Chapter 7 - Aquiring the Habit of Happiness

Chapter 7 of Psycho-Cybernetics is about acquiring the habit of happiness.

We as human beings, function better (medically speaking) being happy as compared to being unhappy. King Solomon, in the Book of Proverbs wrote, "A merry heart doeth good like medicine, but a broken spirit drieth up the bones."

The word disease is actually "dis-ease" which means a state of unhappiness.

Our self-image and our habits are tied-in together. The origin of the word "habit" mean a garment or clothing in Middle English. Our habits are then literally, the garments worn by our self-image. We have them because our habits "fit" us. When we develop and acquire new and better habits, our self-image will outgrow the old habits, because they do not "fit" us no more.

Our unhappy behaviours, beliefs, and beliefs are all "learned habits". To form new habits, we must make a conscious decision to do so and then practice and "act out" the new response or behaviour. It requires constant watchfulness and practice until the new behaviour pattern is thoroughly learned.

PRACTICE EXERCISE

Start with something simple. When putting on your shoe, you always habitually put on either the left or right shoe first before you put in the other. So for the next 21 days, consciously put on the other shoe that you habitually put on last as the shoe you put in first. Do this for 21 days. This simple change of habit will act as a reminder that you can change your unhappy ways of thinking into happy ways of thinking. Every time you put on your shoes say to yourself, "I am beginning the day in a new and better way." Then consciously decide that throughout the day the following for 21 days:

1. I will be as cheerful as possible.
2. I will try to feel and act a little more friendly towards other people.
3. I am going to be less critical and a little more tolerant of other people, their faults, failing and mistakes.
4. Insofar as possible, I am going to act as if success were inevitable, and I already am the sort of personality I want to be. I will practice "acting like" and "feeling: like this personality.
5. I will not let my own opinion color any fact in a pessimistic or negative way.
6. I will practice smiling at least 3 times during the day
7. Regardless of what happens, I will react as calmly and as intelligently as possible
8. I will ignore completely and close my mind to all those pessimistic and negative facts which I can do nothing to change.

After acting out and experiencing these 8 new instructions for 21 days, you will see that worry, guilt and hostility will significantly diminish and your self-confidence will significantly increase.