LESSON IX. CONCENTRATION CAN OVERCOME BAD HABITS

Habits make or break us to a far greater extent than we like toadmit. Habit is both a powerful enemy and wonderful ally ofconcentration. You must learn to overcome habits which areinjurious to concentration, and to cultivate those which increaseit.

The large majority of people are controlled by their habits andare buffeted around by them like waves of the ocean tossing apiece of wood. They do things in a certain way because of thepower of habit. They seldom ever think of concentrating on whythey do them this or that way, or study to see if they could dothem in a better way. Now my object in this chapter is to get youto concentrate on your habits so you can find out which are goodand which are bad for you. You will find that by making a fewneeded changes you can make even those that are not good for you,of service; the good habits you can make much better.

The first thing I want you to realize is that all habits aregoverned consciously or unconsciously by the will. Most of us areforming new habits all the time. Very often, if you repeatsomething several times in the same way, you will have formed thehabit of doing it that way. But the oftener you repeat it thestronger that habit grows and the more deeply it becomes embeddedin your nature. After a habit has been in force for a long time,it becomes almost a part of you, and is therefore hard toovercome. But you can still break any habit by strongconcentration on its opposite.

"All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass ofhabits--practical, emotional, and intellectual--systematicallyorganized, for our weal or woe, and bearing us irresistiblytoward our destiny whatever the latter may be."

We are creatures of habits, "imitators and copiers of our pastselves." We are liable to be "bent" or "curved" as we can bend apiece of paper, and each fold leaves a crease, which makes iteasier to make the fold there the next time. "The intellect andwill are spiritual functions; still they are immersed in matter,and to every movement of theirs, corresponds a movement in thebrain, that is, in their material correlative." This is whyhabits of thought and habits of willing can be formed. Allphysical impressions are the carrying out of the actions of thewill and intellect. Our nervous systems are what they are today,because of the way they have been exercised.

As we grow older most of us become more and more like automaticmachines. The habits we have formed increase in strength. We workin our old characteristic way. Your associates learn to expectyou to do things in a certain way. So you see that your habitsmake a great difference in your life, and as it is just about aseasy to form good habits as it is bad, you should form only theformer. No one but yourself is responsible for your habits. Youare free to form the habits that you should and if everyone couldrealize the importance of forming the right kind of habits what adifferent world this would be. How much happier everyone wouldbe. Then all instead of the few might win success.

Habits are formed more quickly when we are young, but if we havealready passed the youthful plastic period the time to start tocontrol our habits is right now, as we will never be any younger.

You will find the following maxims worth remembering.

First Maxim:

"We must make our nervous system our ally instead of our enemy."

Second Maxim:

"In the acquisition of a new habit as in the leaving off of anold one, we must take care to launch ourselves with as strong anddecided an initiative as possible."

The man that is in the habit of doing the right thing fromboyhood, has only good motives, so it is very important for youthat you concentrate assiduously on the habits that reinforcegood motives. Surround yourself with every aid you can. Don'tplay with fire by forming bad habits. Make a new beginning today.Study why you have been doing certain things. If they are not foryour good, shun them henceforth. Don't give in to a singletemptation for every time you do, you strengthen the chain of badhabits. Every time you keep a resolution you break the chain thatenslaves you.

Third Maxim:

"Never allow an exception to occur till the new habit is securelyrooted in your life." Here is the idea, you never want to givein, until the new habit is fixed else you undo all that has beenaccomplished by previous efforts. There are two opposinginclinations. One wants to be firm, and the other wants to givein. By your will you can become firm, through repetition. Fortifyyour will to be able to cope with any and all opposition.

Fourth Maxim:

"Seize the very first possible opportunity to act on everyresolution you make, and on every emotional prompting you mayexperience in the direction of the habits you aspire to gain."

To make a resolve and not to keep it is of little value. So byall means keep every resolution you make, for you not only profitby the resolution, but it furnishes you with an exercise thatcauses the brain cells and physiological correlatives to form thehabit of adjusting themselves to carry out resolutions. "Atendency to act, becomes effectively engrained in us inproportion to the uninterrupted frequency with which the actionsactually occur, and the brain `grows' to their use. When aresolve or a fine glow of feeling is allowed to evaporate withoutbearing fruit, it is worse than a chance lost."

