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Habits. You cannot live without them. They make life easier for us
because they pretty much regulate our behavior.
Habits are ingrained learned ways of doing
things. Watch a little child try to brush his teeth. We say he
isn’t used to it. In reality he has not acquired the skill nor the
habit. Even when he knows how, he will have to be reminded until he
has the habit. Then, he will be set for life.
When he goes to school, he must eventually
acquire good study habits in order to actualize his full potential.
He might be intelligent, but unless he has study habits he might
even flunk or barely pass. I repeated grade four and graduated at
the end of the class while in elementary school. I had no study
habits. When I entered the seminary I found studying long hours very
difficult, but I eventually got some long delayed study habits that
got me through the thirteen years of schooling required to reach the
priesthood.
If you are to be successful, you will need a lot
of good habits to keep you steady as you go through life. A virtue
is a habitual way of thinking. The honest man who cannot be
corrupted has a habit of thinking integrity. It is so deeply
ingrained in his mind that he can easily walk away from an attempt
bribe.
If, on the other hand, he is a dishonest man, he
too has a habit, but it is a habit that makes it easy for him to
steal. It is a habit that he acquired years ago. It began with
stealing small items, and cheating in school, lying, deceit, etc.
Habits that went opposite of truthful and honest living.
We have to be careful about the habits we
acquire. The good ones will benefit us and lead us to a happy
lifestyle.
There are unhealthy habits that weaken us.
Eating habits that cripple the body and can cause early death.
Habits that translate into offensive behavior. Impolite manners, for
instance, can work against our success.
Addictions are habits that trap us in ways that
disrupt our lives and can possibly even kill us. The drug addict is
caught in compulsive behavior that slowly destroys him. The
alcoholic has, like the drug addict, such a strong habit that it
causes changes in the brain and makes it very difficult to break.
Smokers know how hard it is to “break the
habit” that is killing them. Gamblers have acquired a habit that
is impoverishing them and they seem helpless to stop.
The lesson to be learned here is clear: habits
can be good, but they can also be bad. They can build and they can
destroy. It all boils down to this: control your habits, don’t let
them control you.
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If you have problems about drugs, alcohol and
behavior/attitude call my office at 8206107 or 8251771 or e-mail me
at gvcbuenca@vasia.com or write me at P.O. Box 2099 MCPO, Makati
City.
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