I cannot stress the importance of reading books on their entirety, not just a few pages in order to educate ourselves and learn about the world that we live in. By reading books we can learn from other people and expert authorities on practically every subject in the universe. When we read we learn that many of the life situations we go through are not unique to us. We learn that for instance our mind can be a pretty loving or a scary chatter box that can make us feel dis-empowered or totally empowered. However, we also learn that we must  learn to recognize and ignore the nonsense our minds are capable of conjuring from time to time in order to take full control of our emotions, feelings, and ultimately our lives.

The Power Of Habit is a must read for anyone looking to understand why we do the things that we do good and bad. Awareness is everything. Once we become aware of a mechanism within ourselves, we take our creative and personal power back in order to make real and positive change happen. The Power Of Habit teaches us that we can change anything once we become aware how behavioral patterns dominate our daily lives. However, everything in life takes work and dedication from our part. Some habits are easier to change and the length or time it takes to change them differs from person to person. The most important lesson to take away is that everything we do for too long becomes a habit and unless we are aware of it, we will eventually be led to believe that the particular habit has a power of its own, when in fact it is just that we repeated the behavior so many times that our mind built a habit so we no longer need to think about our action, we do it automatically.

Human beings are creatures of habit. We are also pleasure-seeking creatures. All of our habits are dependent upon a reward even when the reward we think we’re getting is not a reward at all but a hindrance. Certain behaviors become addictions because the pleasure that one is perceiving to get is so short-lived that one feels the urge to repeat the behavior over and over to feel pleasure or relief. But once we realize  that what we’re doing is not providing us with what we truly seek, love, well-being, acceptance, etc, we give to ourselves the power to change our behavior because in reality nothing is permanent and nothing has power over us. In essence we shift the power away from the habit or behavior and onto our conscious self. If we really want to change anything we can do it by taking the time to know ourselves, understand how we function, and figure out what we can do to change what we do not like. Education, patience and commitment are  everything.

We can all create our own universe and enjoy it while we’re alive and healthy by developing positive habits that can alter our lives forever. Sometimes all it takes if for us to develop one good habit for everything else to change in our lives. God gave us the power to think, the power to learn, and the power to choose to get ourselves out of any circumstance we do not like and that includes addictions, toxic relationships, unproductive careers, or any situation that is holding us back from living a healthy and productive life. Although our brain cannot tell between good and bad habits, we can. We were made for goodness and to thrive not to be sick and suffer.

As Duhigg says “Once you understand that habits can change, you have the freedom and the responsibility to remake them . . . Once you understand that habits can be rebuilt, the power of habit becomes easier to grasp and the only option left is to get to work.”

The Power of black and white by Christian Louboutin

Once we choose who we want to be, people grow to the way in which they have been exercised . . . If you believe you can change, if you make it a habit, the change becomes real. This is the real power of habit. The insight that your habits are what you choose them to be. Once that choice occurs, and becomes automatic, habitual, it’s not only real, it starts to seem inevitable. - Charles Duhigg