Prioritise Health and Break Free from Addiction

Imagine a person, who started consuming drinking and smoking at the age of 16, and most of their life has been spent struggling with obesity. By the age of 25, he had ten thousand dollars in debt. Debt recovery agencies were relentlessly pursuing them. In her life, Lisa had never stayed in a job for a long period of time. According to her biodata, her longest tenure of employment was less than a year.

But today, the woman sitting in front of the researchers was a slender and fit woman. Whose legs were as strong as that of an athlete. In comparison to the pictures on the chart, she appeared ten years younger today. And looking at her it seemed that she could easily beat everyone sitting in that room in exercising. According to the latest report filed in her record, there was no debt on Lisa anymore. She had quit drinking and had been successfully working at a graphic design company for the past 39 months.

‘When was the last time you smoked a cigarette?’ Placing a long list of questions in front, a doctor asked Lisa. I had read this case study in the book “The Power of Habit.” The one who fueled the fire of my curiosity.

Lisa said in response to the doctor’s question, ‘About 4 years ago. Since then, I have lost 60 pounds of weight and now I even run marathons.’ She had started studying for a master’s degree and had also purchased a house for herself. It was the most exciting time in Lisa’s life.

Even today health is not the priority of people in India. People had become health conscious just after COVID-19, but not now. There is an old saying in India, “The first happiness is a healthy body, the second happiness is illusion (wealth) at home. The third happiness is a kulwanti (virtuous) woman, the fourth happiness son should be obedient. The fifth happiness, resident in the country, the sixth happiness is the political power. Seventh happiness, contentment life, if it is like this then life will be blessed.” Regrettably, this is just a proverb, no one applies it in reality. 

Swami Vivekananda had said, “We see everywhere in the world that everyone is teaching, ‘Be well, be well, be well.’ Perhaps no child is born in any country in the world who hasn’t been taught lessons like not telling lies, not stealing, etc. But no one teaches them how to avoid these wrongful actions.” In the same way, the appropriate phrase only works to open the door of the path by showing people the right path of life. They don’t know how they have to go through the labyrinthine path of this jungle (difficult)? What difficulties do they have to face? That’s why even after knowing this path, they never go on it.

You open the door of the room. The whole room is in disarray, garbage is spread all over. Doesn’t even feel like going inside. You decide that on a holiday you will clean the room. Let’s say, you succeed in doing this. You find the room in the same dimension after a month. You decide to clean the room again after 1 month.  This time you succeeded again. In such a situation, you will have to clean the room once every month. The question is, what will you do to deal with it?

Ever wondered why there are less BP and sugar patients in villages as compared to cities in India? Not only BP and sugar but patients of all diseases are less in villages as compared to cities. The main reason for this is the living conditions of the cities, contrary to human civilization. Conveniently available fast-foods and cold drinks stores along the way of commuting, malls etc. The urban environment and much more are included in this. This is because people make the mistake of checking the products of easily available stores once. It appeals to them. Eating once a week won’t make you fat. This is the main reason for pigeons getting trapped in the net.

In the laboratory located in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, scientists have been doing research on dozens of people along with Lisa for the last three years. Scientists installed cameras in the homes of all participants affected by excessive eating, smoking, drinking, and excessive shopping to monitor their daily routines. Because these people had one thing in common that they had given a new direction to their lives in a relatively short period of time. The reason for which was habits.

Consider your morning routine. You do the same thing in the morning without thinking, why? When you learned to drive, you had to face many difficulties. Do you remember? The first time you went to the parking lot to take out the car. You unlocked the car, opened the door, sat in the seat, adjusted the seat as needed, adjusted both mirrors, fasten your seatbelt, clutch, brake, and accelerator foot placement checked, pressed the clutch, shifted gears, slowly released the clutch while gently pressing the accelerator, removed your foot from the clutch while holding the steering wheel, and started driving while paying attention to both mirrors and sides. Now you can easily drive without much effort, keeping your attention everywhere. Why so?

Your mind is the reason. In simple words, it records all the activities of the day. It saves recordings while you sleep. Remember new habits, old habits become stronger. The only problem with it is that it does not know right and wrong. The award or reward received by completing the activity is the right and wrong of the mind. It easily accepts the liked prize as right, this is the main reason for the formation of wrong habits. 

The process of habit formation can be divided into four easy steps. Signal, desire, response, reward. The vibration in the mobile was a sign for your mind. As a result you checked your mobile. The second step is the desire to read it completely that arises in your mind after seeing the mobile. The process of unlocking the mobile and reading it completely is the response. The satisfaction you get after reading the message is your reward.

Habits can lead to significant growth not only in health but also in any area of life. Assess your morning to evening routine. Remember the formula given above and use it to create good habits. Convert bad habits into good habits. And keep adding the next habit with one habit. Drink water instead of tea/coffee right after waking up in the morning. Immediately after this, take a walk, then brush etc. 

Thanks 😊