Habits That Help

We are human beings with minds formed of habit. We learn largely through repetition and use critical thinking to express our self in wholly original ways. However, our emotional self, that part of us that motivates our activities, is almost fully dependent on habit. Also, the part of our self that uses reason is moderately to completely influenced by habit. If we fail to recognize this in our self we can simply observe how this works in our children.

A normal body must rely heavily upon habit to fully function. Likewise, we must rely on habit to deal with those events that require an instant response. Habit is so large a part of what we are that who we are could never develop without it. Reliance on habit is not our weakness it is instead an instrument of our humanness. We could… we should work at building constructive habits because positive or negative they will dominate our life. If we acknowledge the fact we are so heavily influenced by our habits the challenge becomes to transform them in to helpful ones.

Those instances where our life is changed by a single event are very few indeed. Often a repetition of events is necessary to form new habits. An inspiration may motivate us to change but rarely is its magic sufficiently powerful to endure the seemingly endless assaults of habit. Most often our desire to change will collapse under the crushing weight of repetitive challenges. So what are we who wish to change to do?

It would doubtless be helpful to find living examples to inspire us. For only such examples are enduring for as long as it takes us to form new habits. No seeking heart is so isolated that examples are not readily available to them. It takes only willingness, a willingness to change and a willingness to seek out examples. Then when old habits rise up to protest our neglect of them, inspiration by example will once again allow us to take the next step in transforming our life. We most often grow in stages and living examples will help us in our gradual ascent.

The largest changes in us may come about when we choose to become an example, an inspiration to others. To so live that we draw others to us and become a means of their transformation. This is not as easy as it may sound because it takes a lifetime of dedication and a willingness to pay the price that others will be transformed by our life. We are not required to be perfect but to be dedicated in our pursuit of excellence. We may not see the results but a dedication to our mission will see us through. Then we may understand the greatest miracle we can perform is to make a miracle of someone else.