Habits That Change Our Character

A person’s character is often determined by their exte
al possessions or actions, but the real quality of character comes from the habits created in your mind. Habits that create your self-image are based on how you were related to when you were younger. The way people related to you teaches you how to relate to yourself. This article focuses on the habits we create that define our character.
If significant people in your life called you ‘stupid,’ you would begin to develop that as a part of your self-image. Now to most people, once these habits are developed, that is what they identify with and it is difficult to change. If a person began to identify with ‘stupid,’ it would be like tightly grasping a stick with your right hand. Then, to grab onto a new identity with your right hand, you would have to let go of the stick.
Once you learn how to consciously condition your own mind, you have the amazing ability to create new habits and by doing so, you can change your life. For instance, if a person had a negative self-image that was developed based on the idea that he is stupid, it would sabotage the important things he had to do in his life.
Say that person needed to get a job. If they could change the ‘stupid’ self-image instantly to a self-image that was created by positive past conditioning, they would be able to trigger a better interaction in a job interview. To do that, there is one important thing you have to do; you have to learn how to let go of the creations of your mind. In psychology, there is a law that says, “You cannot change what you identify with”. It is similar to the fact that you cannot wash the floor you stand on.
When you consciously breathe, you can be free from your mind, because we give life to what we breathe into. If you breathe into an old habit, you activate it and give it life. This means you can choose what mental programs you give life to. By breathing into silence, you don’t give life to any old mental habits. This gives you an opportunity to create new, conscious habits .Then you can breathe into those new habits to activate them. Breathing into silence can be a new habit.
Imagine yourself in an awkward situation. You find yourself breathing into old habits that don’t serve you. If you develop a more conscious self-image, you can breathe into it and activate it. This is how we can control the self-image that serves us and ignore the self-image that limits us. We just have to be extra sensitive to our experience and at the same time we have to be in the moment and free from our past conditioning.
© 2011 Marc Lerner and Life Sills Institute