The Force of Habit

There is an unseen force that significantly influences the way in which we experience our lives. This force is the Force of Habit. 

Living organisms are, in general, creatures of habit, and human beings are no exception. 

Our habits are learned behaviors, and most of our habits are developed in our younger years. As we age, these habits become ever more deeply ingrained, and as time goes by it becomes increasingly more difficult to veer from our established routine of habits. 

Our habits encompass the way we eat, the way we talk, the clothes we wear, our level of physical activity, the amount of money we earn and the level of affluence we enjoy, and perhaps most importantly, the way we think. 

Our most deeply ingrained habits are called Lifetime Habits, because they truly are habits of a lifetime that keep our routines of thought and action locked into place throughout the duration of our lives. 

Once our habits are established, we actually don't need to exert any effort to keep them in motion. For instance, even the habit of exercise does not require an effort in the true sense. If we are in the habit of exercising, although exercise by nature requires physical exertion to perform, it is something that we will naturally be inclined to do.

Effort here refers to an exertion of will to act in a way that is contrary to an established habit. Because the force of habit is so strong, it takes a very strong effort and act of will to overcome it. The effort required is akin to the effort needed to swim continuously upstream against a powerful river current. 

Habits are neutral. That is, they are only good or bad insofar as they either enhance the quality of our lives or detract from the quality of our lives. It is possible that a habit that formerly enhanced our lives may exhaust its usefulness and become a habit that would best be eliminated. 

For example, practicing a particular career is one such habit. We establish the habit of doing the work we do. If we continue to enjoy our work and prosper from it, it remains a beneficial habit. But there may be cases where our work which formerly brought us satisfaction no longer does. Or perhaps due to the changing of times, work that we established the habit of performing 10 or 20 years ago is no longer relevant in today's world. 

In such a case, we may find that we need to establish new habits to replace our old ones. It is important to note that in order to eliminate an old habit, it must be replaced by a new habit. All habits can be parred down to two basic forms: the habit of doing (action) and the habit of not doing (inaction). 

Regardless of the specific habit in question, any habit is either a habit of something that we do, or something that we do not do. For example, we may realize that we need to establish the habit of exercising. Currently, we are in the habit of not (doing) exercising. In other words, we are in the habit of inaction as it relates to exercise. In order to establish the habit of exercising, we need to overcome the inertia of inaction and replace it with the habit of action. 

In contrast, we may be in the habit of smoking and realize that we need to quit. We need to replace the habit of (doing) smoking with the habit of (not doing) smoking. In other words, we need to exercise our will and acutually make an effort to not do this action. That is, we need to establish the habit of inaction as it relates to smoking.  

Whether we are working on establishing a habit of action (doing) or a habit of inaction (not doing), the creation of any new habit requires an initial exertion of Effort with the focused intention of performing (or not performing) the new behavior.

When we first attempt to establish a new habit, we invariably encounter resistance. This is simply a function of the Force of Habit attempting to do its job properly. However, if we truly want to establish a new habit, then we needto act, or refrain from acting, even in spite of such resistance, and persist in doing so until our desired new habit has been established. 

By remaining intent on establishing our new action and sustaining our effort in the face of the Resistance, eventually the Resistance will give way and the Force of Habit will take over the new behavior we have established, so that this behavior becomes our new, more desirable habit. 

How long it takes to create a new habit and replace it with an old one depends on a number of factors. The first factor is the extent to which the habit is ingrained. Lifetime Habits are the most deeply ingrained, and therefore the most difficult to replace. 

The second factor is the level of motivation, or intent, to establish a new habit in place of a new one. For example, if you have smoked three packs of cigarettes a day for 20 years, your habit of smoking will be very deeply ingrained. It is a Lifetime Habit that under ordinary circumstances may be difficult to break. Maybe you've tried to quit smoking many times and were unable to. 

However, if you go to the doctor and are told that if you don't quit you're going to die within the next six months and will never see your friends and family again, this may be sufficient motivation to immediately quit smoking, regardless of how much Resistance you encounter. 

