THINK GOOD, SEE GOOD, DO GOOD & EXPECT GOOD

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THINK GOOD, SEE GOOD, DO GOOD & EXPECT GOOD

"Whether the object is fit to be enjoyed or not will at once arise. Then the

object that is not fit to be enjoyed will be shunned and in this way our

vicious habits or vices will disappear and our character will improve." –Sri

Sai Satcharitra, Ch. XXIV.

The farmer’s heart must have just stopped when he went to his barn one weekend

morning and discovered that a 1,100 pound pregnant wild carabao had decided to

take residence there. Plenty of water and hay under a covered roof – what more

could she ask? So when the farmer tried to get into the barn to feed his

horses, Mean Mildred, as he named her, charged at him and drove him off. He

returned with a riffle and fired a couple rounds in the air, but "she turned

right around and came right at me," he said. He dived into the safety of some

nearby bushes.

By Monday morning the farmer had to escort his kids to their school bus with a

rifle in his hand. So he called the forestry agency, who sent a ranger to see

what he could do to get Mean Mildred out of the barn – after all, all horses

were getting hungry. The ranger tried a gun that shoots whistling firecrackers.

Mildred wasn’t impressed. "I chased her around for a while," the ranger said

laughing, "and then she chased me around for a while. She was pretty

aggressive."

Tuesday morning the ranger decided to take more drastic measures. He returned

with a tranquilizing gun, but the carabao shook off the darts non chantingly.

Then as the two men discussed further tactics, Mean Mildred leaped up, bolted

over the fence, and ran away.

Sometimes a bad habit takes over our lives the way Mean Mildred adopted the

farmer’s barn. And whatever we try to do to remove it, nothing seems to work.

It just hangs on tenaciously, and we feel powerless to overcome it.

Actually, a habit should come as no surprise to us. It is, after all, a pattern

of behaviour that we ourselves have programmed into the computers we call our

brains. Explaining how you form a habit in your brain can get overly involved

in a lot of scientific words like "dendrites" and "axons" and "cytoplasm."

Basically, however, your brain processes messages and sends them on to

different parts of the body through nerve cells. Any repeated thought or action

helps to build up an electromechanical pathway through the nerve cells – the

more repetitions, the stronger the pathway. And researchers have found that

this kind of pathway can probably never be erased.

So does this mean that you can’t do anything about a bad habit? Are you doomed

for the rest of your life to biting your fingernails or cracking your knuckles

or overeating? Not at all. Here are some suggestions:

ASK GOD’S HELP:

You cannot expect to make any permanent change in your life without God’s help.

"A[art from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). Everything else you can do to

break a bad habit must be based on a realization that your ability to do so

comes from God. "I can do everything through Him Who gives me strength" (Phil

4:13).

CHOOSE A GOOD TIME TO CHANGE:

There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven (Ecc

3:1). The holidays are probably not the best time to begin a campaign against

overeating. You need to make the breaking of a bad habit as easy for yourself

as you possibly can. Whatever advantage you can turn to your own favour is just

good planning.

FOCUS ON ONE HABIT AT A TIME:

Don’t try to overcome several at once. And almost any goal you may set for

yourself is easier to accomplish by breaking it up into smaller goals. These

smaller goals make the whole programme look much more manageable and much less

intimidating. As Mark Twain said, "Habit is a habit, and not to be flung out of

the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time."

ANALYZE YOUR HABIT:

Make a list of the times and places that you most often exhibit the behaviour

you wanted to change. If you’re trying to do something about snacking between

meals, you may find that you often gravitate subconsciously towards the kitchen

– or a snack machine at school or at work – at certain times of the day. Then

you can consciously arrange to be somewhere else during those times. One of the

biblical principles of overcoming temptation is to avoid it if possible. Eve had

no business being anywhere near the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

REPLACE THE BAD HABIT WITH A GOOD ONE:

Don’t forget that there are good habits as well – as bad ones. Theologian

Nathaniel Emmons said, "Habit is either the best of servants, or the worst of

master." You use good habits to complete many of your routine tasks throughout

the day. Aren’t you glad you don’t have to think your way through the process

of tying your shoes every morning, or brushing your teeth, or making your bed?

And you can develop good habits to help handle much more important tasks.

Although your bad habits have formed a permanent pathway in your brain, you can

programme your brain to form a bigger permanent pathway through the constant

repetition of a good behaviour. Schedule a programme of exercise at the time

when you find you are most likely to watch too much television. Make a

conscious effort to replace gossip with praise of people you know. Jesus

illustrated this principle in Mathew 12:43-45: "When an evil spirit comes out

of man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. The it

says, "I will return to the house I left. When it arrives, it finds the house

unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven

other spirits more wicket than itself, and they go in and live there. And the

final condition of that man is worst than the first."

THINK OF YOUR HABIT-CHANGING CAMPAIGN IN POSITIVE TERMS:

Focusing on all the things are having to give up only casts a negative light on

anything you try to do. If you are trying to lose weight, picture yourself

looking better in a swimsuit rather than dwelling on all the chocolate cake

you’re going to miss.

DON’T GIVE UP IT YOU FAIL:

Remember, those electro-mechanical pathways in your brain make it very easy to

your old habits. As Peter Miller, co-author of Self watching, says, "Quitting a

habit is easy. Starting again is even easier." If you give in to go back to your

old habit, don’t be tough on yourself. Consider it a learning experience and

build on it.

Research has shown that the more times a person has tried to give up smoking,

the greater are his or her chances of success. Don’t allow yourself to get

discouraged.

If God can forgive you, you surely ought to be able to forgive yourself. God has

promised that whatever Mean Mildreds you may have in your life. He will help you

root them out. "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in

prayer." (Mathew 21:22).

Why not ask Him today to help you rid yourself of your harmful habits?

(Written by: Gary B. Swanson in Mira)

 

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