Habits – and How to Break (and Keep) Them
Now, I did NOT use the label “bad” when referring to your list of habits – although some of them probably are. Even so, classifying habits as good or bad does you very little good when all you really need to know is how to break them – or how to keep them. Reminds me of the Zen story where a young man was caught stealing. He felt badly about being a thief – but simultaneously didn’t feel that he could break his habit. The Zen Master who was counseling him said nothing about his “bad” habit. In fact, he didn’t even tell him to stop stealing. Instead, he told him that from this point onward, he was only allowed to steal with awareness. He had to be fully conscious, observing his breath and his actions in minute detail. The thief listened intently and obeyed. And he stopped stealing. The great Aikido master, Koichi Tohei, wrote about counseling the father whom he saw beating his child. The sensei told the father that he was only allowed to hit his child when he felt love in his heart for