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Three rules of showing good citizenship

Our discussions this month on Citizenship will be on what it takes to be an active, caring and responsible member of our community.  Every individual has the opportunity to add to the strength of their community and the world.  Instead of just thinking of themselves, good citizens look for ways to be a helpful part of the group or community they are a part of, locally and globally.

Here is the simple way of showing good citizenship:

  1. Treat others with respect
  2. Be involved and do your part
  3. Keep community safe and fair

Following the rules of our communities – home, school, extra-curricular teams, and community shows good citizenship.

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Gifts of Character: Citizenship – The Definition

Each month we will discuss one gift of character with all of our students. This month the word is Citizenship.  This life skill will be defined in the following ways for our students.

Young students: Citizenship means: I am a helpful member of my community!

Older students: Citizenship means:  Being an active, caring and responsible member of our community

We are not your typical after school activity, in fact we are an education center, working with students on physical self defense skills, while empowering families to bring out the best in our children and ourselves – through the martial arts.  We believe every child has 52 gifts  in them already.  They only need to be taught how to grow and use them in their life.  Balanced Life Skills serves parents, teachers and students to reach that goal.

If you would like to see Joe Van Deuren and Balanced Life Skills at work,  TRY CLASSES FOR FREE for 2 weeks.

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Discipline in your most important team – Family

BLS-gift-of-character-headerImagine you had a project to do – at home or school and you were told that you could have someone help you.  How exciting to have a teammate, someone that will help you get the job done more quickly.  Lets say the job is getting the family room cleaned up – toys picked up, blankets folded, pillows arranged, floor vacuumed.

 

But when your helper came in they started playing with the toys, even got more things out, turned the television on and left you with no help?  They were not disciplined enough to work before they played.  They were distracted by all of the other things to do.  Are you feeling disappointed, upset, even frustrated that the job was not getting done?

 
When teams work together, keep their discipline, stay focused on the job at hand – they will finsh the job quickly and have time to do other things that they enjoy.  Our family is that team.  In fact they are our most important team.  None of the team members want to let the others down by playing when their is a job to do.  So here is your practice:  keep your focus on the job at hand, keep your eyes and head on the job at hand, and be sure to work before you play.  Doing so will make you a great team member – a great member of the family.

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What will help to practice discipline?

BLS-gift-of-character-headerAt the beginning of our classes, we invite students to practice discipline with “We are going to control our mind, body and mouth.”   Sometimes I ask them which one is the hardest? For each of us the answer to that question may be different.   Invariably the students will say “mouth”. While I personally would agree with that answer, we can show discipline in many ways and for each of us the most difficult one may be different.

For some being still – physical stillness when needed is difficult. For others we may want to talk when it is appropriate to be quiet, and for others our mind may be off dreaming in another world when we need to focus on the task at hand. If we are able to keep our feet still, be quiet when we need to listen or focus with the eyes on the teacher – We are practicing discipline.

What techniques do you use to practice “discipline” or self control?   Do you exercise, step away to a quiet place, tell yourself to pay attention? Could you take a few deep breaths while you think about how you will conduct yourself or how you will speak to others. Knowing ourselves, and who we can be around, where we can be our best, and how we work at our best, will help us to learn and demonstrate our personal discipline.

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The results of discipline / lack of discipline – not immediate

Discipline is a funny character, as the results of having or not having discipline are seldom seen in the immediate time frame that we  experience.  I often use the example of maintaining a car.  If I choose to forego changing the oil in the car – the results are not immediate.  You may drive the car for 50,000 miles before bad things happen.  The lack of discipline to stay on the schedule for oil changes will catch up to you.

 

If you choose to not brush your teeth for several days – your teeth will not fall out immediately – but over time with continued lack of discipline for brushing your teeth will end up costing you your dental health.  In fact if you choose not to practice any skill, it may not show up right away – I am sure you can think of many examples – but eventually you will suffer the consequences of not being your best or losing something that may have had some level of importance to you.

 

Discipline though will enable you to do the small things that do not have immediate rewards so that you can achieve the bigger dream.  It may be skill based, sports, musical instrument or it may be in math or the sciences.  Whatever the arena, our willingness to train ourselves to do what needs to be done – when it needs to be done will ultimately pay off in our meeting our goals, and being productive at the highest level.

 

The opposite – the lack of discipline will lead us to procrastinate, play and flit around from one idea to another – but it will never bring us the satisfaction of mastery of any skill or ideal.

Carefully cultivate your character with Discipline.