We Are Our Habits

Share

“Watch your thoughts; they become words.

Watch your words; they become actions.

Watch your actions; they become habits.

Watch your habits; they become character.

Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.”

—Lao-Tze

Webster defines the word “habit” as “a usual manner of behavior” or “the prevailing disposition or character of a person's thoughts and feelings.”

Some habits are good and some are bad. Good habits are habits which contribute in our effort to live a quality life while bad habits are habits which hinders us from doing so. Whether we like it or not, each and one of us have habits we’ve develop for quite some time. Furthermore, habits are not only limited on what we do but also on how we think and see the world. For better or for worse, we are the persons we are now because of the habits we have developed. And if we don’t do anything to change our habits, our habits will definitely determine our destiny. Rich and poor people are different because of their differing habits of thinking and living. Highly effectively people are different from ineffective people because they have different habits.

Each one of us is called to become the best person we can be in life. And the only way we can do so is by maintaining and developing good habits and letting go of bad ones. Though it’s true that it’s very hard to break some certain bad habits, it’s possible to make the needed change. The key is to acknowledge four of our human endowments which sets us apart from the animal world. These human endowments are:

1) Self-awareness- our ability to stand apart from ourselves and examine our habits and the way we live life.

2) Independent Will- our ability to make things happen.

3) Conscience- our ability to determine right from wrong.

4) Creating Imagination- our ability to see and create a future.

By being self aware, we’ll be able to examine ourselves and acknowledge that we need to develop healthy habits and let go of bad ones. And the only way we can do that, the developing of good habits and letting go of bad one, is to exercise our independent will to make things happen. Through our conscience, we’re able to determine which good habits to maintain and keep and which ones to let go. And through our creative imagination, we’re able to picture an expanding reality where we’re becoming the person God ought us to be one step at a time, one day at a time, one habit at a time.

For better or for worse, we are our habits. But we have the ability to make the decision to renew ourselves. Becoming a better person is simply making a decision to do so and making that decision into a commitment by living out the promises we make one day at a time. Each and one of us are capable and meant for greater things. And the only way we do that is to develop the habits needed to become that person meant for greater things.