Your Actions; Your Life

I am doing some reading in preparation for a meeting next week and one of the books we will be discussing focuses on how to map out success, in particular to people in the teenage years.  Among the chapters in the book, one is aptly titled, "Habits Are Powerful".  I found the information in this book to be so relevant beyond the teenage years, that I had to devote some time to take in some of the concepts that resonated with me.  Habits, can be either good or bad and as such they are what runs your life.  For instance, when you look at people with a healthy lifestyle that you admire, you usually notice some habits that are pretty prevalent in how they conduct themselves.  I remember some years ago when I went out to dinner with someone like this, they were very particular about the calories in what they were going to order and at the end of the meal that person watched a few others of us share a dessert.  I never forgot that image, because ideally I would have wanted to have the better health, weight and other intangibles that come with someone who is so ideally healthy.  Yet, I was not willing to make the sacrifice like this person to forego those items of food that were the healthier options or completely deny myself of something like dessert.  This person showed me up front what their habits looked like and I can honestly say that it is still my goal to be able to have that type of will power over what I eat along with how much.  There are other examples of good habits versus those that are not and I suspect most of us know where each one lies in respect to us.  The key message here is that nobody else is in control of your habits except you, therefore, changing a bad tendency towards a good one rests solely upon the individual.  You can have a best friend, family member or someone else that cares for you and may prompt you to focus on letting a bad habit go.  Your conscience can do a pretty good job as well in that if you are doing something that is not good for you, there is always that "feeling" that tells you so in the midst of it.   The actions that you take and the consequences that come from that, is what one has to live with.  If you have been wanting to make a change that would help improve yourself or your surroundings, then let your good habits pave the way to that destination.  The energy behind your thoughts will help you make the right decisions in the long run, as long as you are aware of when you are focusing on the good energy rather than its opposite.  Sometimes things can be as simple as black or white and most of us know the difference of what all of this looks like.  What we have to remember is that in order to achieve our goals, it is important to not lose focus and stay true to the good tendencies that will help bring about those much wanted results.