Good Habits and a disciplined life

According to the oxford dictionary, a habit is “ something that you do often  and almost without thinking- something hard to stop”.

Habits can be good or bad. Good habits include getting up on time, eating regular meals , excercising daily, sticking to timings etc.. While  smoking, drinking , drug addiction etc  can be classified under dangerous  bad habits, picking one`s nose in public, constantly biting the finger  nails  ,  going late for any meeting etc  can come under not so dangerous but  all the same irritable  bad habits. All of us , without fail, have some habits which we find difficult to get out of. However,  good habits can help you lead a more disciplined life. Because discipline is defined as the practice of training your mind and body so that you control your actions and obey rules.

All my life I have been a `Foodie` but not a `Fruity` resulting in  my developing  a prosperous  `madhya pradesh ` as some would call it. Except banana in all seasons and mangoes in Seasons I never liked any other fruits. However old  age and growing health issues have forced me  to  change my food habits . I was advised  to include `papaya` in my  changed daily diet. Papaya is a  fruit I hated all my life. However  I am a guy who takes good advice seriously. So I decided  to include a small bowl of Papaya as a part of my daily breakfast. Though I started as a reluctant consumer of  papaya, today after two years it has become a habit- a part of my daily discipline . If I don`t have papaya on any day I feel miserable.  As  miserable as I would feel if I didn`t have my morning cuppa coffee, my daily newspaper or my morning walks.

Again for a long time I have been wanting to go on a fast at least once a week. I chose Monday as my fasting day. The kind of fast   which allows me to consume  light meals. I decided  on a diet  of only soups and salads- both fruits  & vegetables.  No rice, no wheat &  no cereals of any kind. Not having solid food meant that I was feeling hungry every three hours. So I had to plan my `Fasting menu` meticulously to ensure that I have something to eat every three hours. 

After successfully implementing my decision for five consecutive weeks, I was faced with a challenge on the sixth Monday.  I was attending a wedding  where the hosts  insisted  that I cannot leave without having the wedding feast. Temptation led me to  join the guests  at the dining table. While awaiting the service to start an idea flashed in my mind. When the servers started the service I ensured that only vegetable items were served on my `banana leaf` and prevented being served any rice, chapathys or other solid items. In addition to the  vegetables I had a cup of rasam and payasam. It was quite a satisfying meal. I got up from the table  `burping` & beaming with pride that I had passed the acid test with flying colours! Since then I have had no problem of maintaining my habit of fasting on Mondays. 

If there is a will there  is a way.  With sincere efforts one can practice good habits and also  get out of bad habits  leading to   a more disciplined life. As I am doing in my old age!