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Introduction
The philosophy of habit is that every repetition of an act makes it more certain that it will be repeated again and again, quickly making the doer a slave. In spite of the protests of your weakened will, the trained nerves continued to repeat the act even when you abhor them. What you at first choose, at last compels you. You are as irrevocably chained to your deeds as the atoms are chained by gravitation. ~Orison Swett Marden
It would not appear that with every action we set in motion factors that determine the outcome of our lives, but this is indeed true. A simple evaluation of this premise is more than enough to prove that we are as Marden put’s it, slaves to our habits. Your habits make you, they break you, they create you through and though right down to the tips of your nerve fibers. We were born to habit, and by habit we were created. Every little nuance of our lives has been established through habit. People who say they can no more change their habits then a zebra can change its stripes are unaware of this fact. Good or bad we are creatures of habit.
Often repeating over and over the thing that produces our habits without the slightest hint as to the bondage with which we have imprisoned ourselves. We complain all day about our condition in life, yet we haven’t the strength of mind to make the necessary changes to alleviate our circumstance. How is it that man has the ability to think, yet lacks the will power to change from the habits that seal his ill fated condition? And why is it that we are so willing to live with these bad habits? With the reasons being as varied as the people themselves is it any wonder we haven’t changed the habits of our lives.
Every once in a while I come across a thought that compels me to analyze its nature. As I do so I take it through a process that allows me to strip away any false impression about its nature. By this I mean what is the character of this thought. Once its character is established I can then determine its impact on my life. Or more so I can then apply its impact to my life in the form of self-improvement, if the thought warrants that form of action. Above you have read an excerpt from He Who Thinks He Can (author noted). While reading this paragraph I couldn’t help but to think what kind of impact this can have on the lives of people who struggle to change their lives for the better. If only they could grasp its true meaning. For once the meaning is discerned change is unavoidable. Of course this assumption is based of one’s willingness to change, or a desire to change.
The Nature of Habits
Peeling Back the Layers
Now let’s take this apart and then reassemble it in a manner that will allow us to apply this thought to our life alright. As Marden stated, repetition of an act creates the habit. We can see how this applies to action for the simple fact that we are tied to our habits by way of actions. Action is the most recognized form of a habit and it does not take a whole lot of thought to see its effect on our lives. The act of observation into your daily routines will reveal this forthcoming truth. Most of us and this includes me, do not take the time to think when it comes to what we are doing, and how it effects our habits.
Because of this we wander through life without the slightest perception of what it is that is happening to us. We get up each day perform the same routine then retire at the end of the day and wonder why we continue in this manner. Never do we give the thought it takes to discover the reason for our behavior. So we continue as we must because we have by way of action set in motion the reality of our day. In fact to deviate from our routine will by effect disrupt the habits that keep us in check. This in turn brings about feelings of uncertainty and sometimes chaos into our day. Whether we like it or not this is the result of repetition of action. So then repetition of action is the first level of habit.
To dig into habit further we must once again go to Marden’s example. From it we can see that habit can weaken our will, and the more we repeat a habit the more we are drawn to it. For this fact, our nerves are trained to function according to our habits. The plain fact that our nerves are involved leads us to this assumption. The reason we have such a hard time changing habits is for the same reason we can’t stop ourselves from breathing. Our nerves which keep us functioning are also the same nerves that control our habits. Now it starts to become clearer. Repetition of action creates our habit, and once created, nerves continue the functioning of our habits. Is it any wonder that we continually fail to change our habits? You see we do not do by choice that which hurts us we do it by habit.
When we look at the definition of the word nerve we find it states the following; “any of the filamentous bands of nervous tissue that connect parts of the nervous system with the other organs, conduct nervous impulses, and are made up of axons and dendrites together with protective and supportive structures”. Now I’m not a Doctor so I am not going to pretend that I know exactly how our nervous systems works, but I do believe that I can reason out a logical outcome as to how habits affect our nervous system. If you take a function of the body we will find that it has a specific function, and that it maintains that function through action. The heart beats, the stomach digest, the kidney cleans the blood and so on. The principle here shows us that just as our nerves are wired to perform repeated task without our conscious knowledge, habits once set in motion function in the same manner.
Thus Marden cautions us that repetition of action, which does indeed train our nerves, takes us one step closer to completing the cycle. For now we find that we are chained to our deeds because of our habits. Providing further evidences that our condition is indeed linked to our habits, with this in mind the picture of our life should now be clear. By now you should no longer be viewing your life as a spectator. You should now see the actions of your life for what they really are, the habit forming deeds that created your condition. This is to say that you are responsible for your condition and no one else can be put to blame. The real question though is what are you going to do about your condition in life? Are you going to take the time to analyze your action to see how they are linked to your habits? Are you going to retrain you nerves to serve you better?
Now that we have gone through and peeled back the layers of this thought we have exposed its character. What we can see from its character is that all habits require action, all habits program responses, which link us to the circumstances of our lives. Now that we understand the character of this thought we can see how to apply it to our lives to create lasting change. In order to create lasting change though you will have to take what I have discovered about the Philosophy of Habit and take it one step further. By doing so you will then have in your hands the means for mastering your habits, thus bringing about conditions of life you truly want to choose.
In other words to change your habits and create lasting change you will need to develop self-discipline. I will now touch on an impression that will explain further this Philosophy of Habit. Imagine if you will this picture, in order for an act to become habit you must repeat it over and over and over again right? Now what does it take to accomplish this task? Self-discipline that’s what, the fact that you are repeating an act over and over again is indeed setting up this habit, but you are creating self-discipline in your life as well. Now here’s the hard part and you really need to pay attention here, the self-discipline you are employing can be unfavorable to you life. Please stop here and think about that for a moment.
Habits upon Habits
Before we move on I want to talk about the overpowering consequences of building habit upon habit? To consider this concept you would have to understand that I am not talking about the proverbial rabbit hole where the absurd and improbable take place. But in fact, I am talking about an objective of habit that allows habit to reinforce habit. In this way the likelihood of a habits survival is increased by the measure given to the habit. So then just for a moment let go of all that is normal to your thinking process. Now allow your mind to focus on a habit that you don’t particularly care for and in doing so you will find that you have in fact reinforced that habit through the layering of habits. All things being habit we find that excuses are habits built upon habits. If you may care to think in a manner that is favorable to change you will then realize that excuses are indeed habits that reinforce habits.
More to follow
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Posted by bigd49 on 2008-06-24 00:58:02 | Rating: | Views: 73
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