Habit
by Edwin Harkness Spina
"Man is a creature of habit."
This simple statement is deceptively profound. Most people's
lives are comprised of a collection of habits that dictate
many of their physical, emotional and mental actions and
reactions. Depending on the level of conscious awareness you
invest in a habit's creation, habits can either enslave you,
turning you into a mindless automaton, or free you to pursue
creative, joyful activities that enhance and give meaning to
your life. Most people have a mixture of good and bad
habits.
Habit is defined as an acquired behavior pattern followed
until it has become almost involuntary. Habits can be good
or bad, productive or non-productive. Good habits lead to
skills, such as learning to ride a bicycle. They also save
you time and energy by automating the performance of
desirable actions. Brushing your teeth or driving a car are
examples. These acquired behavior patterns free your mind
from having to concentrate, as would be required of
unfamiliar actions.
Bad habits predispose you to undesirable outcomes. Excessive
drinking, smoking, drug use and overeating are examples of
bad habits that can harm your body and impair your judgment,
aside from wasting your time.
Common sense tells us that you want to replace bad habits
with good ones, which is the basis of all self-development
and evolution. But as almost everyone who has ever tried to
quit smoking will tell you, this is not always as easy as it
would seem.
Smokers are addicted to nicotine. But according to modern
brain science, all habits induce emotional states that
produce chemicals in your brain. Consequently, you become
addicted to the chemicals secreted by your brain no matter
what kind of habit you create!
With every thought or action you undertake, you create
electrical pathways in your brain. As Joseph Dispenza says
in the movie What the Bleep do We Know?, "neurons which fire
together, wire together." Repetition etches these patterns
more deeply into your brain.
To replace a bad habit with a good one, you need to break
the association with your emotions and the chemicals you've
grown accustomed to, and rewire your brain. This requires
concentration and will.
If you are unaware or unwilling to acknowledge your non-
productive habit, you will have a hard time replacing it. If
you are not convinced a particular habit is bad for you, you
will have no incentive to change it. But, if you are aware of
your unwanted habit and are willing to devote your attention
to it, then it can be changed. Deeply focused concentration,
such as during a visualization exercise, increases the
potency of your thoughts and more deeply affects your
brain's rewiring.
Remember, it took regular action to install your unwanted
habit - possibly over the course of several lifetimes - so
it will take regular action to undo it. This is where your
will comes in.
You strengthen your will, as well as your habit, with
repetition. Every time you consciously reject the urge to
give in to your bad habit, you strengthen your will. Every
time you consciously undertake an action to install a new,
positive habit, it becomes easier. This is how you rewire
your brain and overcome your addictions.
When these habits are of a positive nature, this self-
reinforcing cycle produces positive results, but the
contrary is also true. This demonstrates a principle
that Jesus taught, "For he that hath, to him shall be
given; and he that hath not, from him shall be taken
even that which he hath."
In other words, consciously acting to install positive
habits strengthens your will and further attracts more like
experiences. Giving in to bad habits, weakens your will, not
only making it harder to install good habits, but doing so
may cause you to lose what good habits you already had.
Can there be any better reason to develop your will and
consciously establish positive habits?
The development of good habits is meant to improve your
life, free you from the grip of negative habits and attract
even more positive experiences to you. At the same time,
always remember to be guided by wisdom and not convention.
You should strive to perform good actions based on your own
inner wisdom and conscious choice, not based on convention -
not even good habits. This is the ultimate freedom.
Best wishes,
Ed
P.S. Your feedback is welcomed - please send your comments to me at:
ehspina@mysticwarrior.us
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