A toddler, two couples and some dogs walk into a building to start a bike…thing.

Our first bike parts shipment didn’t show up. Fedex said it was put on a truck to be delivered and… then it didn’t come. That was on a Friday. Saturday evening, a new guy dropped the package off. He said the other guy picked up his truck and packages on Friday morning, did part of his route, took his truck back to the office, left it, and walked off the job, won’t answer his phone.

Honestly, I don’t blame him one bit. How long have we been moving at this break-neck pace? How much longer do we have to do it? When are you allowed to say “enough is enough” and bring yourself to a halt, and hopefully the rest of the whole mad race with you?

That’s when this idea of discipline crept into my brain. How do you make sure that you are doing what you need to do, meeting your needs, and filling your vessel, so that you are a complete person in terms of mind, body and spirit? Is it possible to get everything you need from your job by putting in 110% effort? Is it good discipline to carve out time to train for a long bike race from your last remaining bit of “free time” while accounting for each minute of your day and week so that the work, family, and self balance is maintained precisely?

If you could do exactly what you wanted, what would it be? How would you allocate your time and energy? It’s a fascinating quandary because how many of us really get to make that decision. Would you be brave enough to take the step that Fedex guy took?

So many questions exist that need our attention. Where do you begin?

For me, I start with my center, or more precisely, my three energy centers- head, heart, hara. First, I clear space in all three of them in turn, breathing into them and clearing away the detritus that perpetually fills them up. Next, I return the darkness back to source where it can be molded again by the universe, and thank it for the lesson(s). Then I send golden light energy into all the corners of each vessel to energize and prepare them for the onslaught to come.

That’s the unavoidable part- life is meant to be a challenge and we are meant to rise to the occasion. So, do it with style and panache, with grace and dignity, power and efficacy. Get up one more time, dig deep, persist when it feels like you’re totally spent, be brave in the face of fear and danger. Be brave enough to walk away from a failing situation, just as you would a terribly successful one.

But most importantly, find the joy in doing so; always. Share the beauty of your accomplishment with all of us, connect to the larger and greater good for one moment, be present in the truth that we are all just a ripple away. Because we sure do need that, from all of us, for all of us.

Cheers.