There are no good habits

There is no such thing as a good habit and bad habit. All habits are bad. A habit essentially means you are operating like an automation, you are operating compulsively. Whether you brush your teeth compulsively or you get drunk compulsively, they are not very different in their basic essence. With one you may lose your teeth, with the other you may lose your life.

There are people with psychological problems where they want to wash their hands all the time. Their hands may get worn out but they cannot stop. Does that mean washing your hands is bad for you? No, but a washing habit is bad for you. Is eating bad for you? No, but an eating habit is bad for you. Is talking bad for you? No, but a talking habit is a cruel thing for everyone around you!

A habit means you have fixed realities where you do not have to think. You get up in themorning and all these things happen to you. Do not try to automate your life. That is not efficiency. This is the efficiencyof a machine. A human being is supposed to function intelligently and consciously, not like a machine.

A habit means you have learned to operate unconsciously. The fundamental of being human, in comparison to other creatures on the planet, is that other creatures are habitual.The beauty of being human is that we are capable of doing everything consciously. What an animal does unconsciously, we can do the same thing consciously. A human being has the choice to eat, breathe, walk and do everything that we do either unconsciously or consciously. The moment someone does something consciously, suddenly that human being looks very refined and wonderful.

If you do not move from a compulsive mode of activity to a conscious mode of activity, you will never realize the immensity of what it means to be human. When you develop habits, there is no such thing as good habit because in terms of the evolutionary scale, you are trying to regress.

The whole science of the spiritual process is to empower you to operate consciously. This is not about good or bad. Everything in life is needed at some moment in some measure. If you operate consciously, if you eat, you will eat only what is needed for you. If you speak, you will speak only what is needed for the people around you. Whatever you do, if you do it as a habit, then things will turn ugly. But if you do it consciously, it could be used in a useful way. Instead of trying to develop good habits – which don’t exist – pay attention to bringing a little more awareness and consciousness.

(Ranked amongst the fifty most influential people in India, Sadhguru is a yogi, mystic visionary and a New York Times bestselling author Sadhguru has been conferred the Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India in 2017, the highest annual civilian award, accorded for exceptional and distinguished service.)