If you keep your resolutions you form a most valuable habit. Ifyou break them you form a most dangerous one. So concentrate onkeeping them, whether important or unimportant, and remember itis just as important for this purpose to keep the unimportant,for by so doing you are forming the habit.

Fifth Maxim:

"Keep the faculty of effort alive in you by a little gratuitousexercise every day."

The more we exercise the will, the better we can control ourhabits. "Every few days do something for no other reason than itsdifficulty, so that when the hour of dire need draws nigh, it mayfind you not unnerved or untrained to stand the test. Asceticismof this sort is like the insurance which a man pays on his houseand goods. The tax does him no good at the time, and possibly maynever bring him a return, but if the fire does come, his havingpaid it will be his salvation from ruin. So with the man who hasdaily insured himself to habits of concentrated attention,energetic volation, and self-denial in unnecessary things. "Hewill stand like a tower when everything rocks around him and hissofter fellow-mortals are winnowed like chaff in the blast."

The young should be made to concentrate on their habits and bemade to realize that if they don't they become walking bundles ofinjurious habits. Youth is the plastic state, and should beutilized in laying the foundation for a glorious future.

The great value of habit for good and evil cannot beoverestimated. "Habit is the deepest law of human nature." No manis stronger than his habits, because his habits either build uphis strength or decrease it.

Why We Are Creatures of Habits. Habits have often been called alabor-saying invention, because when they are formed they requireless of both mental and material strength. The more deeply thehabit becomes ingrained the more automatic it becomes. Thereforehabit is an economizing tendency of our nature, for if it werenot for habit we should have to be more watchful. We walk acrossa crowded street; the habit of stopping and looking prevents usfrom being hurt. The right kind of habits keeps us from makingmistakes and mishaps. It is a well known fact that a chauffeur isnot able to master his machine safely until he has trained hisbody in a habitual way. When an emergency comes he instantlyknows what to do. Where safety depends on quickness the operatormust work automatically. Habits mean less risk, less fatigue, andgreater accuracy.

"You do not want to become a slave to habits of a trivial nature.For instance, Wagner required a certain costume before he couldcompose corresponding parts of his operas. Schiller could neverwrite with ease unless there were rotten apples in the drawer ofhis desk from which he could now and then obtain an odor whichseemed to him sweet. Gladstone had different desks for hisdifferent activities, so that when he worked on Homer he neversat among habitual accompaniments of his legislative labors."

In order to overcome undesirable habits, two things arenecessary. You must have trained your will to do what you want itto do, and the stronger the will the easier it will be to break ahabit. Then you must make a resolution to do just the opposite ofwhat the habit is. Therefore one habit must replace another. Ifyou have a strong will, you can tenaciously and persistentlyconcentrate on removing the bad habit and in a very short timethe good habit will gain the upper hand. I will bring thischapter to a close by giving Doctor Oppenheim's instructions forovercoming a habit:

"If you want to abolish a habit, and its accumulatedcircumstances as well, you must grapple with the matter asearnestly as you would with a physical enemy. You must go intothe encounter with all tenacity of determination, with allfierceness of resolve--yea, even with a passion for success thatmay be called vindictive. No human enemy can be as insidious, sopersevering, as unrelenting as an unfavorable habit. It neversleeps, it needs no rest.

"It is like a parasite that grows with the growth of thesupporting body, and, like a parasite, it can best be killed byviolent separation and crushing.

When life is stormy and all seems against us, that is when weoften acquire wrong habits, and it is then, that we have to makea gigantic effort to think and speak as we should; and eventhough we may feel the very reverse at that moment the tiniesteffort will be backed up by a tremendous Power and will lift usto a realization never felt before. It is not in the easy,contented moments of our life that we make our greatest progress,for then it requires, no special effort to keep in tune. But itis when we are in the midst of trials and misfortunes, when wethink we are sinking, being overwhelmed, then it is important forus to realize that we are linked to a great Power and if we liveas we should, there is nothing that can occur in life, whichcould permanently injure us, nothing can happen that shoulddisturb us. So always remember you have within you unlimitedpower, ready to manifest itself in the form which fills our needat the moment. If, when we have something difficult to solve, wewould be silent like the child, we can get the inspiration whenit comes; we will know how to act, we will find there is no needto hurry or disturb ourselves, that it is always wiser to waitfor guidance from within, than to act on impulse from Without.