BAD HABITS

A bad habit is one which leads one’s body or mind into a wrong direction, which affects one negatively in the short or long run, thus making one repent it. Some get into it fast and some slowly. Once deeply enslaved by a bad habit, it is very difficult to come out of it. Health and wealth get lost. Relationships become weak or get terminated forever. Dependants suffer. Accidents occur. Deaths take place. Pain engulfs the forsaken. Society loses its value. Culture gets tarnished. Nations turn backward slowly.

Bad Habits

Human beings are more intelligent than other creatures on earth. God equipped them with such intellect, creativity and vision that they can do wonders continuously to surprise others. Still, most of human beings are ruining their lives and professions with one or two bad habits. Below are some examples.

1. Smoking, consumption of alcoholic drinks and chewing tobacco products have been the highly dangerous bad habits of humans in the recent past. Smoking affects liver and may lead to throat cancer. It causes many other health problems also. For many it is a matter of pleasure. Some are smoking domestic brand cigarettes and some those imported from other countries. Many smoke other varieties of items also like cigar. Children, males and females are being affected by this bad habit regularly. Passive smoking is causing many problems to others. Despite ban of public smoking in some countries, they are doing it secretly. People living in cold and very cold regions of the world may consume alcoholic drinks to protect their bodies from excessive cold around but why should people in hot countries like India consume these nasty hot drinks at all? State and central governments are earning huge income from drunkards in their places. On one hand, they promote themselves as welfare states and they ruin the lifestyles and health of their citizens on the other hand provoking them to consume poisonous drinks. Every year millions of people are getting affected due to alcoholism. Drunkards ruin the peaceful atmosphere in their families, societies and nations. Millions of nuts, mostly the uneducated ones, are chewing many varieties of tobacco products daily across the world. Farmers knowingly cultivate tobacco minding their livelihood needs. Chewing tobacco products is causing death or many health problems. Unscrupulous entrepreneurs are earning crores of rupees making and selling these three varieties of highly dangerous items of consumption. It is quite unfortunate to note that even highly educated ones are smoking and consuming alcohol despite knowing about the bad effects of these habits. Governments are spending huge money to treat patients with disorders caused by smoking, drinking and chewing. They create a burning issue and spend huge money to solve it regularly. This is the stand and stature of present governments.

2. Being addicted to narcotics is another bad habit. Governments ban production, distribution and consumption of these harmful substances but selfish and influential folks in many regions do this business to earn huge money in no time. Police catch some wrongdoers for formality sake. They accept bribes from many dealers of narcotics and allow them to operate in their countries. We have such unreliable and pitiable departments of law and order in many countries. They promote crime and unrest secretly. Millions of youth and other segments of society are getting addicted to narcotics regularly.

3. Gambling is another pervasive bad habit. Playing cards, betting, investing in share market, organized fights between cocks, rams, oxen are some of them. Most of Indians are passionate about playing cards. They lose money in this game. There are clubs to encourage these bad habits in rich and influential people. They take it as a matter of social status and prestige. Generally those who can accumulate huge easy money through different immoral and illegal business segments play cards much and bet money recklessly to seek sadistic pleasure from this game. Betting on who or which team wins in a race or competition has been the recent trend. Cricket betting is most apparent. I often believe that share market is the largest gambling business in the world now. A has started a company. He wants some more money to expand it. I buy his shares and contribute some money. Nobody knows in this world how A is running his company, how long he can run his company, what profits he is making every financial year and how much of it he is distributing to his shareholders honestly? I am making others rich and influential investing my hard-earned money in his venture.  At times I may not get even one rupee out of the investment I made earlier. Companies are like vapour in air. Their success or failure is decided by many factors around them. Knowing clearly about this volatility of profits that can be made through share market, many are buying shares blindly. Many lose a lot of money every single day in the share market. If one is gaining or losing hugely within a short period of time, it should be gambling only. There are hundreds of varieties of gambling in this world. Casino is one of such places promoting gambling.

4. Bloody games involving humans is another bad habit. Boxing and car racing are just two examples. Is it fair if two creatures fight opposite us and make the scene bloody in the process? The government is banning use of animals and birds in feature films but what about cultivation involving domestic animals and bullock carts used for local transportation? Dogs pull sledges in some cold countries. Using anybody or anything in a bloody manner is a bad habit. Every sensitive and ideal government must ban such games and events.

