Habit awareness

[Tom]

Hi. Yes, I remember writing that. If you were to hear a loud, sudden noise your attention would be drawn to it. It would be very memorable and there would be no confusion. There would be no need to think about it or to label it. As another example, if you were to bite into a lemon slice you would know how it tasted without having to talk to yourself about it in words. Experiences through the senses (including the mind and its thinking) are direct and immediate. This is the awareness which I was talking about. What follows is just thinking about it. Habits are reactions to something. You can become aware of them after they have already happened and been completed or you can become aware of them as they happen. With training in awareness, you can become aware of them before they begin but after the trigger has occured. At some point you can be aware of what you are about to do before you do it and while there is still time to choose not to do it. When you can block the habitual response, you have time to choose a different option. It is not that you have to deliberately place your attention on every aspect of your experience. There are too many smells, tastes, sounds, textures, thoughts, and visual objects to list them even mentally. It is more a matter of being aware of your sense of self. When you are caught up in the storyline, it is hard to be aware of things as they occur. By being aware of yourself you can be aware of your experiences. It sounds like you have started successfully. I often find that even after being aware of a habit and choosing an alternative I still want to take the habitual response. Even after wanting to follow the habit fades, I am left with wanting to want to follow my habits.

[Good Hope]

I believe this advice came from one of the regulars at this forum, Tom.
I wrote to this forum a while ago concerning chakra flowing and my belief that changing the course of my chakra flow would change my ways of life. You replied that I should become aware of my habits. When my awareness deepens, I would be able to choose to do other than what I usually do.
Well, I don't exactly know what kind of awareness you meant. If you are reading this, please reply with what you meant. My resistance towards my behaviors are distinguishable, but these curses haven't been diminished yet.

With good hope,

Good Hope