Are Your Habits Friend Or Foe... By Steven Boyd

As we go through life from a young child to an adult, we tend to accumulate things. It could be material things, emotional things and mental things. For today’s topic, we will be focusing on the mental & emotional things, which we can refer to as habits. When dealing with people in our everyday lives, it’s usually easy for us to identify a friend from a foe, based on their actions and our reaction to them. If they are loving and kind, we tend to identify as a friend, if they are aggressive and abrasive, we tend to see them as a foe and avoid them. Another way we discern good from bad is when we tend to our garden or flower pots. Every spring when we plant beautiful flowers and vegetables, we quickly identify and remove the weeds. If we don’t stay vigilant, the weeds will cause all kinds of havoc and affect our future harvest. Discernment and consistency are the keys to a successful harvest. 

When it comes to habits, many of us weren’t taught how to use the tool of discernment in a way that would truly benefit us in all the areas of life. We tend to tolerate and carry some of these old and unwelcome habits around, not realizing that they are holding us back and keeping us from true freedom and happiness. Poor habits can be relentless and follow us around like a ball and chain. Bad habits left unchecked can lead to poor health in body and mind along with failure in jobs and friendships. On the other hand, good and positive habits can be our friend and propel us to even greater heights of happiness and success. The line between success and failure is pretty slim. It only takes minor adjustments on our part to invite greater happiness and success into our life. In order to make sure that our habits are truly beneficial, we need to evaluate the habits that are running our life. Writing a list of your good and bad habits on paper can help as it gives us a new perspective with which to reflect on them. 

My father spent time in the military as a Marine. He learned valuable habits that he still uses to this day. He’s an action taker and consistently does the same things each day to keep his body in shape at 81 years of age by hitting the gym daily. My mother said he still washes his sheets every Tuesday without fail. He and my mother keep a very clean and orderly home and yard, doing the work themselves. My grandmother was much the same.

I was very fortunate to have had good examples in my life that inspired me to an orderly life. I was also very fortunate that I was guided to a Guru who helped to take things to the next level with regard to employing positive habits for greater success in spirit, mind and body. Once we identify the useless habits, we need to replace them with positive habits. It’s ideal to employ your will and energy to focus on cultivating the new and positive habits each day. Being consistent is key to success when it comes to planting new habits as it takes time for the roots to take hold deep within the subconscious mind. As I learned from my Guru, the number one habit we can cultivate is seeking God daily. This habit alone has changed my life in such a profound way that brings me peace and happiness, which my Guru says, is what we are all seeking.

So, to wrap things up, don’t let yourself be a slave to your old habits anymore. As a perfect child of spirit, they are not worthy of you. From this day on, you can set a course for health, happiness and success as you’re the captain of your destiny. Let not your old habits or people tell you different. 

May your future goals be grand and your dreams filled with peace. 

About Steven Boyd: Steven Boyd is a writer and aspiring yogi. During the work week, he plays the part of global director of talent management for an engineering company. Steven has been practicing yoga and meditation daily for over 30 years. He follows the spiritual path of the Self Realization Fellowship that was founded in 1920 by the Great Yogi-Guru Paramahansa Yogananda. His book ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ has sold millions of copies. Steven Jobs of Apple computer was a big fan of this book.