I cheated on today's meditation. When it came time for the meditation after Oprah and Deepak's initial comments, I pulled the "scroll bar" ahead and ended up only doing a few minutes of the quiet contemplation rather than the full 10-12 or whatever it is.
Meditation: Day 14 - Many Breakthroughs, One Victory
____
One of the things Deepak talked about in today's meditation is habits. He contends that every time we decide to go against our habitual, auto-pilot, programmed, knee-jerk responses, we are experiencing a breakthrough. And with each breakthrough, we give ourselves the opportunity to change course in our lives, to take ownership of writing our own stories. In many ways, then, habit can thought of as subconscious compulsions.
A Spanish proverb sagely asserts, "habits are first cobwebs and then cables." And indeed they are. From a purely scientific perspective, Newton's first law tells us (in simple terms) that an object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion <with the same speed and in the same direction> unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.
Habits are much like these "objects" that Newton refers to in the sense that when we fall in line with engaging or not engaging in a certain behavior or thought pattern, we tend to keep going with it. Habit inertia takes over and before long, we are subconsciously, thoughtlessly and automatically heeding its ways.
Yet, it does not have to be this way. In fact, changing this process is deceptively simple, yet not always easy. When it comes down to it, any sort of pattern breaking or habit interruptions boils down to acting upon the target behavior or pattern with an unbalanced force. In other words, maladaptive or otherwise undesirable habits can be broken with the introduction of another "disruptive force" (preferably some healthy habit) to take its place. The key here, however, is consistency, which comes with persistence. (I intentionally do not want to use the word discipline in this case, but that is another discussion). Unlike a solitary object in motion which might require a solitary force to counteract its trajectory, habits have the force of hundreds or thousands (or more) objects that have accumulated over time. Reprogramming habits takes times, but each repetitive "unbalanced" behavior or action you engage in place of the habit, the more you are putting the breaks on the habits.
This begs the question of new habits. Whether trying to replace old habits for new ones or trying to implement a new habit into our lives, the process is the same. If we are consistent and persistent over time, the new habit becomes our new normal. Human beings are wired to crave consistency, habit, pattern, and structure. Trust that you are biologically biased towards repetitive action, repetitive thought, and repetitive choices.
Choosing what those actions, thoughts, and choices will be is up to you.
Question: What habits are you looking to get rid of in your life? What habits are you looking to introduce? Which of your current habits are you most proud of or that you would like to grow?
QUOTES:
PS
Meditation: Day 14 - Many Breakthroughs, One Victory
(Chopra Center 21-Day Meditation Challenge: Shedding the Weight
Centering Thought: I celebrate every breakthrough I make on the way to being free.
Mantra: Moksha Hum (I am free.)
Quote: "Breakthrough is guaranteed, if there is enough light." - Sunday Adelaja
____
One of the things Deepak talked about in today's meditation is habits. He contends that every time we decide to go against our habitual, auto-pilot, programmed, knee-jerk responses, we are experiencing a breakthrough. And with each breakthrough, we give ourselves the opportunity to change course in our lives, to take ownership of writing our own stories. In many ways, then, habit can thought of as subconscious compulsions.
A Spanish proverb sagely asserts, "habits are first cobwebs and then cables." And indeed they are. From a purely scientific perspective, Newton's first law tells us (in simple terms) that an object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion <with the same speed and in the same direction> unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.
Habits are much like these "objects" that Newton refers to in the sense that when we fall in line with engaging or not engaging in a certain behavior or thought pattern, we tend to keep going with it. Habit inertia takes over and before long, we are subconsciously, thoughtlessly and automatically heeding its ways.
Yet, it does not have to be this way. In fact, changing this process is deceptively simple, yet not always easy. When it comes down to it, any sort of pattern breaking or habit interruptions boils down to acting upon the target behavior or pattern with an unbalanced force. In other words, maladaptive or otherwise undesirable habits can be broken with the introduction of another "disruptive force" (preferably some healthy habit) to take its place. The key here, however, is consistency, which comes with persistence. (I intentionally do not want to use the word discipline in this case, but that is another discussion). Unlike a solitary object in motion which might require a solitary force to counteract its trajectory, habits have the force of hundreds or thousands (or more) objects that have accumulated over time. Reprogramming habits takes times, but each repetitive "unbalanced" behavior or action you engage in place of the habit, the more you are putting the breaks on the habits.
This begs the question of new habits. Whether trying to replace old habits for new ones or trying to implement a new habit into our lives, the process is the same. If we are consistent and persistent over time, the new habit becomes our new normal. Human beings are wired to crave consistency, habit, pattern, and structure. Trust that you are biologically biased towards repetitive action, repetitive thought, and repetitive choices.
Choosing what those actions, thoughts, and choices will be is up to you.
Question: What habits are you looking to get rid of in your life? What habits are you looking to introduce? Which of your current habits are you most proud of or that you would like to grow?
QUOTES:
“Successful
people are simply those with successful habits.” - Brian Tracy
“Good
habits are worth being fanatical about.” - John Irving
“Habits
are safer than rules; you don't have to watch them. And you don't have to keep
them either. They keep you.” - Frank Crane
“I
think if you stop bad habits, and you stop long enough, you develop good
habits.” - Jordan Knight
“Difficult
times disrupt your conventional ways of thinking and push you to forge better
habits of thought, performance and being.” - Robin S. Sharma
“Times
of transition are strenuous, but I love them. They are an opportunity to purge,
rethink priorities, and be intentional about new habits. We can make our new
normal any way we want.” - Kristin Armstrong
“If
you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in
little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.” -
Colin Powell
“Motivation
is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” - Jim Ryun
“Rigid,
the skeleton of habit alone upholds the human frame.” - Virginia Woolf
“If
you want to cultivate a habit, do it without any reservation, till it is firmly
established. Until it is so confirmed, until it becomes a part of your
character, let there be no exception, no relaxation of effort.” - Mahavira
“Habits
change into character.” - Ovid
“The
chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.”
– Samuel Johnson
“Your
beliefs become your thoughts,
Your
thoughts become your words,
Your
words become your actions,
Your
actions become your habits,
Your
habits become your values,
Your
values become your destiny.” – Mahatma Ghandi
“Excellence
is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we
have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted
rightly. We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” - Aristotle
PS
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