Mastering the habits

Everything that comes into our life should either stay with us and become our strength, or it should leave us and make us free. It should never stay with us and become our weakness.

Haven’t we heard about Ivan Pavlov’s effect?

Pavlov used to ring a metronome at the same time he fed his dogs. After a while, the dogs which earlier salivated only when they saw and ate their food would now begin to salivate only when the metronome sounded, even if no food were present. Can a man suffer like Pavlov’s dogs? But in reality, that’s what habits are!

"If I don’t smoke I can’t do potty; without something to read, I can’t sit on the pot; If I miss any morning tea I will develop a headache; if I don’t have a banana in the night I can’t sleep; when I am tensed I need a drink; no matter what happens I will run home to watch my favourite mega serial, else hell will break lose…"

 Ring the bell &  I will salivate is what we mean by all these!   

When something affects us when we don’t get it, it means that it has gained mastery over us. What has gained mastery over us, has gained the mastery over our peace.  The number of external masters, the less peaceful we can be.

 If the newspaper is delayed, it disturbs our peace. If the coffee is not to your specification, it disturbs our peace. When we can’t go to the temple, it affects our peace. Even going to places of worship have become conditioned mechanical response- a habit.

The proof of right living is in the peace that we experience.  Willpower is developed through won’t power. When we find ourself being mastered by our habits which destroy our peace, we should practice the” won’t power”. For one week we should abstain from that which disturbed us. Then, again we have to get back and determine who is going to be mastery over whom, whether your habits on you or you on habits.

Ask the question, “who is the master? “

The number of times, the answer is something or someone outside of you, means you are not having a very peaceful existence. The number of times you feel you are the master, then you are experiencing the all-encompassing peace. Once after realising this fact, I started to take everything and everyone as my choice, and not as my addiction. And at the same time, I started to ask each of my dear ones to allow me to be their strength and not a weakness.

To be succinct....

Habits are mental phonograph records. Repeated indulgence of anything creates a mental blueprint. Whenever one puts a needle of attention on the grooves formed in the mind, it plays back the blueprint. Repetition causes the grooves to deepen and after a while, the record is played automatically over and over again. The mental make-up, the patterns called habit becomes hard set, making it difficult to change. Thus, we become slaves to our habits and lose our freedom, self-discipline and control. 

Either you run your life or your habits run your life, who is the master and who is the slave?

Let's get our perceptions right!

With smiles...

Swathi

(Investing myself completely in the art of living)