Habits

"For every habit we have, for every experience we go through over and over, for every pattern we repeat, there is a need within us for it. The need corresponds to some belief we have. If there were not a need, we wouldn't have it, do it, or be it. There is something within us that needs the fat, the poor relationships, the failures, the cigarettes, the anger, the poverty, the abuse, or whatever there is that's a problem for us.

How many times have we said, 'I won't ever do that again!'? Then, before the day is up, we have the piece of cake, smoke the cigarettes, say hateful things to the ones we love, and so on. Then we compound the whole problem by angrily saying to ourselves, 'Oh, you have no willpower, no discipline. You're just weak.' This only adds to the load of guilt we already carry.

Whatever we are trying to release in our lives is just a symptom, an outer effect. Trying to eliminate the symptom without working on dissolving the cause is useless. The moment we release our willpower or discipline, the symptom crops up again.

When I say 'needing the problem,' I mean that according to our particular set of thought patterns, we 'need' to have certain outer effects or experiences. Every outer effect is the natural expression of an inner thought pattern. To battle only the outer effect or symptom is wasted energy and often increases the problem.

One of the first affirmations to use is: 'I am willing to release the NEED for the resistance, or the headache, or the constipation, or the excess weight, or the lack of money or whatever.' The willingness to let go of the old is the key." Louise Hay

I am willing to release the need for...