Inner Realm: Change your habits and your life

We believe that our thoughts can be kept secret, enclosed, but that is not true. Thoughts rapidly crystallise into habit, and habit manifests into circumstance

Let a person radically alter his thoughts, and he will be astonished at the rapid transformation it will bring about in the material conditions of his life. We believe that our thoughts can be kept secret, enclosed, but that is not true. Thoughts rapidly crystallise into habit, and habit manifests into circumstance.

(HT File)

We do not make nature’s laws. These rubrics are created by the Universe and are the essential principles of things. Ignorance of them is at the root of our pain.

While the ignorant person is a slave of habit,

the enlightened one is its wise director and master.

Habit is repetition. We repeat identical thoughts, the same actions, the same experiences over and over again until they get to define our characters. That manifests into our outer circumstance.

Thus, the characteristics which you manifest instinctively are your core beliefs that have crystallised into habit and appear to render you powerless against it. From addictions to speech, they can be all permeating. I know of a friend who cannot help getting provoked in conversations, much to her detriment at times. Then of course, there is a colleague who has to eat at the slightest stressful incident, causing multiple health issues.

It is true that we are also born with our unique characters. Even new-borns exhibit distinct traits. Such inborn character is a result of multiple forces, one of them being the numerous lives a soul lives and its experiences, learning and beliefs over centuries.

If you’re aware of some habit and are struggling to break it, it only means that the neural networks in your brain are deep and strong. This indeed is in the very nature of our being. Habits, even if they are detrimental, provide a predictable outcome. That ensures survival.

However, no matter how helpless some habits make you, how tyrannical they appear to you and how unwanted their results, as long as a person has a functioning will, he can break away and free himself. It doesn’t require brute force and enormous will-power, rather a structured methodology.

A person had a habit of watching too many videos. An analysis of his issue revealed that his work situation was difficult. The anxiety was distressing and the emotion overwhelming and he had discovered unconsciously that as he would watch some videos, the anxiety emotion would wane. It became an addiction.

We try to get out of states of anxiety. This is done through shifting to a more rewarding energy state. Be it an addiction to videos, eating binges or anything else.

Instead of our habitual, automated response, if we choose to shift our state of energy the way we want, the habituated neural network will begin to weaken and atrophy.

The Indian tradition says there are two essential places in our body. The one of fire and the one of cool water. Fire needs to exist only in the centre of the body, primarily the abdomen. This is where all digestion takes place and energy is created. The head is the place which needs to be calm and cool. To be able to access the infinite wisdom of the subconscious mind and to be able to guide us into our perfect journey.

Anxiety reverses the process. It is an energy shift. The head becomes heated and the stomach cold.

Altering this energy shift isn’t difficult.

If you’re alone when an event that triggers the habit occurs, try doing something pleasurable. First 90 seconds are important. If they pass, the neural impulse also passes. Some people do simple things like a stationary jog, a two-minute burst on their exercise bike.

Try the most powerful Nano Moments of Surrender.

In this technique, you take one deep breath and just do nothing. Allow the subconscious to take over. Just relax and let go. In an instant, your subconscious mind will relax you and change your outcome. With practice, this technique will alter many undesirable outcomes of your life. An interview, an anxious meeting, an uncomfortable situation all can be tackled much better if we master this technique.

Repetition is rewiring

The results may come about sooner than you can imagine.

Through the ages we have searched for an external liberator.

The great Saviour is within, resplendent.

Surrender to that even for brief moments,

in a deep relaxed ‘let-go’ breathing and

watch your life change.

The habit that binds us will be replaced by one which sets us free.

(The writer is the principal chief commissioner, Income Tax. The views expressed are personal.)