5. Telling lies is a bad habit. Modern humans are so accustomed to telling and listening to lies that they cannot distinguish between a lie and a truth. They are telling lies even to quite negligible matters in their lives or professions. We can tell lies occasionally to save ourselves from an immediate danger or save somebody else from similar adverse situation. Relationships are losing their beauty due to multiple lies. Lies earn us bad reputation.

6. Riding bikes or driving vehicles at high speed for pleasure is a bad habit. Many are meeting with accidents or dying due to this speed in using vehicles. Driving vehicles violating traffic rules, without breaks and mirrors and outdated ones is also there. Most of the accidents and deaths caused in any nation are due to carelessness and craze of a man or a woman in using vehicles. Highly disciplined and regulated vehicle users are also becoming victims during journeys due to these undisciplined idiots. They are making roads into spots of mess, stress, insecurity and pain. Using irritating and confusing horns is also there.

7. Creating and submitting false documents for any official or regulatory purpose is widespread in India now. Getting a prestigious private job or a safe and secure government job is a dream of millions of Indian youth now. When they don’t have relevant certifications and work experience, they get into cheating. They somehow create them and grab those attractive jobs. Really talented ones cannot get them at all. Many recruitment agencies and employment generation units cannot ascertain the reliability of the candidature of their employees, investigating into the background of those candidates before offering employment. It consumes a lot of time. So, they don’t take it seriously. Fraudsters enter such firms directly.

8. Madness for gold and related ornaments made from precious metals and stones can be seen in 95% of Indian women. They think a lot about gold. They struggle to buy and keep gold with them. If four females meet in a familiar place, they may be forced to talk about gold somehow. To that extent, they are not focusing on improving their knowledge and skills, which really add value to their lives in course of time. Passion for gold in Indians is like an inbuilt cancer. Indian economy is affected due to this bad habit of millions of Indians. Easy money is being circulated widely. Nobody should ever try to impress others wearing ornaments or possessing such wealth but through standards and values of highest order.

9. Enjoying today believing that tomorrow will be bright is a bad habit. Banks and many financial institutions are giving loans largely nowadays without minding the character or financial status of the borrowers. Finance is the word we are hearing quite frequently now. Many employees and entrepreneurs are taking out loans from different lenders now with a time period of 10 to 15 years to pay back. When we don’t know what happens to us the very next moment, how can we assure others that we live happily for another 10 to 15 years? Even if we say so, how can financial institutions believe in us? The value of the assets which we mortgage to take out a loan now might be depreciated in course of time or they might be owned by others legally. How can banks recover the principal and interest from such cases? Many banks give out loans based on the salaries of employees and the reputation of the firms with which they are associated now. What if he dies soon? What if he loses that job? What if he disappears after taking out the loan? Our banking sector is being run depending on assumptions and imaginations but not absolute truth and proofs. This is the case across the world. This is why economies are collapsing at times. Some spend a lot for the marriages in their families or other occasions believing that this year the yield would be very good from their agriculture; they get favourable judgement from the court about their property; their relative sends huge money from abroad as promised earlier and so on. Hope leads us into tomorrow but there is no certainty that tomorrow would be good as we expected. We should not celebrate today for tomorrow.

10. Blind agreement, love, relationship or friendship is a bad habit. Many get into business partnerships without reading the legal agreements also properly. Whom we trust the best today turn out into our worst enemies in course of time. When a dispute arises and you move to a court of law, everything will be in their favour. You can do nothing except crying alone or calling them names. What’s use? Falling in love with others blindly and starting a relationship emotionally or passionately may lead to problems later. The other may cheat you. While in love, we don’t think about proofs to support our love affair with the other but just enjoy the company of the other. When we are cheated, we look for proofs to prove his crime or our innocence. We cannot do either of them because we don’t have proofs. We should be very careful to initiate and continue any kind of relationship with unfamiliar ones. Nobody can save us when everything turns upside down. Relationships are heavenly when they move according to our expectations and hellish when they are against our hopes and priorities. Maintaining relationships is very difficult. Friendship cannot be memorable always. We get into a bad friendship unknowingly. We may do many bad things as part of that group. We might be caught one day and be in jail. Many get spoilt just because of bad friends. It is good to spend for 30 minutes with our good enemy rather than spend for one day with our bad friend.

