The Nature of Habit: Harnessing the Power of Thought to Create the Habit One Desires

Habit is at once humanity's heaviest liability and greatest asset; it can be used to obtain whatever one dreams of, just as it can be used for self-destruction.
   
Habit, according to neurologists, started out as thoughts which passed through neural pathways. Once these neural pathways are created, they are reinforced by repeated similar thoughts. A repetition of thought patterns decreases the biochemical resistance to that thought occurring over and over, thus strengthening the corresponding neural pathway.

One could liken creating neural pathway to a walk through a thick jungle; the first time around, it is difficult to traverse it. However, subsequent traverses produce less and less resistance and eventually, the pathway turns into an established trail. The same phenomenon happens in one’s brain; every time a thought traverses through a familiar path, the resistance decreases while the likelihood of repeating the thought increases.

Need for Monitoring One’s Thoughts
Since habits are formed through repeated thoughts that subsequently solidify, it is of utmost importance, therefore, for one to monitor one’s thoughts. If one entertains thoughts that are inconsistent with what they want, they are at the beginning of a process that may lead to their discomfort, or to their destruction, at worst. That is the powerful nature of thought.
Similarly, if one entertains thoughts that are uplifting and consistent with what they want, it is important to keep traversing these neural pathways, turning them from a dense forest to a cleared pathway, making subsequent traversing almost automatic.

This explains why learning new skills or getting rid of a habit can be arduous at first. The key is to stick at it and the pathway will become a track and subsequently, a road. It is sometimes not enough to simply stop carrying out a certain habit; it has to be replaced with a new habit and focus to create a desired new way of thinking.

Quick Steps to Creating Desired Habit
In summary, the steps to making habit one’s faithful servant is as follows:
 • Have a thought. It is the nature of the mind to have a thought, just as it is the nature of a radio  station to have a reception. The crux lies not in having a thought, but in being aware of the thought, so as to select it.

• Revisit the selected thought as many times as possible. Soon, the thought will become automatic.

• Relish in this thought. Taking pleasure in one's thought reinforces it and even creates an opportunity for its modification.

Quick Steps to Resolving Undesired Habit

An undesired habit is not unlike a preferred one in its structure - except, of course, that it is undesired. Hence, getting rid of one must follow similar steps as creating one, once a replacement is in place:
• Have a desired thought ready and as soon as the old thought arises, bring forth the desired thought as a replacement

• Revisit the selected new thought as many times as possible. Soon, the thought will become  automatic.

•  Relish in this new thought. Taking pleasure in ones thought reinforces it and creates an opportunity for its modification.

Habit takes on a life of its own once it is shown what needs to be done; all that will be necessary after that, is to modify it accordingly and it will run on automatic. Habit, as a rule does not differentiate between what is deemed ‘good’, or ‘bad’. It does what it is programmed to do, faithfully. From this standpoint, habit can push one up to success or down to failure.
Ultimately, habit, like fire, can be used for arson or for baking; it is a very powerful weapon at the command of the wielder. One should wield it wisely.

Sources:

Buzan Tony. The Mind Map Book: How to Use Radiant Thinking to Maximize Your Brain's Untapped Potential, Penguin Group, 1997