THE BOOK OF DISCIPLINE

PRIORITY HAVES

If you completed yesterday's assignment, do this next.

Once you've completed each strand's Haves, take a seat. Sit with your feet flat on the floor. Lay your arms loosely on the chair’s arms. Hold your head high and close your eyes. Now, I want you to inhale through your nostrils for a count of three and exhale through your mouth for a count of six.

I call this Three-Six breathing. After a minimum of seven breaths, you can do more if you like, but do at least seven. After you have completed your breaths, I want you to close your eyes and imagine that you are sitting on a bench near a lake, a valley, or a canyon. Choose a place you’ve been before that awed you.

Awe-​​is the emotion you feel when perceiving something rare or unexpected, eliciting reverential respect.

Once you are there within your mind, float as many of the ME desires you exhaled and wrote over the lake, valley, or canyon.

Your Haves can be either words or images. It depends on how your mind works.

Some Haves will be more prominent, colorful, and frequent than others. Pick the three that are the most notable.

What’s the first one that pops out?

When I do my ME Strand, I see an image of me with bulging biceps, a small waist, solid pecs, and a bubble butt.

I lost my butt several years ago. I'm not sure where it fell off, but it's gone.

Many of my female clients see themselves looking in a mirror as they visit their favorite clothing store wearing a size four dress, a size they never thought they would wear again.

One of my clients saw herself standing naked in front of her spouse, and his face was beaming with pride. She felt self-confidence and accomplishment like she had never felt before. A Have is something you possess or experience. She was Have-ing an experience.

Many of my clients see themselves sleeping like a baby.

One of my male clients saw himself playing golf, and the scorecard showed that he had shot an even par. He wanted to BE a scratch golfer, a golfer without a handicap.

Once you have chosen your three ME-Haves, chose three Haves for each of the three remaining strands, US, THEM, HIM.

Wait a day, then comeback and chose the one that has the highest priority for each strand of life. Don’t rush it, wait the day. It’s important to let your Haves germinate. Remember this Have is for what you desire to Have within one year’s time.

If for some reason, you lost yesterday's assignment, here it is.

EXHALE YOUR DESIRES

The first tool to use to discover your priority desires is to exhale them onto paper.

In essence, make a bucket list. Start with the First Strand, the ME Strand. Then, after you have exhausted everything you desire for your body, health, and mind, move to the US Strand. That strand is all about the people you love: your spouse, children, parents, and even your closest friends, because sometimes we love friends more than anyone else.

The US Strand is our inner circle.

Once you have exhaled all your desires for the US Strand on paper, move to the THEM Strand, your outer circle. You love them, but not in the same way as your inner circle. They include those involved with your career, such as your co-workers and customers. In my case, it would be the clients I coach, my service club co-members, acquaintances, etc.

The THEM Strand is our outer circle

Finally, move to the Fourth Strand, HIM. The best definition of this strand is: What is God's purpose for you? We are all on this planet for some reason. Mine is to write and positively affect as many as possible.

The HIM Strand encompasses all.

Another way to think of the four intertwined strands of Life is to think of them as concentric rings. The inner ring is ME, the next concentric ring is US, the next concentric ring is THEM, and the outer ring is HIM. Each ring brings in more and more people. We begin with the inner ring, which is just about you, and work your way to the outer ring, which holds all people.

"Doc, how many desires do you want me to write for each ring?"

There is no limit. Keep writing until nothing comes to mind regarding that ring, then move to the next strand/ring. Once you get into the flow of what you want, writing fifty or more desires for your inner strands would not be unusual. The Fourth Strand, HIM, usually only has one to three main intentions.

Do it today, because you don't want to fall behind when it comes to a successful 2026. At least exhale everything you want to Have for the ME-Strand.

Do it now and do it right.

Once you have completed the ME-Strand desires, move to the other strands one at a time, completing the Us-Strand, then the THEM-Strand, and last the HIM-Strand.

Prove to yourself that you have the discipline to complete this exercise, because if you don’t have the discipline to take the first step, where you arrive, no one will know, and you may arrive nowhere.

​

Doc Mac

​
​

​