The difference between a bad habit and an
addiction, from a shamanic point of view, is
the difference between falling into a trap and
being eaten by the one who set the trap. While
a habit traps you in the past, an addiction
devours you, until there is no present or future.
This article shows you how.
Habits or Freedom: Do you have the awareness to
choose?
From a shamanic point of view, there are two
types of choices: Free-choice and Habit-choices.
Free-choices are only possible when you live
consciously. Living consciously means that you
are aware of the forces behind your daily
choices and you are responsible for creating the
choices you want.
When you live consciously, you are aware of
the hidden beliefs behind your limitations and
you consciously make choices to break through
those limitations and express your Unique
Essence and your potential.
You are living consciously when you become
aware of how the forces from the past are
influencing your present and when you actively
choose to release the Habit-choices that are
creating consequences you do not want while at
the same time, you actively nurture the intent
and Free-Choices that create the life you want.
You are living consciously when you live in
your body. Most of us have been evicted from
our body into our logical mind. We try to
control the body. We reject or are ashamed of
our body. We see our body from the outside
and judge it. But we have lost our essential
being-in-the body. We have lost our connection
with the body.
Your body is the temple and expression of your
Soul. There is a place within you where your
Body and Soul are in sync. It is called the
BodySoul . It is your Personal Compass . When
you are out of touch with it, you are alienated
from your Personal Truth , from the deep
wisdom and desires of your Soul and from your
Life Purpose.
As a result, you make choices with your logical
mind or based on your habits. These are called
Habit-choices , and they carry your learned,
limiting Inferences , creating more of the same.
In contrast, when you live consciously, you
make Free-choices, not Habit-choices . Free
choices come from your Personal Truth , from a
place of self-loyalty and of being true to your
Soul.
Free-choices embrace change, learning and
transformation with courage because you
assume the power of being the creator of your
life.
You live consciously when you live in Oneness
because you experience that you are part of the
Universe; that not only are you in the Universe,
but the Universe is in you.
You live consciously when you live in breath,
awareness, self-responsibility, Oneness and as a
co-creator of your life. In shamanic lore, only
then are you truly awake!
Bad Habits: Giving Away your Power
Habit-choices come from a place of
disempowerment. When you keep repeating a
behavior, thought or choice that is bad for you,
hurts others around you or is no good for the
Great Circle of Life , of which you are a part;
then you are standing in the place of The
Victim .
You are, with your actions and non-actions,
saying that you are helpless to change, that you
are incapable of creating a different reality.
Why is habit so easy and change so difficult?
Habit is comfortable and easy for two reasons:
Familiarity. Many habits were learned or adopted
early on in life. You learned to brush your
teeth in a certain way, to eat certain foods, to
play certain roles in your family and to defend
your learned beliefs in certain way. They are
familiar. The mind trusts familiarity, even if
it's killing you! But it distrusts the unfamiliar
because it has no criteria to understand or
classify it. The mind resists change. The
subconscious mind sticks to its programming
unless you do a reprogramming. The conscious
mind justifies your bad habits to defend you
against the perceived danger of the unknown.
Powerlessness. A bad habit can also be an easy
way out. You are facing a difficult situation.
To make the right choice, you'd have to
confront your fears or grow beyond your
present limitations. But you are scared. So you
tell yourself that you have no choice, and you
take the easy way out. Do that enough times,
and it becomes a habit. The longer you keep
this habit, the more you give away your power.
You begin to feel powerless and weak. You feed
your fear, and your fear grows until it devours
your courage.
Every time you say that you have no choice
and take the easy way out you ARE making a
choice. You are choosing to stay in the prison
of your fear or your past. Powerlessness is
learned.
If you were abused or controlled as a child, you
may have adopted the stance of The Victim or
may have played the good (read obedient)
daughter role, allowing others to make decisions
for you. After a while, powerlessness became a
habit.
Imagine that Free-choice is a muscle and
choice-making is the exercise. If you are
trapped in a bad habit, that particular muscle,
whether it's the eating choice-muscle or the
relationship choice-muscle is out of shape and
flaccid.
Exercising it demands that you have the self-
love and strong desire to be healthy. You then
exercise by making decisions. Each self-
respecting, self-directed choice you make
strengthens your Free-choice muscle until you
stand in the place of your Personal Power.
When you are about to make a choice ask
yourself these questions:
1. Is this a Habit-choice or a Free-choice ?
2. What choice would come from self-love?
3. What choice would strengthen my Free-
choice muscle?
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