11. Ogling at others, especially at the creatures of opposite gender, is a bad habit. We can certainly see others for a few seconds decently but not for many seconds or minutes with highly focused attention. Avoid it when in public places in particular. When you and she are only there, it is not that bad. She scolds you or advises you softly not to do so but she cannot do so while many are there around because it may turn into a public nuisance issue. Many do not wish to make a matter into an issue while in public places. Even if she wears highly revealing clothes, don’t look at her like a dog but a rabbit or a sheep. Enjoy seeing it decently. Avoid dirty remarks aiming at her. She is showing her beauty to you. It is a social service. Accept and appreciate it silently within yourself instead of treating her like a bad girl.

12. Many neglect their bodies and suffer later silently. We talk about many things in this world but never about our body. Do you know what is happening in your body? Cancer must be in its initial stages in a part of your body. You never know what is happening inside until you consult a specialist and get diagnosed in standard laboratories. Many hospitals are offering holistic body check-up facilities now at affordable fees. Before or after 40 years of age, it is always good to go for these medical checkups, not out of apprehension about your health but preventive precautions quite in advance. Many Indians do not consult a doctor until their health problem gets intensified and turns fatal. They spend lakhs of rupees at the eleventh hour and lose their dear ones ultimately. It’s pathetic. Check your body frequently.

13. Many make promises to others abundantly but never keep them. Politicians are the best example for it. When we listen to their speeches, we feel as if we are in a heaven now and going to see another exciting heaven tomorrow itself. They don’t keep the promises they make publicly. People take them as hypocrites, cheats and clowns just because of this bad habit in them. Instead of making 10 promises and fulfilling just one of them after one or two years, just make one promise and fulfil it within 10 days. Reliability is very important. Others cannot rely on our promises if we fail to keep them quite often.

14.  Borrowing things from others often and forgetting or neglecting to return them early is a bad habit. It might be their bicycle, scooter, book, dish, tool or any other common item. After you used it in your abode of residence or office, remember to return it to them at the earliest. Never think that they don’t mind even if you return it after four months. Owners of goods may not use them often but they seek pleasure and satisfaction in keeping their belongings in their abodes, not ours. Pay back money borrowed also at the earliest possible date. It may be five or ten rupees also. Return them fast. It shows your sense of accountability, morality and punctuality to them. They feel free and happy to give you anything in future also if you maintain such relationship with them. Never keep the things of others with you unless they give it to you forever as a gift. They hate your presence and character if you are indecent.

15. When you stay in the abode of your friends or well-wishers for a while or a few days, for professional or personal reasons, be highly disciplined. Don’t keep or throw things like a mischievous child. You should conduct yourself very decently and formally. They may offer you a lot out of excessive love but accept or reject it very softly. Handling ‘no’ is more difficult than ‘yes’. Tell them softly and briefly why you don’t eat, drink or use something. Never assume that they know everything. Many Indians don’t know the name of our prime minister or president also because they don’t need it. They are living on their own. They don’t feel like knowing about others without purpose. Even if you are the richest man in the world, even a mosquito may not care you if you go to its place by chance or with intention. When you want to get something done over there, introduce yourself briefly and explain them what you want from them. Many are not as interested and focused on us as we assume. Shun ego and false prestige first.

16. You cannot impress others with words as much as you can with your acts. A female beggar is looking desperate. She is begging you to offer her a little money. You started talking with her or others about the nuisance of begging in India. She goes away from there within seconds because she is hungry. Only money or food items can solve her problem. She is not in a position to change herself or this world after listening to your words. Offer her a little money or just ignore her. To save somebody, we need to do something. Kindness is greater than analysis when the other is dying slowly before us. Give hope or life to others rather than speeches of apostles always. We don’t know why one became so. Destiny is strong. We cannot change it. Being generous towards those suffering is the best thing we can do to them.

17. Don’t leave children unattended. Never leave children to do what they like or go wherever they want. Absolute freedom to children often leads to dangers and deaths. Moderate supervision and observation are always necessary. Children don’t know how to conduct themselves when they are left alone. They may be misguided, abused or abducted by others. They wish to do many things out of impulse but not analytical or rational outlook. We often hear about children drowning in water bodies or meeting with accidents on roads when riding their bikes or driving their cars at fashionable speed. Avoid them, controlling them.

18.  Learn to say ‘no’ to as many people as possible when you cannot do something for them. All things are not accessible or possible to us. We should not take every responsibility onto our shoulders to comfort, please or inspire others artificially. We should know what we can or cannot do. We have limited time and resources. When we are unable to do our things in time due to pressing responsibilities, how can we help or guide others? Taking up every responsibility for courtesy or formality sake and then dropping off it in the middle of it earns a bad image to us in others. We can avoid this complication if we learn and practise saying ‘no to others decently. Say ‘yes’ only when you believe that you can do it in time.

