Developing Discipline

How does one develop, raise
And strengthen discipline?
Self-restraint, the power to
Control, endure, to win?

Discipline is key to conquering
So many vices
But cost of discipline is the
Unlikeliest of prices

Discipline is not “gotten”
It’s already possessed
It is a trait with which you were
From birth already blessed

But it is buried underneath
The pleasures and the bliss
When it is time to have some fun
It’s what folks do dismiss

“How do I get disciplined
Like you?” some folks will ask
“You don’t get disciplined,” I say
“There’s no training or task

Discipline is what is left
When other things are lost
Discipline comes with great pain
Suffering and exhaust”

It is uncovered when your shoulders
Feel like great big spikes
Are stabbing, twisting into them
Two sudden lightning strikes

You learn just how much discipline
You have when both your knees
Are weak and you feel that you could
Be knocked down by a breeze

Your discipline is not a choice
But comes quite automatic
When you have had a few too many
Things that were dramatic

Happen in your life, the loss
Of parents, friends, a child
Losing these pieces of you
Keep you from getting riled

The trials of life will chip away
Like sculptor with a stone
It chips away at all the flesh
And meat ‘till it hits bone

And that is where your discipline
Resided all along
The iron will enabling
To be graceful and strong

*Loss* is the “big secret” to
Discovering that power
It doesn’t matter how many
Great books that you devour

It doesn’t matter how many
Great mentors instruct you
Discipline is not something
You get, gain or accrue

Maybe when you lose your health
You’ll stop having that smoke
Maybe when your heart’s diseased
And you’re told soon you’ll croak

You’ll have the discipline to eat
Foods much lower in salt
And have the strength to abstain from
The things which are at fault

Maybe when you’ve lost much more
Than most people endure
All the things which you’re addicted
To will lose allure

Wish you luck with conquering
Those vices that you fight
May you endure great loss and then
Finally see the light

                              ~Miro