After 45 years as a GP, Dr Robert Favaloro ponders on what it takes to build a wonderful life. How happiness can be grown and tended like a good crop. It's all about following The Rules of Life.'
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Rule 11 - 'Leave thing tidier than you found them'
This is a statement I hear so often. It takes me back to my days camping with the family. So often the camp area had rubbish strewn around when we arrived.
Our first job, as routine, was to clean up this rubbish and dispose of it. It was a lesson for the children as we worked together, a lesson in being disciplined.
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In the best seller, The Road Less Travelled, M Scott Peck talks of the need to confront and solve problems. This takes us back to rule three - to 'avoid avoiding' - or in other words to have self-discipline.
Father Chris Riley AM, founder of Youth Off The Streets, has worked with disadvantaged young people for more than 40 years. He often tells how the families that eat at least five meals a week together at the table raise kids that have much less alcohol and drug problems. Organising this takes determination on the part of parents. It is a discipline and a good example to those children.
The Dalai Lama summarises it well: "A disciplined mind leads to happiness; an undisciplined mind leads to suffering."
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I note how often families with drug and alcohol problems appear to be in a type of chaos. On a home visit to one such family I remember wondering where I could find a clean chair to sit on. Cleaning certainly wasn't a family discipline.
I believe, as many do that:
- You can't achieve any goals without self-discipline;
- Your level of success is determined by your level of self-discipline and perseverance, and;
- There is a direct relationship between self-discipline and self-esteem.
Theodore Roosevelt said it another way. "With self-discipline most anything is possible."
In being disciplined we respect those around us, we respect the things we own and we respect ourselves.
Rule 12 follows in two weeks.
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