19. Shopping has become a fashion and style to many superficial idiots now across the world. They buy something somewhere not because they need it but because it is a hobby to them. I wonder when I read about some film actors and actresses. One buys a number of jeans. One buys a number of footwear. Why this madness? God did not give this valuable life to follow fashions and create mad trends but to understand the essence of your life and help others when you are comfortable and happy at your level. What do you do if you have 1000 saris? Are you expecting others to value you based on your physical decoration alone but not psychological growth? Your standards and values add more value to your life rather than how you are appearing to others. Do not buy anything out of impulse but only if you need it badly. Even if 100 salesmen persuade you to buy a kilo of pure gold at unbelievably affordable price, you should not buy it if you don’t need it. You should buy good toothpaste on your choice when you need it even if nobody forces you to do it. You should never be a shopping addict. Be disciplined and sensible.

20. Many try fixing, fitting and repairing such gadgets, tools and implements, in which they were not trained at all. Never try to repair an electrical switch, a ceiling fan, laboratory equipment, a television, a cellphone or any other item if you are not 100% adept in it. Similarly do not ride a bike, drive a car, advise use of medicines to others unless you are an expert in that field of knowledge or skills. Casual and careless advice to others may land them in problems. If you do what you cannot do, you may hurt yourself or ruin the lives of others. Both are crimes and sins. We need experts to do many things.

21. Never spend money beyond your capacity. Never compare yourself with others. You are unique. You should live according to your preferences and abilities but not in tune to contemporary trends. Many are smoking and drinking now for formality or as part of a party. Is it good for health? Do you earn a good image in society doing such things for fashion? Then, why should you do them? You need not buy a cellphone spending 10,000 rupees when you are earning 8,000 rupees a month. You can buy one spending 1,000 rupees or less than it. You can spend one lakh rupees within 10 seconds buying something randomly but imagine how much time you need to earn it honestly and decently? When we have no financial control, we ruin our lives and those of others also who believe in us or depend on us. Nobody has time now to listen to the story of a pauper but a billionaire. You can be balanced in your life only when you plan strictly and implement it honestly as far as what you are earning and spending is concerned. Do not misuse or disuse money. Earn in a morally appreciable manner. Spend it cautiously.

22. Avoid dependence. Nobody comes with you to every place to fulfill all your needs. Don’t expect your mother, father, brother, cousin or a servant to serve you always. You should know how to cook a little food for your survival, wash your clothes, clean your abode of residence or office, tour a place independently and so on. Self-reliance is very important in human life. Even if you are a billionaire, God creates such situation once or twice where you should do something on your own for your survival. You should have basic knowledge and skills required for your nominal survival in adverse conditions also.

23. Keep your expectations from others short always. Just like you wish to enjoy your life utilizing the strength of your body and intelligence of your brain, even all other creatures are focused on such lifestyle only. Don’t expect too much respect or affection from others even if you have given life to them. Man’s moods keep changing. He falls on your feet when he is about to die in a few minutes out of hunger and thirst. When you provide him with life offering him food and water, he gains energy. Then he may think how to pull your legs and assume your position. So, do not believe in anybody completely without proper analysis of his character as an outsider for considerable period of time. Never think others run your business or life ideally always. When you are a patient, a nurse may serve you honestly for a few days. Then she may wish to kill you and grab your assets and properties somehow. The more your expectations from others, the more you suffer and lose. Never allow others to take crucial decisions about your life or business. They kick you onto the road and make you into a hopeless parasite. No use in crying then!  

24.  Do not blame God for anything unfortunate that happened in your life. God’s only duty is to create millions of souls and allow them to play in His universe with various physical forms. What you do in various life forms would be the account of your soul. To understand it better, let’s suppose that four fathers left their kids in a ground. There are four exits to that ground. One child crawled towards a pond, one child towards a forest, one child towards a desert and one child towards a garden. One learns swimming; one learns hunting; one learns living in hot conditions and one learns living through gardening. Their fathers did not guide these innocent kids towards a particular destination but they did it on their own. What we choose in the huge kingdom of God, decides what kinds of life forms we take and how we live in that long spiritual journey. God is impartial and generous. You are responsible for your destiny. If you do good things, you would live happily. If you do bad things, despite direct and indirect warnings to you by God, you would suffer immensely soon or later. You can build your life strongly and ideally thinking and working in that direction always. You can ruin your life through your carelessness and stupidity. What you make of your life is up to you. God is just a formal and unbiased supervisor.

