Correcting habits is never easy.  Ask anyone who has ever attempted to stop smoking, drinking, cursing or ask yourself about that habit you want to break.  Generally, when one speaks of habits, it tends to refer to the physical habits that can be seen, traced, judged, witnessed, but as people we are habitual in all areas; from the way one handles everyday situations and/or conflict; to the way one handles money, or the way one makes decisions even down to the way one makes spiritual choices.  Habits creep into our lifestyle without notice and it is that lack of notice which allows habits to become deadly.

The thing is that the habits are so frequent and without the art of thinking that one will begin to accept or introduce the habits one has as apart of one’s personality.  That can seem to be a good thing, but in reality, maybe not so much.  Actions that can and in some cases should be altered, one should never own or make those become or reflect in bedded in one’s personality or character.  Qualities like strength, the ability to handle conflict, strategic thinker, talkative or even quiet strength are very different from whether one is a drinker, has lied, has cursed and/or over eats.  Those are not ways by which a person should desire to be defined.  Yet, as people we know all too well that it is the case because we are known by what we do.

To correct the habits, want desires to change, requires not only recognizing that behavior but acknowledging the negative effects of the habits on one personally as well as the people one cares for the most.  It is the people we love and hold closest that are most affected by one’s actions.  A spouse that lacks in communication hurts his or her spouse, children more than other people with whom they encounter.  A person who avoids conflict harms those closest to him or her, those in the home more than his or her co-workers.  Habits are harmful because they are performed without thought, it has become a way of life and that lack of thought is usually accompanied by lack of concern.

It’s hard to correct a habit that one cannot measure, view or understand its harm.  That’s why it was mentioned that it isn’t enough to just recognize the habit, behavior but to understand just how and why it is should be corrected.  When a habit is only viewed to harm the performer of the habit, changing or correcting it becomes less important than it is if the person feels he or she has other people that can be harmed or loss from their life should the habit remain active.

In correcting habits there a few things one should consider to be successful:

• It’s not an overnight thing
• All actions or non-actions are conscious decisions
• It’s a process, so don’t get discourage when one has setbacks
• Pressures of life will always bring about the old behavior until the new lifestyle or new way of handling situations becomes the norm and no longer the exception.
•  It’s not a makeover, correcting habits should never become something one attempts to accomplish or even believes it will occur overnight.  It’s a process and if done correctly, a never-ending process.  Improving, becoming the best version of who you are as an individual is something that shouldn’t stop until death.

CHANGE is a gift, CHANGE is necessary, CHANGE benefits everyone involved in the process.  Don’t be afraid to make or begin your journey.