Friday, August 28, 2009

What's your poison?


In parties it is fashionable for the host to check the guest's preference of drink by asking this question. Based on each individual's taste, the choice drink is served. There are, of course, some people who ask for non-alcoholic drinks. Such people who are not addicted to alcohol may have some other addiction in their lives.

A few years ago, I used to come home late each night from work and after a quick shower would sit in front of the TV and have my dinner watching an English movie. It was a daily addiction which eat into my family bonding time and I didn't even realise it. After a very long time, it suddenly dawned on me and I curbed this malady of mine.

In life, we often acquire habits and vices without our knowing it. Not all of them can be classified as dangerous or as vices. For some, it could be as simple as the cup of coffee in the morning or reading a newspaper or watching news on TV. For others, it could be vices like smoking, drinking etc. If we do not get our daily fix, we often feel uneasy and upset. Sometimes it manifests as a physical problem too.

It is important for each of us to look within ourselves and check if we have any such addiction. If the addiction is helping us grow into better human beings or it is playing a role in meeting our chosen goal, we may cultivate it. If we find the addiction taking control over us and it is a vice or unnecessary habit, it is best if we ditch it. From time to time we should demonstrate to ourselves that our habits do not control our lives.

"The second half of a man's life is made up of nothing but the habits he has acquired during the first half.” - Fyodor Dostoevsky

"Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going." – Jim Ryun

"Men's natures are alike, it is their habits that carry them far apart." - Confucius

10 comments:

SUBS said...

I agree... while we take pride in we are teetotalers/non-smokers/veggie/vegan, etc., we are addicted to other things in life.

Some kind of introspection/self-assessment would help me to identify...regularly.

Thanks for this!

KParthasarathi said...

Very well said.We must get addicted to good habits as you have rightly said.Habits make or mar a man depending upon their nature.A regular self appraisal helps

ramesh sadasivam said...

Vish, are you not contradicting one of your previous posts. "STOP DOING KARMA"

Good addiction or bad addiction, is addiction Good?

Shall we think about it? :)

anupama said...

dear vish,
hey,it's really cool;atleat an eye opener to me.bad habits die hard.:)but then who decides it?
iam addicted to pc these days.[other addictions can't be published].:)
but self examination helps a lot.
and seriously,you do make me think.:)
wishing you a grand sunday.....
sasneham,
anu

Vishwanath Seshadri said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Vishwanath Seshadri said...

Thanks all for your valuable comments.

Ramesh has raised an interesting question. Let me try to answer you as best as I can...

"Stop doing Karma", as mentioned in the blog, is only one of the ways / paths. Certainly not the only path.. And it is easier said than done.. One has to overcome ego and maya before one can detach oneself from actions.. But every endeavour done on these lines will help.. Stop doing Karma does not recommend us to stop doing actions - it only tells us to have a certain frame of mind while doing actions..

Getting addicted to habits which are in line with you purpose is what is recommended in this blog. If your purpose is to attain Nirvana, the habit you must try to cultivate could be to think of God all the time and worship Him all the time. While you do this, you may end up losing your ego consciousness and end up in "Stop doing Karma".

I hope I am able to clarify.

cheers

Vish

Manivannan Sadasivam said...

Nice post Vish, as always! It makes one to get introspective...Developing good habits certainly helps. But though good or bad habits, at a point in life, we should transcend them. And for that getting addicted to good habits is really good :-)


Thanks for sharing inspiring posts. And, I'll be back to see what my brother has to say :-)

Shri Ramesh Sadasivam said...

I accept what you say Vish.

Swami Vivekananda says, "Good habits are like a Gold chain.Bad habits are like Iron chain. Leaving both is not possible. So hold on to the golden chain first. Slowly leave the Iron chain. Then U can easily leave the golden one"

Faith AND Patience said...

This is one of the best article, I liked it. But question is that, some time we are so occupied in so many activities, we don't get time to check on all our activities/ habits / addictions etc... How to come out of that and check whether it is good or bad?
Now I'm alone, I'm doing it. But When I'm with family, friends or peers, I don't keep check on this...unless we have again come across similar things from some where (like from this article...some seminar...some training...some PMA books...somewhere from talk show...or TV...etc..)

Dithi said...

Hello Vish!

I have not been able to keep up with your posts lately. I have come back to attempt to do a little bit of catching up. Talking about addictions, the tele used to take a lot of my time as well. After coming to Geneva, with all the channels in languages that I did not understand then, I realized exactly how much time I had given to tele-viewing in the past few years:((! In fact, I started and had time for painting once again when this happened and thank God for that. I definitely am over that addiction, at least for the moment!!