25. Don’t make your life or profession tense, messy, disgusting and disappointing knowingly, especially when you have multiple options to choose from. In helpless, hopeless and restricted environment, we cannot help doing what is given by chance. When there is an opportunity for making a choice, do that which keeps you satisfied and balanced. Some millionaires leave their business empires all of a sudden and join a spiritual or religious abode for peace and solace. Some quit their comfortable, happy and luxurious married lives in the middle of it. When they realize that it is all mirage, they try to find real happiness. They choose to meditate and reach God. Realization is very important in human life. What is your goal? Can you reach that goal? If you have reached that goal, what else should you do? If you are vexed in life, what do you wish to do? What do you want to achieve taking a different route altogether from the present one? Plan to remove stress and strain from your life. Sit in a farmland silently on a moonlit night to get profound ideas about life instead of making yourself mad going to a nightclub. You can change your life only when you think in that direction deeply and try hard to keep yourself calm.

26. Balance your ego. We need to maintain some levels of ego to live with self-respect. We don’t go to any function in our area and have dinner just like that. We go to a party only if there is an invitation. We don’t grab food from the bowl of a beggar even when we are hungry on a day due to delay in our scheduled work but wait patiently, go to a hotel or home and have food. We don’t go to the house of our enemy to borrow money even if his house is close to ours but go for kilometres and seek help from our friends or well-wishers only. We are doing so because we have ego. We need ego in these contexts. We should not maintain ego in the following context. You are the chairman of a company. You are going to address a gathering of educated youth in an educational institution this evening. You have to talk about the greatness of youth in any nation. You are preparing matter for it typing it on your computer. You are not getting ideas. You know that your office boy daily reads short books of Swami Vivekananda. You should humbly borrow his book to get insights on the topic. If you don’t do it, when pressed for time, in critical conditions, you will be the loser. To gain knowledge and improve our skills, we should shun our ego. We should go to any extent to improve our strengths as an individual or professional. If you stop interacting with unfamiliar or helpless people out of your ego, you don’t grow psychologically. Your interaction or familiarity should not be confined to one subject or one class of society only but a variety of people, contexts and situations. Diversification and multidimensional approach are important to enhance our understanding about things around. Those with excess ego suffer silently and die pathetically. Being open-minded, honest, humble and unbiased is important. We can become so when we balance our ego.

27. Don’t take anything for granted. We generally develop impressions about others based on some events or experiences with them once. We harbour the feelings of animosity towards them internally remembering what happened long ago. It must be avoided. In course of time, many people and things change automatically. Whom you saw once as a thief might have become a sage later. Who remained poor and ugly once might have become handsome and rich later. The girl whom you loved once and wanted to marry but failed to do so due to her ego might have changed a lot later. Perhaps she must be struggling to see you. You may be a source of solace and inspiration to her, which she neglected when you adored her. Treat her kindly if she comes across you by chance. Erase past impressions and develop fresh and unbiased outlook towards people, places, events and phenomena around you. If you narrow down your circle of desired and appreciable ones, based on your agenda, one day you may remain alone in your room. When we don’t find suitable ones, we should make unsuitable ones into our favourable ones through our reorientation and efforts. We must change our attitudes about others knowing present facts, without lingering with our past impressions and imaginations. Observe and appreciate change around.

28. Learn to accept what is given. You may not have children. You may not be successful even if you have been honest and hard-working. You may not be identified and appreciated despite your genius and great results out of what you did somewhere. All your family members might have cheated you though you were generous towards them. Your skin is not fair. You are not much educated. No girl is looking at you. Nobody is interested to be your friend. Everything is turning negative in your life or profession at the eleventh hour. Our birth or death is not in our control. Then how can we control what is to befall our life? Accept everything patiently because there is no use of crying about anything that happened against our wish. Accepting things as they come, you would grow psychologically. You would come into terms with reality instead of fantasizing. Believe in God and keep going. This is how millions of desperate people and helpless creatures are living in this world. They are accepting things imposed on them. Are animals committing suicides knowing that they would be butchered in an abattoir? Are birds ending their lives when it is raining heavily? Many are living somehow withstanding suffering, pain and loss.