Once again, habits are not good or bad, except to the extent that they either support or detract from the quality of one's life experience. The important thing to realize is that the Force of Habit exists as a force that strongly affects the way in which we experience our lives. 

Recognizing the existence of the Force of Habit can help us understand the source of Resistance we inevitably encounter when we attempt to change well-established behaviors in our lives. At the same time, it is important to know that the Force of Habit can equally work for us when we use it to replace non-useful, life-detracting patterns of behavior with more effective, life-enhancing behaviors.

The Power of Appreciation

We all want to be happy. We all desire affluence. The best way to experience happiness and wealth immediately is to Appreciate all that you have and all that you are right here and right now. 

All too often, we tend to believe that we lack certain aspects of our lives that keep us from being as happy as we could be. We feel like we need a better car, a better house, a better job, or more money. In fact, we are conditioned to believe that we should always want something more than what we have. 

What we are not conditioned to do, is to simply Appreciate that which we already DO have. The simple act of Appreciating enables us to become aware that we are in fact already much wealthier than we habitually believe. 

If we take stock of our lives in terms of This Present Moment, which is the One Moment of Experience, and take a detailed inventory of what we DO have, we find that we are in fact already quite wealthy. 

In terms of This Present Moment, we find that we already have an abundance of food, clothing, shelter, and cash that we need, at least for This Moment! We may not have enough of a stock of these things to last us an entire lifetime, but unless we are in very extreme circumstances, we can usually accept that we DO in fact have more than enough for This Moment. And because This Present Moment is the One and Only Moment of Experience, this means that we Do in fact have all that we need right here and right now. 

We can go beyond these basic needs and appreciate the friends we have, the family we have, all of the experiences we have had, our health, the air that we breathe, and at its essence, we can can simply appreciate the fact that we are alive, and that we have the opportunity to live and enjoy and experience this life. 

The act of Appreciation is one of the most powerful and effective ways of exercising our Personal Power. When we truly appreciate all that we are and all that we have right here and right now, we shift from a mindset of focusing on what we are lacking, to an awareness of what we already have. This enables us to enjoy and Appreciate life as it is right here and right now. 

Since This Present Moment is our One Moment of Experience, and we can therefore only ever experience well-being right here and right now, appreciating is precisely what we need to do in order to experience wealth and happiness. 

Learn to Appreciate all that you have and all that you are right here and right now, and you will never feel like you lack anything. It is possible to feel happy and fulfilled right here and right now, simply by Appreciating all that you have and all that you are, right here and right now. 

One other benefit of the act of Appreciation is simply that what we focus on expands. When we focus on what we lack, we are in effect supporting the continuation of the experience of lacking. Conversely, when we focus on (appreciate) what we already have, we not only receive the immediate benefit of recognizing the ways in which we are already blessed and already wealthy, but we actually support the continuation of experiencing even more of what we have. 

For some, this seems counter-intuitive. You might think that if you appreciate what you have right now, that is the same as being satisfied with your lot in life as it is right now, when in fact you really DO want more. This leads you to focus on what you don't have, instead of appreciating what you do have. 

The problem is that even though this approach seems logical, it is not effective in producing what you do want. Focusing on what you do not have, and failing to appreciate what you Do have, will only keep the same conditions in tact. 

Another way to view this matter is to ask yourself: at what point is enough, enough? Even if you do succeed in accumulating the things you want and creating the precise circumstances in life you desire, will you have the capacity to actually appreciate them then? 

Maybe, but in either case, the ability to Appreciate provides you with the capacity to gain maximum enjoyment of what you DO have right here and right now. 

And once again, because This Present Moment is the One Moment of Experience, Right Here and Right Now is the only place and time that we can ever experience anything. 

Thus, we either have the capacity to Appreciate our lives, as they are, right here and right now, or we do not. Which approach is better? Which is more empowering? Which better enables us to experience well-being? 

The answer is pretty obvious.