If a bad habit bothers you, do two things. Try to avoid it and everything that stimulates it, without concentrating on it in your zeal to avoid it. Then divert your mind to some good habit, and keep the mind furiously engaged in cultivating the good habit, until it becomes a part of yourself.
A good habit is your greatest friend—a bad habit, your mortal enemy. Be careful about the repetition of an action. It will become a habit before you realize it. Habit is second nature, but it can be changed by persistent good action.
Wherever you are, remain awake and alive with your thought, perception, and intuition—ever ready, like a good photographer, to take pictures of exemplary conduct and to ignore bad behavior. Your highest happiness lies in your being ever ready to learn, and to behave properly. The more you improve yourself, the more you will elevate others around you. The self-improving man is an increasingly happy man.
Be careful in your choice of company. Keep company with people who are calm, strong, and wise, with a deeper nature than you have. When a criminal is put in the company of a greater criminal, that does not help him. When it is time for him to leave prison, the warden says, “When are you coming back?” When nervous people are in the company of other nervous people, they cannot get better. Always choose calm company.
Don’t let unhealthy materials float down the stream of your habit-forming thoughts. Watch the quality of the books you read. Watch the influence on you of family and close friends who constantly associate with you. Many people are unsuccessful because their families have infected their subconscious minds with progress-paralyzing, discouraging thoughts.
Some people require much time to form mental habits of health, prosperity, and the acquisition of wisdom. Actually, the time needed for this purpose can be shortened. Slow or rapid habit formation depends on the general state of health, on the condition of the brain cells and nervous system, and on the type of habit-forming methods used. Most people are halfhearted in their thoughts and actions— hence, they do not succeed. A mental habit, in order to materialize, must be strong and persistent. For instance, the prosperity or health habit must be cultivated by thoughts of prosperity or health until results are apparent. An unfailingly wholesome, courageous mental attitude is absolutely necessary to the attainment of one’s needs and wants. While an inattentive, scatterbrained person requires a long time to form even a simple habit, an intelligent, purposeful individual can easily form a good mental habit in a trice, by the mere wish. Therefore, if you have a mental, physical, or spiritual habit that impedes your progress, rid yourself of it now. Do not put it off.
Perform every action, insignificant or important, with quick, alert attention. Remember, attention is the needle that cuts grooves in the record of your memory cells. A man without attention lacks the instrument that awakens memory. Absentmindedness blunts the needle of attention. Deep, alert attention with feeling is the needle that cuts grooves in the record of your memory cells.
Perform little duties very well. Do you know that you have been using only 5 or 6 percent of your attention in your vocation? Henceforth, you ought to apply 100 percent concentration while doing your work. All good work is God’s work, if you perform it with divine consciousness. The only materialistic work is that which is done with a purely selfish motive. In earning money, always think you are doing so for your fellow beings, even if you have no family. Destroy the false division between material and spiritual work.
Memory should be trained and used to recall only noble and uplifting experiences. Only the good that is gleaned from an experience should be allowed into the reservoir of memory. If any slimy thoughts find their way into this reservoir, those same thoughts will emerge as words or actions at some unexpected time. If only good is present, then only good can come forth. Guard well the gate of your mind.
It is not your passing thoughts or brilliant ideas but your everyday habits that control your life. Habits of thought are mental magnets; they draw to themselves specific objects relative to the quality of their magnetism.
When the soul’s natural happiness becomes encrusted with the temporary pleasures of the senses, then the golden luster of the soul becomes obscured. Many think they cannot live without evil, misery-producing pleasures, such as, for example, the taking of body- killing alcohol. But these very people, if they were to form good habits, would say: “We cannot live without the peace and pleasure of meditation. We are miserable when we indulge in lesser pleasures.” Just as a person must part with little sums of money to invest for future greater gain, so the devotee must forego the indulgence in material pleasures for the sake of gaining the pure joy of meditation. Thousands fail to understand why the pleasure-producing senses overshadow the joy of Spirit. The purpose of self-control is a spiritual business proposition designed to bring the greatest happiness to man. Man is made in the image of God, and as such has within himself the latent, everlasting joy of Spirit, as a tree is hidden in the seed. Just as roasted seeds do not germinate, so, when the joy-seed of the soul is scorched by the flames of material desires, it fails to produce the immortal tree of happiness. Cultivate the habit of contacting superior soul joy immediately upon awakening. Then, while filled with the joy of the soul, one may enjoy such harmless pleasures as eating, meeting friends, and so forth, without attachment. In this way the soul can spiritualize all material enjoyments.
Attributes: Paramhansa Yogananda
Mastering habit formation is essential for inner peace. Learn how to consciously choose positive patterns over negative ones. Paramhansa Yogananda explains that our daily actions are defined by the repetition of thoughts and deeds. By intentionally directing our energy toward constructive behaviors, we can gradually replace detrimental patterns with actions that support our spiritual growth. These spiritual teachings emphasize that we do not need to dwell on negative tendencies to overcome them. Instead, the most effective path is to cultivate positive habits through consistent practice. Understanding the mechanics of how these routines solidify allows you to take control of your mental and emotional state.