Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast.

Today's reading was edited and adapted from The Wonders of Life by Ida Lion, published in 1910.

We idly remark that we are creatures of habit, and so dismiss the matter from our minds.

The vastness of this great truth simply does not impress us, but there is infinitely more to this

matter of habit than we have suspected. It is a great law, one of the primary laws of life. The question of

forming habits is the one question which is of the most vital importance to us, since we are

of necessity, constantly forming habits which are a power for good or evil.

A habit is a dominating power which, when in full control, is master of the situation,

and so subtly does it gain control of us that we do not realize what a tremendous power it is until we try

to lose ourselves from its grasp. Even then, we do not stop to think what this power is,

or the extent to which we are controlled by it. If anyone cares to take an inventory of their habits,

they will be amazed at their number and variety.

We have been taught that no act per form ends with itself,

but leaves in the nerve centers the tendency to do the same thing again.

But the immense significance of this truth has not been made apparent to us.

We do not stop to consider that it is to habit this tendency of the nerve centers to do the same thing again, that we owe the ability

to walk, to talk, to perform all the simple and common acts of life, as well as whatever

accomplishments we possess, and that without habit we would literally know nothing, do nothing, and be nothing.

It will therefore pay us to give close attention to this matter of habit. A power that takes up

everything which we begin, and continues it without rhyme or reason,

and grows and grows in power as we encourage it, until it completely dominates us,

is a power certainly worth studying.

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