OR THE LAW OF ATTRACTION IN THE THOUGHT WORLD
by William Walker Atkinson
Chapter
X
TRAINING THE HABIT-MIND
PROFESSOR William James, the well-known teacher of, and writer upon Psychology
very truly says:
"The great thing in all education is to make our nervous system
our ally instead of our enemy. For this we must make automatic and habitual,
as early as possible, as many useful actions as we can and as carefully
guard against growing into ways that are likely to be disadvantageous.
In the acquisition of a new habit, or the leaving off of an old one we
must take care to launch ourselves with as strong and decided initiative
as possible. Never suffer an exception to occur until the new habit is
securely rooted in your life. Seize the very first possible opportunity
to act on every resolution you make and on ever emotional prompting you
may experience, in the direction of the habits you aspire to gain."
This advice is along the lines familiar to all students of Mental Science,
but it states the matter more plainly than the majority of us have done.
It impresses upon us the importance of passing on to the subconscious
mind the proper impulses, so that they will become automatic and "second
nature." Our subconscious mentality is a great storehouse for all
sorts of suggestions from ourselves and others and, as it is the "habit-mind,"
we must be careful to send it the proper material from which it may make
habits. If we get into the habit of doing certain things, we may be sure
that the subconscious mentality will make it easier for us to do just
the same thing over and over again, easier each time, until finally we
are firmly bound with the ropes and chains of the habit, and find it more
or less difficult, sometimes almost impossible, to free ourselves from
the hateful thing.
We should cultivate good habits against the hour of need. The time will
come when we will be required to put forth our best efforts, and it rests
with us today whether that hour of need shall find us doing the proper
thing automatically and almost without thought, or struggling to do it
bound down and hindered with the chains of things opposed to that which
we desire at that moment.
We must be on guard at all times to prevent the forming of undesirable
habits. There may be no special harm in doing a certain thing today or
perhaps again tomorrow, but there may be much harm in setting up the
habit of doing that particular thing.
If you are confronted with the question: "Which of these two things
should I do?" the best answer is: "I will do that which I would
like to become a habit with me.
In forming a new habit, or in breaking an old one, we should throw ourselves
into the task with as much enthusiasm as possible, in order to gain the
most ground before the energy expends itself when it meets with friction
from the opposing habits already formed.
We should start in by making as strong an impression as possible upon
the subconscious mentality. Then we should be constantly on guard against
temptations to break the new resolution "just this once." This
"just once" idea kills off more good resolutions than any other
one cause.
The moment you yield "just this once”, you introduce the thin
edge of the wedge that will, in the end, split your resolution into pieces.
Equally important is the fact that each time you resist temptation the
stronger does your resolution become. Act upon your resolution as early
and as often as possible, as with every manifestation of thought in action,
the stronger does it become. You are adding to the strength of your original
resolution every time you back it up with action.
The mind has been likened to a piece of paper that has been folded. Ever
afterwards it has a tendency to fold in the same crease - unless we make
a new crease or fold, when it will follow the last lines. And the creases
are habits - every time we make one it is so much easier for the mind
to fold along the same crease afterward.
Let us make our mental creases in the right direction.
