Habit can be a powerful ally if you have developed the right ones. Conversely, as you also know, they can sabotage your most earnest efforts. So it would seem like a worthwhile use of your time, to reflect on those habits that both help and hinder a good meditation.

As Yogananda told us, “You can’t get rid of the darkness by beating at it with a stick. Instead, turn on the light. The darkness will then vanish as though it had never been.” So the way to uproot bad habits is not so much by fighting them as by working all the harder at developing opposite good habits. It takes time to do this – sometimes as much as five to eight years in the case of deeply rooted habits – so don’t give up!!

For creating some good habits Swami Kriyananda suggests – “Restlessness, for example, is overcome by developing a taste for calmness. A tendency to talk excessively can be overcome by developing a liking for silence.”

For getting up in the morning, try putting your alarm clock far away across the room so when it goes off, you will have to jump up to turn it off. A long-time Ananda teacher told me that this worked for him.

Fertilize the flowers in your garden and then the weeds will die off.

Happy meditating!

Nivritti