Habits are actions that we commit automatically. They can save us a lot of time, because we avoid reflecting every time we get ready to do something. Likewise, they are chains of actions that organize and bring order to our lives. Getting up early to go running, taking the dog for a walk, taking a nap after lunch, always having dinner at nine… Customs are like threads. If we braid them into a rope day after day, it will soon be unbreakable.
The fundamental question is to discern if we lead a life of good or bad habits because in the latter case, we can see ourselves chained to self-destructive behaviors or actions. Beyond tobacco or excessive drinking, there are other bad habits with a more unconscious and highly pernicious profile such as adopting the role of victim, being in permanent complaint or checking things a thousand times because doubt plagues us.
The easiest habits to overcome are those that we can identify. The one who spends all day waiting for his cell phone, the one who doesn’t leave home on a weekend prisoner of a series marathon, the one who always arrives late. Once one is aware of the bad habit, one works with the motivation to suppress it or it is replaced by a healthier one. Other resources that we can develop are patience, mental flexibility, humor or perseverance.
A bad routine dominates us and a good habit organizes us. The difference is substantial but it is not always easy to realize the addiction that bad habits entail. That is why it is good to make an evaluation of one’s own habits objectively. If necessary, we can give ourselves a prize when we do things well and we are abandoning a bad one.
The late person who has put his watch forward ten minutes and arrives on time. The sloth who manages to go for a run every morning. The one who stops lying compulsively. As one leaves negative routines behind, he sees how his life changes for the better, because as the wise Swami Vivekananda said “sow a thought and you will reap an action. Sow an action, reap a habit. Cultivate a habit and you will get a character. Cultivate a character and you will reap your own destiny.”
On many occasions, we are not aware of the strength of habits as determining agents of our personality. They define us, while drawing our destiny. That is why it is so important to be aware of our bad habits and draw up a plan to eliminate them.
It takes determination, but it’s worth it. If we are impatient, we will always go fast and miss many of life’s experiences. Creating a new habit, such as being the one who always goes to the supermarket and stands in line, can smooth out this restless character. Like the traveler who never attended to his partner in his absence, and he adopts the habit of sending her flowers once a week.
Bad habits are routines that escalate out of control. When we set out to eradicate them, it is not a matter of trying but of doing it decisively and with a good load of motivation.
Among the bad habits, laziness is one of the worst because it causes disruption to everything around us. Since routines start from a thought, mental hygiene is one of the success principles to control them. The mind is the one that triggers the chain of actions that can imprison us in unwanted habits. Replacing negative thoughts with positive ones is another key to overcoming bad habits.
Aristotle said that “we are what we do day by day. So excellence is not an act, but a habit.”
The mind can with everything. The thought determines the action and the succession or repetition of an action generates a habit. That is why to program or deprogram habits, the mental part is essential.
a) Remember and concretely locate the positive habit that you want to establish.
It is important that it is very clear and that it is achievable.
b) Consider a proposition or positive statement. “I want to stop yelling when I get angry.” Or “I am going to live in silence, with less mental noise”.
c) Add an image in which to visualize yourself in the immediate future with this purpose or positive habit fulfilled.
d) Verbalize and repeat this statement several times. Mentally and emotionally. All the determination, self-love and resources set forth in the previous section must be applied.
e) Reiterate the positive thought and repeat the affirmation regularly.
Let the thoughts be the door to establish new and good vital habits.
