing heightens the senses and will get you high like biking in Manhattan at midday amid the taxis, pedestrians, and noise. Now that is a rush.
So, nah, leg day can suck it. Massive cost, and little profit. Not a good investment in my soul disciplines. But we're each different.
-- Sven Erlandson, MDiv, Is The Author Of Seven Books, Including 'Badass Jesus: The Serious Athlete And A Life Of Noble Purpose' And 'I Steal Wives: A Serial Adulterer Reveals The REAL Reasons More And More Happily Married Women Are Cheating.' He Has Been Called The Father Of The Spiritual But Not Religious Movement, After His Seminal Book 'Spiritual But Not Religious' Came Out 15 Years Ago, Long Before The Phrase Became Part Of Common Parlance And Even Longer Before The Movement Hit Critical Mass. He Is Former Military, Clergy, And NCAA Head Coach For Strength And Conditioning; And Has A Global Counseling/Consulting Practice with offices In NYC, NJ, And Stamford, CT: BadassCounseling.Com
