Before I left the hotel for the finals of the national championships, I had a dip. And shortly after winning, I had another.
After college I was successful in giving up the habit, for various periods of time, but the second I had even a little bit of snuff, within 24 hours, I was dipping like I’d never quit.
The above proves the Zen Master’s wise words: “You must hold onto positive habits with all you’ve got – but negative habits, they lure you in and take hold of you. Before you know it, the negative habit has YOU – you don’t have IT.”
But is it possible to create a positive habit that takes hold of you?
Yes, it is – but even so, you still have to nurture it. You still have to remind yourself to do it.
The reminder might not be much – but it’s still necessary.
As Jim Rohn used to say, “Discipline is remembering.”
When you’re on the path of successful living, one of the biggest disciplines is remembering to do your mental-spiritual work.
You’d think this would be an automatic, but it’s not.
There are some people I’ve met who do Theatre of the Mind for a spell, and they get off-the-charts results. They get into FLOW. They start
feeling better than they’ve ever felt before.
And when this happens, the temptation to stop remembering what got you where you were, is HUGE.
You forget to remember. You lose the discipline. And then you start to slide downhill.
This, my friend, is one of the reasons for making your list of habits.
Why?
Because the truth is when you drop a good habit, you replaced it with something that isn’t quite as beneficial. You follow me?
You stop doing Theatre of the Mind because you’d rather watch tee-vee uninterrupted.
You stop working out because there’s an endless stream of parties, functions, weddings, and so on to attend.
You stop painting because there are a bunch of great movies playing.
You stop meditating because you’re on vacation.
You stop eating healthy because you’re on a road trip.
At first it seems like no big deal. You’re only going to miss a day. Or two. The time off is welcomed. But unless you’ve consciously chosen to do something else with your time, to take a break for a good reason, chances are excellent that the beneficial habit is G-O-N-E and the non-beneficial habit has you by the innards.
Getting a good habit back is not difficult – but it may feel impossible to many. Why? Because the “inner you” cannot see yourself doing what you know you need to do.
This is where self-image comes into play and makes the changes easier to come by. You start picturing and feeling yourself reverting back to your good habits.
In order to do this, you make the daily practice of Theatre of the Mind your #1 habit. And the second you do so, you will experience things flowing smoothly.
Tomorrow I’ll give you some more suggestions on the breaking or changing of habits. For now, though, make sure you do Theatre of the Mind and get yourself reacquainted with the part of you that CAN and WILL succeed.
Best,
Matt Furey
P.S. You’re welcome to forward this email to a friend and encourage him or her to get on this list. That’s one of the ways all of us can grow.