29. Don’t be carried away by trends, fashions and styles but develop and retain an individuality of your own. Different hairstyles don’t make you a great person. Wearing stylish clothes does not make you handsome. Changing cellphones quite frequently does not earn a great image for you in a society. Riding a bike fast or making fun of others at will does not make you positively different. If you follow superficial trends always and don’t have unique ideas and experiences of your own, you remain as a simpleton in any society forever. You would continue to live in a domain of false prestige and ignorance. It’s a layer of vapour. It may melt at any time due to the power of reality. Can you say that a film is good for so and so reasons despite a thousand viewers talking badly about it? Can you marry a beautiful and innocent girl in spite of aversion and negation by everybody in your village or town? Do you consume buttermilk when all of your friends are consuming alcoholic drinks in a party? Do you study physics only though all your teachers advised you to pursue chemistry? Those with individuality only can swim against the stream of disappointing circumstances and adversities. Others cannot influence them that easily. They have rock-solid determinations, plans and vision for their lives and those of others. They live ideally despite hardships. Check if you have such individuality or can become so in course of time despite difficulties. Admirable individuality is many times stronger than money, assets, attractions and authority.

30. Never stop unlearning. Everybody must move from darkness to light when evolution is taking place. Revolution occurs only when people reform themselves. Unlearning means avoiding doing such things which you found to be wrong after careful analysis or personal experience. You admired an actor blindly till yesterday. Today you don’t care him because you knew many bitter truths about him. You are drinking adequate water every day after knowing that it is good for your health. You stopped telling lies after you realized that many are suffering due to such attitude in you. You thought that those that study in distance education mode are not intelligent ones but you recruited such candidates only after realizing that it is a wrong perception altogether. Unlearning means learning new good things slowly leaving old bad things based on your calculated and tested judgement. Avoid blind beliefs, being rational, logical and ideal.

31.  Don’t desire but deserve. Don’t dream to go abroad and pursue higher studies without a passport and basic education in your country. Don’t be jealous of millionaires but check if you can become one soon applying your intelligence and skills. Don’t rush into an Express train without reserving a berth for you quite in advance. Don’t try to write a book when you cannot sit properly for a few minutes also. Don’t expect everybody to stand up and salute you when you are passing by them. Improving your value as a person and professional, struggling hard continuously, is the only way to better your actual image in a society. You cannot gain great status and respect without great qualities in you. What you get easily does not make you content and happy. Achieve that which brings hope and joy into the lives of the affected.

32. Inculcate good manners. ‘Sorry’, ‘thank you’ and ‘please’ are the words which earn many friends, relatives and well-wishers to you in the short or long run. When you cannot smile and appreciate others, you cannot get them from others. When you don’t respect and love others, they don’t do so towards you. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. How you talk and behave decides who and how long they stay with you. Relationships are sensitive. You should build them through great standards and values. If you could not earn even one good friend in ten years’ time, it means you did not care for people. They console you when you are in distress only if you had loved and cared for them when you were happy in all respects. Building great relationships and retaining them for long takes much effort and time but breaking such relationships takes a few seconds only. When we remain solitary psychologically, we are almost dead. Go and love the world around you to make your life animated. Don’t remain detached.

Let’s see how we get drawn towards bad habits and how they influence us later.

1. Society, culture, region, religion and environment influence one towards getting addicted to a bad habit. In some societies, consumption of liquor is quite common. In western culture, consumption of alcoholic drinks and meat is common though they are bad habits from a health point of view. In some regions, people get addicted to some bad habits, which cannot be seen in other areas of the same nation. Hindus offer blood of animals and birds as an offering to Goddess Durga in many parts of India. Cutting throats of helpless creatures during festivals, ceremonies and fairs can also be seen in parts of India.

2. Casual behaviour often leads us into many bad habits. Our friends or relatives offer alcoholic drinks, cigarettes or other harmful products to us on some occasion. We get addicted to them gradually.

3. Excessive freedom often pulls us into bad habits. When there is nobody to observe or question us when we do something wrong, we mostly get attracted towards bad habits. It happens quite unknowingly.

4. Much wealth or unbearable poverty may also get us into bad habits. When we have bundles of easy money, we turn to bad habits. When we are extremely poor, we turn to bad habits due to ignorance.

5. Tragedies in lives may also put us in bad habits. When one fails badly despite good habits, one resorts to bad habits. One, in such situation, argues that one should be bad to be happy in disturbed life.

