Self discipline; Punishment or love?

Most people can take command of their body for a short period of time then lose it. To keep command of your body you must command your mind first. If you can control your mind, you can control your body easily. Self discipline is not a punishment. That's super hard for people to wrap their heads around. Fact is self discipline is self love. Let me explain...

Will Smith said " You cannot win the war against the world if you cannot win the war against your mind.".

Let's say I put a few pieces of pizza right in front of you and it looks so good. You can smell the melted cheese that's oozing all over the crust. I bet that pizza would taste real good. But you are trying to lose 20 pounds. Are you going to eat that pizza? Or are you self disciplined enough to turn your head and walk away?

Now is this a punishment for not eating this pizza? I don't think so. I think because you had a talk with yourself and said "Self, I know that pizza would taste great right now but if you eat that pizza you will immediately regret it. You will have a stomach ache, and you will feel like crap. And on top of that you will have stopped or majorly deterred from your losing 20 pounds goal and I love you too much to let you eat that pizza."

See that is what we call self love. Not a punishment at all. It's totally loving yourself enough to make a better choice.

What if you were invited to go out with friends on a Saturday night when you were planning on studying for a major test you have on Monday morning. Even though you know it would be lots of fun and all, you need to tell yourself "I love you too much to let you go out tonight because you might do badly or even fail that test."

Again this is just loving yourself more than wanting an immediate pleasure. Self discipline is foregoing immediate pleasure for an exchange for long term self respect. So next time you need discipline in your life remember it's not a punishment, it's simply self love.