The Manic Mind Doesn’t Love Peace

The Quest for Creative Peace (And Sanity)

Today, I’m pondering the relationship between discipline and creative spiritual growth.

You, too?

Nah, just me?

I’ve spent most of my life being not very disciplined. It’s kind of haunted me, and now I have two kids who aren’t very disciplined either. But hey, they can tell a joke, hold a conversation with an adult, and are pretty creative in their own right. 

So I guess what I’m saying, kids, is “you’re welcome.” 🤗

I think it’s safe to say that this lack of discipline—and the journey to developing it—is part of my path.

What path?

Any path.

The one I’m on.

It’s my path. I walk it. To walk it well—or even semi-well—I have to be disciplined.

I once read that the manic mind doesn’t like peace. And, my God, this is so true.

Peace is too quiet, too boring, too easy—or maybe too hard. It’s not me.

So I don’t gravitate towards peace. But then I look up and find myself miles away from my path. Miles away, and usually sick.

My manic mind avoids peace and order to dodge discipline.

Committing to a life of discipline means releasing a certain amount of control because discipline takes a huge amount of time, sustained effort, and bravery.

And I don’t have a lot of any of that.

Actually, that’s not true, I am brave. To a point. I’m learning to be braver each day.

I’ve lost friends over it.

I just say that to remind myself that discipline comes with consequence.

It’s much easier to live a life of distraction, isn’t it? 

Distraction can be anything, come from anywhere, and be disguised as anything. For instance, I once had a major addiction to Squarespace sites. And although I’ve mostly gotten past that, (ummm mostly), I still make room for an overwhelming amount of news. I visit the home page of Yahoo out of sheer habit, and the same goes for Instagram and Facebook. It’s exhausting just thinking about it.

We can turn anything into a distraction from what we should be focusing on.

Especially in the face of fear—for instance, I distract myself with self-help books rather than writing my own. I might get caught up in family drama instead of editing a new piece of music. I’d much rather dig up an old video of me dancing than create a new piece of art.

Daily creative discipline can be less overwhelming if found in small moments.

It helps keep my mind at peace, away from the manic mind always ready to throw a wrench in life, so I can be open to my creative instincts.

I find it easiest to cultivate discipline in tasks that take between one to ten minutes. 

A breath when getting out of the car. 

Five minutes to send an email or text to connect with someone I’ve been meaning to reach out to. 

A quick decision in a conversation to NOT get overly involved. 

A creative pause.

A peaceful, creative pause that soothes the manic mind.

Daily discipline that supports the creative spiritual path that I’m on.

My path. Your path. Which, if you’re paying attention, offers little glimmers of inspiration that can turn into so much more.