Habits are more coercive than laws. This is because our habits compel us from within ourselves to act in a certain way. Take the phenomenon of excessive irresponsible behavior at holiday times. A person might feel compelled to act in a certain way fearing the disapproval of others or in order to preserve his or her image. Beyond that, the person’s mindset might be conditioned into thinking that splurging money in a rash way will bring about a spirit of happiness and joy.
Habits sometimes feel as if they are the very limbs of our bodies. They can neither be ignored nor departed from.
Descartes compared habits to physical phenomenon, like the way that when a shirt, a bed sheet, or piece of paper is folded, the point of the fold leaves a lasting impression.
Our conscious habits can be more closely compared with a clock. It is constructed by people to tell the time. Thereafter, people refer to it whenever the feel a need to and start relying upon it for everything. Habits are the same. They start as something we consciously and deliberately construct, then they start to reconstruct us.
Habits start off simply, but then they become deeply entrenched until they become part of our very makeup. Smoking or drug use starts off as something apparently harmless to the user, but this is deceptive. Soon, the habit has control of the addict’s life. Morphine is sometimes used as a pain killer, but if it is used repeatedly, the user becomes incapable of living without it, even after the pain has gone away. When the time for the regular dosage comes, the person suffers physical and psychological symptoms.
There is an old saying that goes: Pull the weeds from your garden as soon as they appear, or your whole garden will be ruined. A person might resort to theft out of dire need, but then the person becomes a compulsive thief, even if they become well-off and have no reason to steal. Stealing starts providing a sense of fulfillment, like the satisfaction a hunter feels when he aims and shoots a bird from the sky, though his refrigerator might be full of meat.
If you surrender to your habits, they become your master and they will lead you places you do not want to be.
Habits are a “second nature”, as Aristotle describes them. Habits are also a firmly rooted in a person’s nature. This is why it is often said that: “It’s easier to move a mountain than to change a habit.” This is not true, of course. It is possible to change one’s habits, but it is extremely difficult. It requires a lot of effort and determination, and the person who makes the attempt needs to be able to fight off feelings of despair.
Bad habits cause a lot of pain and prevent a lot of good. People lose their reputations in society when they engage in demeaning and socially unacceptable habits. Those who repeatedly indulge in sinful habits might be seen by others to be hypocrites, though in truth they might be sincere religious people who are beset with weakness.
Persistent habits should not be confused with things people do on a sudden whim, though what might begin as a spontaneous act can certainly develop into a bad habit.
Our bad habits take form us far more than what they give. That is, if they actually give us anything at all.
As for good habits…
A person comes to realize that human perfection lies in a sense of love for others, integrity, mercy, forgiveness, justice, and objectivity. Then, the actualization of these noble traits becomes a major part of that person’s life, and he or she begins to engaged in self-critique and puts these traits into practice. Intimately, practicing these noble qualities become a habit that is hard to break, even in the face of hardship and sacrifice.
Those who have become used to doing what is right find it difficult to do wrong. It is just like when people grow accustomed to speaking properly. It becomes difficult for them to use bad grammar.
Friendship is a habit. Cultivate friendships with people who are simple-hearted, those who are weak, those who may not have prestige, so that you feel affinity for them. Look towards those who are less well-off and expel pride form your heart. You will love the people and they will love you.
At the same time, make it a habit to disdain the company of the ostentatious and haughty. Allah says:
“And do not drive away those who call upon their Lord in the morning and the evening, desiring only His favor; neither are you answerable for any reckoning of theirs, nor are they answerable for any reckoning of yours, that you should drive them away and thus be of the unjust.” [Sūrah al-An`ām: 52]
He also says: “And keep yourself patient [by being] with those who call upon their Lord in the morning and the evening, seeking His countenance. And let not your eyes pass beyond them, desiring adornments of the worldly life, and do not obey those whose hearts We have made heedless of Our remembrance and who follow their desires and whose affairs are ever [in] neglect.” [Sūrah al-Kahf: 28]
Make the power of habit work for you. Do not let your habits be your master.
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