#7. Overcome your temptations.
When your mind is not working well, you can’t make good decisions.
For example, when I hit rock bottom and wanted to change my life, I behaved like a fool.
I wanted to change all my bad habits overnight. And it doesn’t work that way after a decade of bad habits and vices. It’s the same as trying to pass an exam by studying the night before. You’re not going to pass.
I joined the Gym and told everyone I quit smoking, drinking, and eating junk food.
Did I succeed? No.
I continued with my bad habits on the sly.
I became a compulsive liar.
Eventually, I met a brilliant nun who gave me the advice that changed everything: “Live one day at a time.”
But living in the here and now is not easy when you live beset by the demon of “What if…”
- “What if I can’t change?”
- “What if I’m too old to build healthy habits.”
- “And yes, I try, I fail because I can’t take the withdrawal and get into an even bigger depression.”
So, I researched how the most spiritual people I had access to had managed to get out of their addictions.
And they had a kind of practical intelligence that allowed them to change, make better decisions, and consequently live a good life away from addictions.
I discovered that divine beings are divine creators.
And they create daily the life of their dreams by cultivating these ten habits that allow them to make better decisions every day, which is the wisest attitude 🙂
1. They don’t worry about the future
Divine beings ask themselves, “Can this problem burdening me be solved today?”
And if the answer is no, they stop thinking about them and dedicate their energy, mind, and heart to those things they can solve that day.
By establishing this protocol, the curious thing is that their future problems disappear.
As a monk once told me, “If you dedicate yourself to doing what you must do today, you probably won’t accumulate entropy for tomorrow.”
Lesson: do things when it’s time. Not before, not after.
2. They prefer to adapt and change rather than criticize and judge.
Divine beings try not to judge others or be too hard on themselves.
“It’s not about finding fault, but about finding solutions to live in peace,” one of them once told me.
It is about accepting others as they are, with their faults and virtues. And we are also getting ourselves, not self-deception, and being aware of our weaknesses to correct them.
Lesson: the best option is not to try to change or criticize others but to change yourself. In doing so, the relationship that others have with you will change because you will be a new person.
3. They stop to smell the flowers.
Divine beings do not let a day go by without trying to find some quality time for themselves.
Divine beings do not allow anyone or anything to rob them of the beauty of the present moment.
Divine beings try to find the good in all the bad, to smile every day, even when life hits them hard.
Joy is a skill that can be trained.
I have seen the nuns at the nursing home where my mother worked, singing and enjoying themselves while washing dishes.
Lesson: be selfish with your time, and don’t let anyone or anything take away your joy; no matter how dire your circumstances are, take ten minutes to be happy.
4. They conform to what there is
Divine beings believe in divine providence. That is, each day brings what is necessary.
Therefore, they are not embittered by the things they do not have yet and the things they had but are no longer there.
According to the divine beings, the most intelligent option is to adapt to be happy and work with what is within our reach.
Lesson: if it is not within your reach, you can’t count on it, so why be anxious about what you can’t count on?
5. They devote time to study
All the divine beings I have met along my spiritual journey are great readers.
From them, I learned that we eat with the mouth and the rest of the senses.
And that it is necessary to feed the brain with good readings; otherwise, it will end up flabby and out of shape.
Lesson: dedicate 1 hour a day to reading. And that one hour a day will change your life. Feed your brain; don’t be a spiritual anorexic. Don’t overdo your task either, or you will cram yourself with information but not understand anything.
6. They practice charity daily
I once heard a monk tell a New Age guy he was a spiritual onanist.
That is to say, his spirituality was sterile; it bore no fruit.
And he was right.
The New Age guy meditated, recited mantras, and did Yoga, but only to feel good inside. Just to help himself.
The monk, on the other hand, was a missionary in India, and he fed a lot of orphan children but didn’t have time to do Yoga and meditate.
Lesson: Don’t just meditate; practice your spirituality and make your knowledge help someone else. Doing so will increase your quality of life and sense of purpose. Also, there are lessons that you can only truly learn by helping others.
7. Overcome your temptations.
Divine beings can impose their will on their desires.
Which is super tricky.
I, for one, don’t manage it all the time.
The trick is, according to divine beings, to focus on today. In saying to yourself,
“Just for today, I will not do [Insert bad habit you want to change here].”
Lesson: There will be days you will succeed. There will be days you won’t. The trick is to start over as quickly as possible to strengthen the willpower muscle.
8. Order and organization
It’s funny, but we usually believe that divine beings are very creative people (and they are), but unlike the artists, they are not typically chaotic people.
You only have to look at the organization they have at events or in their daily practices.
When you visit a Zen monastery, you realize that they have a millimetric routine, and they cling to it as if it were a life preserver.
As a Zen master told me, “Take care of order so that order will take care of you.”
Lesson: if you want your life to be less chaotic, the intelligent thing to do is to start being clean and organized.
9. Trust in the universe
Without trust, there can be no happiness.
Without trust, there can only be fear and anguish.
And when one lives in constant anxiety and fear, one lives at 10% of one’s mental capacities.
Divine beings know this, and that is why they cultivate trust.
They are not fools. Divine beings do their part: they make an effort. But they detach themselves from the outcome. Because if they live in fear and uncertainty, they cannot think clearly.
Lesson: increase confidence, and you will increase peace of mind. Increase ease of mind, and you will make better decisions; in doing so, you will operate from a higher level of intelligence.
10. Fear not
Divine beings know that to fear life is not to live at all.
And that’s not very smart, is it?
It would be best to lose the fear of living to get out of your comfort zone and live your life fully.
You can’t learn new things if you are constantly exposed to the exact situations.
That’s why divine beings call their path a spiritual journey.
Spiritual life is a journey; like any journey, it has setbacks, but those setbacks bring lessons that make you smarter.
Lesson: let go of your fears and dare to live. Things must happen to you so your mind can react to new experiences and grow in intelligence and wisdom.
Cultivate these ten habits, and your life will improve (mine did).
A virtual hug
AG
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