How You Can Change Your Bad Habits!
How you can
Change Your
Bad Habits!
The Peninsula Woman
Nov – Dec 2006
The thought manifests as word; The word manifests as deed,
The deed develops into habit, And habit hardens into character.
So watch the thought and its ways with care, And let it spring from love
Born out of concern for all beings.
~Buddha
Just what makes a bad habit? Isn't it usually something that starts out helping you in some way? And then, after some time, you notice it isn't supporting any longer? So how to change a Habit?
Let's take smoking, for instance. This is one of the most challenging habits to kick. I have seen so many people stop and start numerous times. What makes it so hard to quit? When a person first starts smoking, aren't they using the cigarette to help reduce stress? Once that is accomplished and the stress is relieved, smoking becomes a daily ritual. It becomes a habit. Most of us would say it is a bad habit. But then think about it. It achieved an end. It just didn't end.
The dictionary defines a habit as an action done regularly. Pretty simple, isn't it. A habit is an action routinely done. I would also like to add that it is an action done regularly over a while. But just how much time does it take to make or break a habit?
In Astrology, the planet that is connected to habits is Saturn. Saturn involves habit; the early astrologers pictured Saturn as an evil fellow. They called him the great Malefic and Jupiter the great Benefic. To say that Saturn is evil is that there are no good habits. We know better than to think this.
You cannot be part of civilized culture and not feel the influence of Saturn. Its effects are all around you. For instance, every law is Saturnian. Each law is essentially something we have made into a habit to give our lives a sense of order and control. What happens when that law has outlived its usefulness or is that pattern starting to hurt you? Can you stop or quit? Yes! I will explain how.
Saturn is the significator of time. A law works over time. So does a habit. It takes time for everyone to follow the law, just like it takes time to develop a habit. So time is the key to starting or stopping a habit. You get up in the morning, and you make your bed every day (or you don't). Over time you see a particular result of this habit. You either have a made or unmade bed due to the habit. But time is part of the equation. Why are habits so hard to break? Listen carefully. They take time. We must use time. The one thing we cannot control is time, so we must work "with" time instead of against it.
The first part of changing a bad habit is the recognition of it. You cannot change something that you cannot see. However, if you know better, you can do better. Here is a list of 5 things to do to begin understanding your habits.
1. Make a list of your good and bad habits.
2. Which habits would you like to change now?
3. What barriers keep you from changing your bad habits?
4. Make a list of constructive, meaningful activities you will use to avoid bad habits.
5. What will you do when craving for a destructive habit returns?
Remember, there is no such thing as a bad or a good habit. You must learn how to replace a habit (whether good or bad) with some action that is different and then do that new thing over time. I suggest that you make sure you do the new habit for at least 21 days! This seems to be the magic number that works for many of my clients. So give it a shot, and let me know how it goes. Email your success story to me at amber@amberflynn.com. I love the stories people tell me about how easy it was to change a habit.
Final Note: Saturn is also the indicator of Time in Astrology. Where Saturn is placed in a horoscope shows where someone may develop bad habits – or good habits over time. Our job is to locate Saturn in the chart and work with the unconscious pattern that Saturn is related to and develop better habits with it.
