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In the Tao Te Ching, it is said: "Those who win are powerful, and those who win themselves are strong." "The one who can overcome himself is often the one who is really strong. Nowadays, "self-discipline" is a familiar word, and it can really make a person stand out from the mediocre people who do nothing.
In fact, self-discipline is not to force yourself to do something earth-shattering, but to be down-to-earth and do every little thing in front of you.
Start small and be disciplined
Those who are "self-disciplined" are outstanding, and those who are "indulgent" are out. Life is fair for everyone, it doesn't favor anyone, and it doesn't treat anyone badly.
Everyone has shortcomings, and the important thing is how to overcome them. Zeng Guofan, a famous minister in the late Qing Dynasty, was known as "the first perfect person in ancient and modern times", precisely because he achieved the ultimate in self-discipline. And when he was young, he was a "problem", and he complained in his diary about his "laziness, nonsense" and other vulgar old habits.
At that time, if there was the Internet, netizens would probably lead to a topic in Zeng Guofan, that is: Middle age is coming, do I still have a chance to get better?
Then Zeng Guofan explained with action: can.
In order to correct the bad habit of "laziness", Zeng Guofan insisted on reading every day, for decades, without stopping, no matter the time of day or night, what the mood was, it was rain or shine, and the thunder could not move.
In order to correct the bad habit of "lying and talking", he adopted a word given to him by the teacher - quiet, and from then on he sat quietly for an hour every day, self-censored, self-reflective, and finally stopped being impatient and liar.
Some people may sigh after reading Zeng Guofan's story: Mr.'s self-disciplined way of living is stiff and tiring, and he is not as contemptuous as others.
But getting rid of those parts that are too much, his self-cultivation method is indeed worth learning: he is willing to face himself squarely and start with the biggest shortcomings; He is not in a hurry, nor is he discouraged by failure; He knows how to reflect and summarize in a timely manner and make corrections in a timely manner.
Zhu Xi once said: "If you don't check it, your heart will be unrestrained." "If you check and restrain yourself from time to time, you will be prone to be unscrupulous and reckless. It is precisely because of the inspection of "small things" and the self-discipline of action that a "stupid child" with mediocre qualifications has grown into a generation of Confucianism that has been around for centuries.
The running of life does not lie in an instantaneous outbreak, it depends on perseverance on the way. We often threaten to be self-disciplined, but when things come to the moment, we always want to find excuses to excuse ourselves. In fact, in many cases, "self-discipline" is to insist on that more.
True freedom is not to indulge in extraordinariness
As the saying goes, "If you don't sweep a house, how can you sweep the world?" Whether it is Chen Fan in the allusion or Zeng Guofan who has just learned, the reason why they are famous in history is that they understand that "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step", and they have achieved "my day and three provinces and my body".
True freedom is not to do whatever you want, but not to do what you don't want to do. The History of the Yuan Dynasty records a story of the physicist Xu Heng.
One hot summer day, Xu Heng went out and saw pedestrians picking pears under a pear tree on the side of the road to quench their thirst, but he didn't pick them.
Someone asked him, now that the war is in chaos, this pear tree has no owner, why don't you go and pick pears? Xu Heng replied: "Although the pear has no owner, I have a master in my heart." ”
Passers-by ignored Xu Heng and continued to "pick" pears, while Xu Heng continued to hurry despite the heat. Passers-by who ate pears laughed at him for being a fool.
The reason why Xu Heng has become an admired scholar is precisely because he is strict and self-disciplined in every little thing, not indulging and not exceeding the rules.
If life is compared to a horse, then self-discipline is the reins of the horse, and although the reins are small, they cannot be ignored. If you believe that the horse is reined in and is aimless, it is easy to get out of the established track and even fall into the cliff.
To achieve a self-disciplined life, we must not only have the ambition of "sweeping the world", but also have the patience of "sweeping a house". "The sea does not choose a trickle, so it can become big, and the mountains do not reject the fine soil and can be extremely high. "Only by being diligent in self-discipline and cultivating virtue can we be fearful and stop our actions, and promote ourselves to move forward and become better.
* Minsheng Weekly WeChat *** anchor Tang Panruo production Wang Yiqian).