I have a dear, dear friend who frowns upon classifying things as "good" or "bad". And there's a story to illustrate, that goes something like this:
I don't think I want to enumerate my bad habits here on the world wide webs, frankly. Let's just say I have a few, and they are contributing mightily to my aforementioned idiocy. It's time to hit the reset button on these, wipe 'em off the screen, start fresh. How does one go about changing bad habits? Especially the real cozy, easy, fun habits of modern living (hint: YOU'RE doing it right now)?
A man had a son who he loved very much. One day the man's only horse ran away. His neighbors felt sorry for him, saying "tsk, tsk, such a misfortune," shaking their heads. The man's answer surprised them. "But how do you know it's bad? Wait and see."You get the idea. So you never know about using these words. But yes, I do think that some habits probably are "bad" and some are probably "good". (And now all you students of semantics can go grumble in a corner, but let's move on, shall we?)
A few days later, the horse came back, bringing two wild horses with it. Now the and his son had three horses. When the neighbors saw this, they congratulated him on his good luck. "But how do you know it's good?" he said. "Wait, and see."
The very next day, while attempting to break one of the wild horses, the son fell off and broke his leg. All the neighbors came 'round again, this time to offer their sympathies. "Too bad your son broke his leg", they offered, "such bad luck!" The man replied, "who is to say what is good luck and what is bad? Wait and see."
The neighbors looked at him in disgust. Was he crazy? They decided not to have anything more to do with him.
The next day a warlord came through the village and took all the able-bodied men off to war. All but the beloved son, with his broken leg...
I don't think I want to enumerate my bad habits here on the world wide webs, frankly. Let's just say I have a few, and they are contributing mightily to my aforementioned idiocy. It's time to hit the reset button on these, wipe 'em off the screen, start fresh. How does one go about changing bad habits? Especially the real cozy, easy, fun habits of modern living (hint: YOU'RE doing it right now)?
3 comments:
AHHH! Busted. Guess we gotta make the right choice! I'm off to walk the dogs --
oh man, I did NOT mean for that to be read in the accusatory! (And besides, my destructive habit might be someone else's - or even my own, how weird is that - constructive discipline...)
I really do want to know: how do we break bad habits?
Small steps, small choices. We can't do it all at once - at least I can't. And there's always that "two steps forward, one step back" thing. Myself - I think I'll be heading back to Weight Watchers on Monday. I've gained a few lbs. back, and even tho I KNOW how to lose them, I just don't do it by myself. I need support and encouragement in making new choices -- better choices. It's a hard thing to do. But often, when you've decided it's time to do it, you feel great when progress is made.
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