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We can all overcome unwanted and harmful “habits” I’ve learned that ‘habits’ are a result of conditioning. We acquire them through association with others with the same habits. A Jesuit priest in one of my psychology classes at Loyola University Chicago where I got my education said, we pick up habits by imitating other people or by following their example. That statement got me thinking!

In fact, Father Mertz said, the best way to rid yourself of a habit ,is to have the self-power of focusing on “non-identification” of the habit. Simply put, he said, we can break habits by ceasing not to ‘identify’ with them.  What I learned was for us to identify with a habit, meant we take on that habit as our self; but are “not” the same thing as our habit. We and our habit are two entirely separate things. Naturally as a young man, I was trying to grasp/see this at that stage in my life.

Father Mertz, in our class lectures stated we not say things like, “I have a bad temper” or I am absent-minded.” He believed every time we would do this, we strengthen the illusion that we and our habit are one in the same thing. He said we should refer to a habit as “it.” His example was the ‘bad temper’, which may be a “present part of our life” and thus thinking of the habit as an “it” separates us from the habit. Thus we begin to see them as entirely different things.

What he got me especially to start thinking about at as a 20 year old was, a harmful habit whatever it may be, is part of a “false self.” He told us to work towards uncovering our “true self” and that would allow us to free ourselves of unwanted habits. In essence, we all needed begin to “chunk the junk” in our minds. He said we all will need to learn how to “sail in natural waters” moving forward into our future.

So if we picture something in our thinking (mental pictures). Our actions in life are a way in which we see life. He also said, we all act toward life, for a benefit or loss, according to the way we habitually see things. For example you step into a roomful of strangers; as you step into the room, a picture flashes into your mind of how you acted on a “previous” entering. That past viewpoint now determines your present behavior. Point being, if you were nervous and uncertain on the previous occasion, that negative image tells you, “you were nervous before; thus you must be nervous again . So that is what exactly happens to us.

In closing this blog today, do keep in mind; Any situation or fact facing us is not as important as our “attitude” toward the situation. Our attitude determines our success or failure. Our attitude is a “habit of thought” and if we repeat the same thought over and over again,it becomes reinforced into our brain and becomes an attitude. Hope this helps those of you who take the time to read my thoughts

Have an amazing day and life. John “Crno”Crnokrak

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