Can anyone recommend any spiritual media on developing self-discipline?

[More Than A Feeling]

Books, movies with self-discipline as the theme, that sort of thing.

[I Have A Dream]

1. I'm not sure what you want, but maybe something like this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peaceful_Warrior

[mtf80123]

2. Or this one...

http://www.buddhanet.net/4noble.htm

The Four Noble Truths

[HamdenRice]

3. "How to Meditate"

I read it about 15 years ago. It's a completely secular guide to the practice of meditation, and what it does for one's mental discipline.

Meditation can have really astonishing effects on your life. If I remember a metaphor the author used, your mind is like a group of wild, untrained horses. Meditation helps you train them, hitch them into an orderly harness, and drive them exactly where you want them to go.

On edit: There are so many books of that title. The one I'm talking about is by Lawrence Leshan.

[WhiteTara]

4. Pema Chodron is my favorite teacher

She is so clear and real and personal and offers wisdom. Her latest book is called "Don't Bite the Hook". I started with "The Places that Scare You" and moved on from there. You can find her in books, cds and tapes.

[ZombieHorde]

5. Book 4 by Crowley.

[sam sarrha]

6. please... Crowley was a Heroin addict suffering from syphilis of the brain hideous con man

[sam sarrha]

7. i recommend Pema Chodron's works.. i was a 25 year alcoholic, given up all hope. i ran into Pema's

tape set.. "When Things Fall Apart". i listened to it every day, frequently twice.. i got meditation tape sets by Robert Thurman, jack kornfield, many others from the Insight Meditation .. http://www.buddhanet.net/ac-instruct.htm

meditation is simply a 'method of training the mind'. there are different forms, i recommend the insight meditation, a reputable respected organization.

"How does doing NOTHING change anything" you ask, or "i tried that it didn't work".. well it does work, you probably tried the wrong method for your individual predisposition, or didn't do it right, or long enough.

i do not recommend Zen for a Beginner, meditate 10 minutes a day maximum for the first 30 days..

The Tibetans have a word for what happens in meditation.. "Skillful Means". it is a very peculiar phenomenon. essentially, your brain waves are going to change very slowly, the electrical resistance of your nervous system will lower, you will acquire the ability to assimilate oxygen better. you will begin to use your brain hemispheres as they were intended. your conventional mind will begin to quit dominating you, the natural mind will begin to surface, and the cause of the things you wish to control will gently "Fall Away" ..effortlessly.. you need to learn to stay in the present, meditation trains you to quit grasping by "Letting Go"

Discursive thoughts dominate thru essentially Newtonian Physics, "every force is met with an equal and opposite response" try to push your problems away, they grab on to you even harder, run away and they beat you to where you were going. learn to meditate and they become like clouds passing in the sky. sitting in meditation you watch the breath with about 20% of the mind, a worry, fear, anxiety, fantasy, if only, what if, OMG, WTF, REGRET, SHAME... surfaces, you name it as though you were touching a soap bubble with a feather.. and let it go.. fairly soon that process becomes normal consciousness and what you referred to just falls away.. it never actually vanishes, but you aren't its prison bitch anymore.

meditation is compared to learning to play a musical instrument.. it takes daily practice, a teacher and it takes about as long to become really proficient.. about a year. find a group if you can, i meditated about 3 or 4 months and ran into s Tibetan Lama.. he invited me to a Chenrezig Center., i attended 3 meetings a week for 5 years.

i discovered what kept me drinking was not lack will power, absence of self discipline, it was simply not having a method for dealing with the shame involved with addiction. i have been clean and sober for 8 years.

some of Pema's teachings

very good insight about getting out of discursive "Ruts"
http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Unstuck-Breaking-Habitual-Encountering/dp/159179238X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217126750&sr=8-2

my personal favorite, i love her voice, adds a lot.... essential teachings, i bought 8 copies i loan out and donate to libraries
http://www.amazon.com/When-Things-Fall-Apart-Difficult/dp/1590302265/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217126750&sr=8-5

http://www.amazon.com/This-Moment-Perfect-Teacher-Cultivating/dp/1590304934/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217126750&sr=8-8


THIS IS HER ALL TIME BEST TEACHING, IT IS ABOUT IDENTIFYING HOW WE GET CAUGHT IN THE "LOOP".. AND HOW WE CAN LEARN TO SEE IT COMING AND SIDE STEP IT.. I BELIEVE THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE ASKING ABOUT...
http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Bite-Hook-Resentment-Destructive/dp/1590304349/ref=sr_1_31?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217126889&sr=8-31

http://www.amazon.com/How-Meditate-Pema-Chodron-Practical/dp/1591797942/ref=pd_sim_b_5
meditation is essential

I recommend the Video, "The Little Buddha"

best book on meditation is Diamond Mind by rob nairn
http://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Mind-Psychology-Rob-Nairn/dp/1570627630/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217131625&sr=1-1

best in depth book is ... the Tibetans have been devoting their lives to the study of meditation for the last 1400 years, this is the synopsis of that study
http://www.amazon.com/Buddhism-Attitude-Tibetan-Seven-Point-Training/dp/1559392002/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217131758&sr=1-1

first of all, remember this... "the Genesis of a problem has absolutely nothing to do with its Resolution", you aren't going to understand how mediation works.. so don't make it a prerequisite to successful meditation.. successful meditation is when you keep doing it, changes are slow, you are rewiring your brain, it takes a while.

you got where you are... the specific people, events, details are history, the past, to get to the future, you must learn to deal with the present.. the undesired past is a result of your ignorance of how the mind works... if your present 'View' that created that past doesn't change ..your now will continue to be more of the same un desired past.. what messes up the present is wanting things to be other than they are.. as soon as you begin to meditate you start down a middle path, crap still happens, but it becomes an opportunity to learn.. it isn't magic.. but it is magical.

[sam sarrha]

8. one thing i forgot to mention... meditation trains the mind not to attach emotions to thoughts, that

is why i couldn't quit drinking, i couldn't deal with the sober reality of the shame, fear, anger, guilt that would constantly rise up.. meditation taught me to let that fall away, i have never had any cravings for alcohol in 8 years. the word Discipline is related to disciple, a follower of a teacher, Pema Chodron, Jack Kornfield, Robert Thurman, Sharon Salzberg, the Dalia Lama, Lama Zopa, Lama Thupwang have all been my teachers.. i had the fortune to give Renunciation to the Abbot of the Dalai Lama's Monastery.

i worked really hard, this wasn't something done in passing.. you get inspiration in a movie or book.. you get results in dedicated activity.. daily meditation and study. i took the path i did because i saw no other effective method in western society. i am also right brain dominant, and it made more sense to me.

[sam sarrha]

9. Movie... "The Little Buddha"... disney movie nearly every video rental store has one..

http://www.deepdiscount.com/viewproduct.htm?productId=5740008