6. Demonstration effect also makes us victims of bad habits if circumstances are favourable. A police often raiding on brothels or terrorist camps may become a pimp or terrorist, being attracted towards them.

7. Helplessness is also a major force that pushes us towards bad habits. When there is no chance to live earning money honestly, one becomes a thief, dacoit, killer or fraudster to earn fast, harming others.

8. Low standards in the law and order environment of a country attract many towards crimes and bad habits. When I know that police and lawyers are ineffective, I don’t mind committing frauds and crimes.

9. False prestige also leads to bad habits. If I wish to satisfy my girlfriend presenting highly valuable gifts quite often, when I am essentially poor, I resort to robberies and thefts to earn hugely fast somehow.

10. Laziness and family upbringing also push us towards bad habits. When I am lazy, I try to earn money cheating others fast. When many are fraudsters in my family, I too generally choose that path.

11. Professional environment often affects us. One working in a cigarette factory or smuggled goods business believes that smoking or cheating governments is never wrong. They support their views.

12. Ambition for immediate and extraordinary fame also throws us into a domain of bad habits. To achieve one’s goal fast, one gets ready to do anything. Prostitution and bribery are just two examples.

13. One bad habit is enough to ruin our lives and those of others related to us. Terrorists and drunkards are the best examples. One kills others. One harms oneself and tortures those depending on one.

14. What is considered a good habit today might be taken as a bad one tomorrow at a personal, societal or professional level. If you consume 50 ml of alcohol, it’s good. What if you make it 500 ml daily?

15. Many have excuses as to why they got into and are continuing in bad habits. Without self-reformation and determination, one cannot come out of one’s bad habits. They always remain as victims of bad habits.

16. One that could shun one’s bad habit after being with it for years is greater than one that has no bad habits at all. One that came out of a bad habit can educate others better than one that has no bad habits.

Insights

1. To be away from bad habits, list out all bad habits as per your knowledge and information and resolve yourself never to be addicted to any of those bad habits. You are the best teacher to yourself always.

2. All those that have bad habits may not be bad people. Often many suffer at their level only due to their bad habits. It happens so because they cannot come out of them that easily or fast despite their best efforts.

3. If majority of people are addicted to one or two bad habits in a place or nation, unrest and pain prevail there. Bad habits are contagious. They spread fast. It is good to stay away from such people and places.

4. One may take years to learn a lesson from a bad habit and become great immediately. Tragic incidents or fatal accidents often serve as eye-openers to many. Positive change in them may be unbelievable at times.

5. Governments can keep people away from bad habits if they are empathetic and ideal to the core. Banning all bad products and unethical practices is the easy way to reform people and keep them happy.

6. Doing one thing excessively or illogically can be treated as a bad habit. If you look at me once, it’s an acceptable glance of appreciation. If you follow me wherever I go, it’s unbearable dose of attachment.

7. Self-tuning mostly helps you stay away from bad habits. You know what your bad habit is. If you want health and happiness, you should get out of it applying your willpower, efforts and vision on your own.

8. If many depend on your intelligence, goodness and hard work, you should be away from all kinds of bad habits. If you have more responsibilities, you should be very ideal and practical in your outlook.

9. Never regret or blame others for how you became by now. Getting into bad habits happens quite naturally across the world because it is human demerit. Be a challenger coming out of it slowly or fast.

10. Many talk very badly about you, beyond your presence, if you have bad habits. The only way to regain that lost good image of you in your circle is to change extraordinarily and do wonders steadily.

I conclude this stream of thoughts, adding my example related to this subject. Betting small amount of money on desks of dice has been my negligible bad habit for some years. I do it once a year. I generally bet 10 rupees in each round of this public entertainment game and may lose 200 to 400 rupees at the most. It does not impact my life negatively much. Yet, it is a bad habit. I know it. Recently I lost 2,400 rupees in this game in a few hours’ time. It is negligible amount of money to my present financial status but it shows that I am degrading slowly betting and losing more. Bad habit is like a cancer. It poisons your body and mind gradually. The day I lost this money, I have decided strongly never to get into this or any bad habit thereafter in my life. This is what we consider self-realization. I commanded myself like a ruthless dictator. I will never be a victim to any bad habit. I took some time to reach this stage of self-reformation. Lessons learnt through our bitter experiences change us better than those taught by others in classrooms.