Breaking your habits – Living consciously – Sadhguru, Isha Foundation

A habit is formed essentially because it brings certain ease to your life – it makes parts of your life automatic. You do not have to think about it. You can do it just like that.

Naturally human beings form habits because unlike other animals, we have not come with many of our traits fixed. You notice a little bit of difference between one dog and the next. They have their individual personality, but most of their traits are fixed. But almost everything is wide open for a human being. Because of this, as a child, you try to form a defence pattern where you try to create your own patterns.

Every child creates certain habits for the sake of survival. But generally, children shake these patterns off as they grow, depending upon the level of awareness you create around them. Either by exposure or through education, children change dramatically – they go out for three years and when they come back, parents cannot recognize them.

It is those who are engrossed in selfpreservation who cannot drop old habits. Those who are looking for adventure will drop their habits easily because they are always remodelling their lives whichever way it is needed for the situation in which they exist.

Above all, if a person takes up a spiritual path, his habits will drop because there is no such thing as good and bad habits. Once you have grown up, habits mean you are learning to conduct your life unconsciously. That may look safe, but it denies your life in so many different ways.

Spirituality is the fundamental tool to break all unconscious patterns that we have within ourselves. What we refer to as karma is also just this. Karma means you are unconsciously creating patterns for yourself, not only about your behaviour but about the way life happens to you.