This article is a continuation of the previous articles of the same name. I am now working through points I outlined previously which I deem important for successful self-discipline.
6. Methods of Developing, Training and Maintaining Focus
Systems
"Repetition is the mother of all Learning."
The second method which sits on the foundation of knowing yourself through breath is to learn the above maxim as if it is your breath.
Because really, it is.
Breath is the first repetition.
All 'systems' are generated through repetition. All thought patterns are first seeded by a trigger and then supplied with energy through repeated commitment by yourself either consciously or subconsciously.
You first need to become aware of your own conditioning - that is, the fundamental behaviours, reactions and thought patterns in your body that have become automatic that you are unaware of how they got there, how to remove them or that you have simply accepted are 'you'.
Repetition.
We train neural pathways through repetition. We train our minds and our bodies through repetition. We train our environment by repetition. We do this unconsciously even if we are not aware of it. All things in this reality are governed by repetition - repetition of behaviours, repetition of patterns and frequency...
Systems are what all life and all mind structures and human achievements are based on. Humans have the ability to develop and maintain systems. Systems are repetitions - repetitions that have been persisted with, unconsciously or consciously that then act as an energetic circuit. Through repetition you create physicality. Through repetition you store energetic circuits as physical phenomena in your body.
You want to break a thought pattern? You're going to have to break the circuit, slowing down in the awareness of breath to the point where you can feel the energy going there - then deprive that circuit of that energy. This is not suppression - suppression is when you block the outflow of the circuit - which generates the need for expression. Become aware of the point at which the energy is going in and divert the energy BEFORE it has been transformed by the system to become a system specific energetic frequency. By diverting it BEFORE the energy remains 'free' to become and be used for any other system. Do not suppress. Understand that suppression requires expression. Learn to recognize the difference between suppression and diversion of energetic flow. Through self-observation in breath and persistent applied self-honesty we can learn to see exactly where our energy is going and divert it before it goes into a system we do not wish to support anymore. Once a system lays dormant without any energy flowing through it - it becomes easier to not use it. By doing this, you also inadvertently create a system of 'catching energy for energy diversion'.
All habits, trauma, thoughts, desires - all ideas of 'who you are' - are stored in your human physical body through repetition as a literal physical thing. These repetitions that are on automatic after having been repeated for a long time are systems. These systems can be productive and/or destructive.
Recognizing and learning the ability to both hack and dismantle systems already present and to create your own systems - is the ability to be your own god.
Breath is the first repetition through which everything is trained. Always remember breath.
Rocket science is not rocket science.
Rocket science is the development and structuring of systems trained through repetition, one upon another. Anyone can learn rocket science. You first need the right foundational systems which may include systems of memory retension which when repeated enough times become rote. That 'rote' is physical, literally in your body - something that requires little energy to access once established. You are literally training your body as your mind to store and train these pathways - this then allows other things which depend on this foundation to be built on top.
Any top performer of any act that requires any level of skill does this.
It takes hours and hours of practice - hours and hours of developing systems and putting them, one on top of the other until it becomes part of the body - physical.
Then it is rote - and only needs 'reminding'. You need only to maintain it by feeding it energy every now and then - aka using it.
Anyone that believes they are somehow special just for developing fancy systems - good for you! What we should be congratulating them for is not for the 'skill' they have developed but for the amount of hard work they have put into developing the systems that give them the ability to have that skill. No one walks out of a box skillful.
That's a deception by industry - the wool pulled over the eyes of the mass - a willing lie the people go along with because often they don't want to face the reality that they can do that too if only they had discipline. And the way you can have that discipline is by understanding the fundamentals of consciousness - of life, actually.
Systems are repetitions - repetition is based in breath. All things are possible through breath. Systems are the foundation of existence - including human skills and talents.
Face the initial pain of setting up a system as the foundation and then work and work and work and work... Want to learn a fine skill or craft to the point of mastery? Sit down with a pen and paper and make a list of the systems you will need to train yourself into for that to be possible. Start from the very beginning and the most basic. Set it up structurally like a pyramid with the achieved aim of mastery on top.
Be patient with yourself and do not jump steps in the pyramid. It is a common misconception you can jump straight to the finish line. Many people have moments of high energy and inspiration being able to do something fairly advanced very quickly which then fizzles out when they realise they cannot maintain that energy and they give up entirely then believing 'that's not their thing anymore'. No, it could certainly be 'your thing' but you've just met the point where you actually have to face the pain of work of setting up those initial systems and following them over time consistently working from ground up.
So many intuitive people with great potential I have met that give up when they feel 'work' come along believing that their sudden 'lack of inspiration' is an intuitive urge to do something else.
How exhausting it is to watch these people go in cycles. Over and over again following an intuition trained to avoidance of pain debilitate them and make them feel worthless. Unconditionally believing in this intuition via spiritual bypassing - effectively bypassing their rational circuits which would allow them to see what they actually need to do to apply themselves.
I know this pattern well because I was one of them.
Life changed for me when I faced the fact that pain is a part of life. There is no light or easy way of putting it. When you can face the initial pain of setting up the systems - it gets easier - you start to get it. You see the light and the path forward.
The only way I saw the 'light' was through persistence in one thing - my music - while living on the streets of the world, I never gave up my music. I was entirely dependent on the income I made from the street. A part of me was observing what was going on. The painful experience of living on the baseline all the time taught me. When my application for my music increased willfully and consciously that directly translated to me being better at what I do which directly translated to more money. In observation of the skill required and the skill gained through repetition I discovered that I could make it a hell of a lot easier on myself if only I faced the pain of creating those systems of technique willingly instead of forcing myself through a need to make money for survival.
The path that you focus on, is the path that lights up. Exactly where your attention is focused is exactly where your energy is going. If your energy is obviously going to places you don't will it to go - there's a problem - you must through self-observation slow the system down in order to observe its process and see the point of diversion necessary in order to stop feeding that system/pattern/process.
Once again, you won't need to read anything else that I write in the following articles if you really get this one point - Repetition is the mother of all learning.
Good luck!