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Formation Program For Catechists: Self Discipline (Based On Remez Sasson's Self Discipline Module)

New Catechists· Formation: Self-Discipline THE ELEPHANT AND THE FLY By Remez Sasson An elephant was standing and picking leaves from a tree. A small fly came, flying and buzzing near his ear. The elephant waved it away with his long ears. Then the fly came again, and the elephant waved it away once more". This was repeated several times. Then the elephant asked the fly: "Why are you so restless and noisy? Why can't you stay for a while in one place?" The fly answered: "I am attracted t o whatev

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138 views

Formation Program For Catechists: Self Discipline (Based On Remez Sasson's Self Discipline Module)

New Catechists· Formation: Self-Discipline THE ELEPHANT AND THE FLY By Remez Sasson An elephant was standing and picking leaves from a tree. A small fly came, flying and buzzing near his ear. The elephant waved it away with his long ears. Then the fly came again, and the elephant waved it away once more". This was repeated several times. Then the elephant asked the fly: "Why are you so restless and noisy? Why can't you stay for a while in one place?" The fly answered: "I am attracted t o whatev

Uploaded by

GinoSDB
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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New Catechists’ Formation: Self-Discipline

THE ELEPHANT AND THE FLY


By Remez Sasson

An elephant was standing and picking leaves from a tree. A small fly came, flying
and buzzing near his ear. The elephant waved it away with his long ears. Then the fly
came again, and the elephant waved it away once more".

This was repeated several times. Then the elephant asked the fly:
"Why are you so restless and noisy? Why can't you stay for a while in one place?" The
fly answered: "I am attracted t o whatever I see, hear or smell. My five senses pull me
constantly in all directions and I cannot resist them. What is your secret? How can you
stay so calm and s till?"

The elephant stopped eating and said:


"My five senses do not rule my attention. Whatever I do, I get immersed in it. Now that I
am eating, I am completely immersed in eating. In this way I can enjoy my food and chew
it better. I rule and control my attention, and not the other way around.

WILL POWER AND SELF-DISCIPLINE


By Remez Sasson

Sometimes, you wish to go for a walk, knowing how good it


is for your health and how wonderful you feel afterwards, yet, you
feel too lazy, and prefer to watch TV instead. You might be aware of
the fact that you need to change your eating habits or stop smoking,
yet, you don't have the inner power and persistence to change these
habits. Does this sound familiar? How many times have you said, "I
wish I had will power and self discipline"? How many times have
you started to do something, only to quit after a short while? We all
have had experiences like these.

Everyone possesses some addictions or habits they wish they


could overcome, such as smoking, excessive eating, laziness,
procrastination or lack of assertiveness. To overcome these habits or addictions, one needs to have will power
and self discipline. They make a great difference in everyone's life, and bring inner strength, self mastery and
decisiveness.

DEFINITIONS OF WILL POWER AND SELF DISCIPLINE

Will power is the ability to overcome laziness and procrastination. It is the


ability to control or reject unnecessary or harmful impulses. It is the ability to
arrive to a decision and follow it with perseverance until its successful
accomplishment. It is the inner power that overcomes the desire to indulge in
unnecessary and useless habits, and the inner strength that overcomes inner
Pa ge |2
emotional and mental resistance for taking action. It is one of the corner stones of success, both spiritual and
material.

Self-discipline is the companion of will power. It endows with the stamina to persevere in whatever one does. It
bestows the ability to withstand hardships and difficulties, whether physical, emotional or mental. It grants the
ability to reject immediate satisfaction, in order to gain something better, but which requires effort and time.
Everyone has inner, unconscious, or partly conscious impulses, making them say or do things they later regret
saying or doing. On many occasions people do not think before they talk or act. By developing these two
powers, one becomes conscious of the inner, subconscious impulses, and gains the ability to reject them when
they are not for his/her own good.

DEVELOPING WILL POWER AND SELF DISCIPLINE

An effective method for developing and improving these abilities is to perform certain actions or
activities, which you would rather avoid doing due to laziness, procrastination, weakness, shyness, etc. By
doing something that you do not like doing or are too lazy to do, you overcome your subconscious resistance,
train your mind to obey you, strengthen your inner powers and gain inner strength. Muscles get stronger by
resisting the power of the barbells. Inner strength is attained by overcoming inner resistance. Here are a few
exercises:

1) There are dishes in the sink that need washing, and you postpone washing
them for later. Get up and wash them now. Do not let your laziness overcome
you. When you know that in this way you are developing your will power,
and if you are convinced of the importance of will power in your life, it will
be easier for you to do whatever you have to do.

2) You come home tired from work and singing in the choir and sit in front of
the T.V. because you feel too lazy and tired to go and wash. Do not obey the
desire to just sit, but go and have a shower

3) You may know your body needs some physical exercise, but instead you
keep on sitting doing nothing or watching a movie. Get up and walk, run or
do some other physical exercise.

4) Sometimes, when you want to say something that is not important, decide not to say it.

5) Don't read some unimportant gossip in the newspaper, even if you want to.

6) You have a desire to eat something not too healthy. For the sake of the exercise refuse the desire.

7) If you find yourself thinking unimportant, unnecessary, negative thoughts, try to develop lack of interest in
them, by thinking about their futility.

8) Overcome your laziness. Convince yourself of the importance of what is to be done. Convince your mind that
you gain inner strength when you act and do things, in spite of laziness, reluctance or senseless inner resistance.

End

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