This can make all the difference…

Hey-hi-howdy everybody! It’s another week, and we’ve got another blog post. Yayyy! Today, I was thinking that I’d talk about something near and dear to my lil’ ol’heart.

Discipline. Yes, humans and non-humans, discipline. But, Melanie, what do you mean when you say ‘discipline’ ?

Well, dearest reader, I’m talking about discipline in the sense of an activity or experience that provides mental or physical training. If you look at top-tier athletes, business leaders, musicians, change-makers, and thought-leaders, you’ll see that most of them share a common characteristic or practice. They dedicated themselves relentlessly to pursuing and achieving their goals. They showed up every day to their daily practice, be it on the court, the classroom, the office, or to the studio, and they worked to hone their skills. Now, I’m certain there were times where they got discouraged or frustrated, but what made them great, what in fact makes them extraordinary, is that they picked themselves up after a good cry and figured out what they could improve, then went right back at it. They didn’t let failure define them. They saw their failure as a learning opportunity, and they refused to give in to negative self-talk. They saw the experience for what it was, a teaching moment, and they kept moving forward.

Now, in ✨the realm of the woo✨ [you know, spiritual, magickal, new age, or is it old age at this point?], I often see where a lot of people talk about wanting to accomplish certain goals or develop their spiritual gifts or psychic abilities, but they often get overwhelmed trying to think about how they should go about doing this. Listen, the easiest and simplest way to start honing your intuition or building up your connection to your angels or spirit guides or whatever your motivation, start developing a daily practice—cultivate a daily discipline. In short, this is a set amount of time where you put your phone on silent, and you do exercises that help you build that spiritual muscle.

Astrologically, Saturn is the planet most connected with this concept. Saturn in modern astrology is connected with concepts of time, institutions like the government, authority, bones, structure, order, hard work, limits, mature responsibility, and of course, discipline. Now, in medieval astrology, Saturn was called the greater malefic, and yeah, when Saturn makes moves in the cosmos, things certainly happen. Notably, I had a recent Saturn transit where I fractured my foot in a freak accident with a cast iron lid. Sometimes, things happen because Source is trying to get our attention, and if we’re being immensely stubborn, it might just have to slap us in the face, or in my case, fracture a bone. Geez, that sounds really awful, but hear me out, Saturn isn’t necessarily malicious.

In fact, Saturn can be one of our greatest allies. Saturn is the planetary drill sergeant of the cosmos. He is a relentless taskmaster who will help you bring structure, definition, and clarity to your life, which sounds really cool, but in practice, it means you’re going to have to get comfortable with being a uncomfortable. Growth never happened in the comfort zone, and Saturn will ask you to commit fully if you decide to work with him on achieving your goals. If you work with him instead of against him, you can quickly turn any disadvantage into an advantage, any obstacle into an opportunity in short order. Saturn is literally the guy that always shows up to the gym even if there’s six feet of snow outside, and if you ask him nicely, he’ll spot you and give you a tip or two about improving your form. Look at where Saturn is in your natal astrology chart, depending on house and sign, you might be able to get a sense of where you have the strongest ability to be naturally disciplined and responsible. Now that you realize where Saturn’s influence shows up in your life, how can you link up those pre-existing disciplined habits in a healthy and helpful way to cultivating a daily practice? [I recommend astro.com if you don’t have a copy of your natal astrology chart. You can get a free one on their website.]

Every person’s daily discipline is going to look different. Each person needs something different from their practice. There’s really no wrong way to do it. For example, I know someone who has made herself a playlist. She burns a bit of sage, sits in her special chair, and closes her eyes and just listens. Now, these aren’t just any songs. These are special songs that have special meaning to her. She does breathwork, and then, she journals and pulls tarot or oracle cards. Another woman I know does yoga, drinks a tea she makes for just this occasion, lights candles, and does energy work to call in her guides to receive downloads and guidance.

Every person I know who has a daily practice or regular discipline agrees that it’s foundational to helping them navigate their day and strengthening their own individual connection to Source. I have a daily practice that I have maintained years, and while it has grown and changed, the benefits of spending time with just me, myself, Spirit, and I Am, is immeasurable. Could you imagine how much better you could respond to a frustrating conversation with you partner or children if you had maybe taken just a few minutes earlier that day to just pour some love into yourself? Having a daily discipline gives you additional resources to respond in a more conscious way when life goes off the rails! This connects us to the idea of resilience, which is how well we respond when things don’t go how we expect, and grit, which is the ability to persist on a particular path even when we’re met with obstacles. We need both of these to live a fulfilling life, and resilience and grit are gifts from Saturn.

A daily practice doesn’t have to be a huge thing. It doesn’t require a whole room or even special materials. All a daily practice really requires is just a span of uninterrupted time, where you can focus on developing your connection to Spirit. It’s a time where you turn all that awareness that’s outside, inward. You turn inward, noticing your breath, thoughts and feelings. It’s a time where you pour into your own cup before trying to pour out into anything or anyone else.

You can start small. Gift yourself one minute. Spend one minute where you ignore your phone, the environment, literally everything and everyone around you. For one minute, you stop worrying about your work or your family. For one minute, you just focus on your breath, the feeling of your shoulders rising and the sound of your exhale. Come into the present moment now and smile. In this moment, everything is okay. It’s safe to be here.

Now, give yourself that one minute of peace every single day, and maybe that one minute will turn into two, three, heck add some meditation music, ooh and even some yummy smelling candles? Oh, maybe that corner of your office or bedroom could use a little table with some crystals, flowers or inspiring art? Maybe you’d enjoy sitting there while experiencing your couple minutes of peace? Maybe you eventually decide you want to add some movement, like gentle stretches, and maybe, a prayer or mantra? See? You can start small, but hell, please just start!

Listen, I get that nowadays we have really busy stressful lives, and there are so many things that require our attention; however, stress is a major influence on our overall health, and if you don’t make the time to start doing something now, you might not have a later. If you miss a day, get right back on it. That’s all you got to do. Just show right back up the next day, and keep on moving. The important thing about cultivating a spiritual practice or discipline is that you are consistent and that you always return to your practice, so what if you miss a day?! Perfection isn’t the purpose of a spiritual practice. It’s about remembering that we are always returning to Source, reconnecting with the love that we are, and setting aside the time to experience that because we need it and know that we are worthy of it.

Think of a daily practice as an investment in you. Every time you show up for your practice, you are investing in you, pouring a little bit more love and bit a more kindness into the one person that would benefit the most from that—you. Yesss, drill sergeant!!! 😉