"Habit
is a cable that we weave a thread a day,
until
it grows so strong we cannot break away."
Horace
Mann
What
do self-actualizers do to overcome their self-indulgent impulses
and
their appetites? They have them and have to deal with them too,
the
same as everyone else.
They
recognize that every time we do something,
it
cuts a groove in our psyche or nervous system
and
every repetition will cut that groove deeper.
And
the deeper the groove is cut, the wider apart
the
sides grow at its top, and thus the more that
can
fall down into that groove, thereby cutting it
deeper
and making it bigger so that ever more
things
start to fall into it in a self-reinforcing pattern.
The
principle of Reinforcement teaches us that
"Whatever
we reinforce will tend to increase."
Whether
for good or for bad, the longer that
you
feed something, the stronger it will grow.
Self-actualizers
succeed because they choose
to
reinforce their good parts, and do the work
to
grow stronger than their self-indulgent and
self-sabotaging
or self-destructive parts.
If you want a good garden, don't water the weeds.