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Early on, my Mentor told me: «Stop doing what you’ve always done, and start doing what you’ve never done».

Breaking habits is the first rule of inner growth. What are habits? Nothing more than inertia. Therefore, a crucial skill in spiritual development is learning to step out of inertia – and eventually, to avoid falling into it at all. This applies to:

•     the cycle of thoughts that used to drag you into their swamp;

•   emotions – such as when a person is overcome by anger and «carried away»;

•     all unconscious habits – «because I’ve always done it this way».

Habits can be broken easily. You can either replace a habit with another one or eliminate it outright. The downside of habits (inertia) is that they most often don’t serve your true desires – yet you repeat them without wanting to.

It’s important to let go of them and not allow anyone or anything with unclean intentions to control you.

You’ll learn to see the non material world and discern what or who might be behind your habits. But for now, accept this as a given: it’s advisable to get rid of habits.

And, by the way, keeping a diary helps greatly with this. When you write in your diary at the end of the day, including elements of review, you feel as if you’re emptying yourself internally – you’ve put everything on paper, and you feel free. There are no more thoughts or worries – only freedom and calm.

By the 9th grade, I had re read the entire school library twice, as well as extensive book collections from my friends’ mothers. When I’d come to the school library and ask «Have you got anything new?», the librarian would reply: «You know all the books by heart – go and see what’s there».

After hearing my Mentor’s words about breaking habits, the first thing I did was stop reading books – and for many years, I didn’t touch them at all.

By letting go of this habit, I realized that when I used to read books compulsively – for days on end (I could finish a thick book in a single day) – I was living in fictional worlds, trying to escape reality. Once I stopped reading, I had to pay attention to the real world.

Of course, reading books gave me many benefits too – but that’s for later. Right now, we’re talking about habits.

When I picked up books again many years later, I began following another of my Mentor’s rules: «Read a book like this: read a paragraph, underline an important phrase, and practice it for a week. A week later, pick up the book again – underline a second phrase from another paragraph, and practice that».

I’m referring here to educational books that foster personal growth, as that’s what I mostly began to study later on.

Another memorable example was comparing knowledge to a backpack: imagine you’re setting off on a long journey, but instead of packing only what you need, you stuff your backpack with a bunch of random things. What will happen? You’re unlikely to enjoy carrying such a heavy load the whole way.

Knowledge is the same kind of baggage on your shoulders. When you learn and immediately apply your knowledge, honing your skills, knowledge has value. But when you merely «swallow» literature, it can turn into mental clutter. You know it, but how do you use it

Therefore, Theory Is Good – But Practice + Theory = Excellent

Another important point: breaking habits gives you a fresh perspective and broadens your horizons.

Habits and beliefs are a kind of internal psychological supports – the walls of the imagined world, your personal reality. Things you’re confident about give you a sense of solidness and reliability: «I know – this is how it is. I’m sure».

Both your inner world and the outer world consist of such «supports» – made up and imagined things that often have little to do with reality.

All that we see is but a single appearance.

Far from the surface of the world to its depths.

Consider the obvious in the world insignificant,

For the secret essence of things is not visible.

– Omar Khayyam

This is one of my favourite verses by Omar Khayyam – and he’s right, as he is about so many things. Of course, the secret essence is visible to those who see – or to those who are honest with themselves and live ethically.

Still, what people in the material world tend to accept as unshakable truth is worth re evaluating.

When a person’s beliefs (supports) collapse, they feel lost. At least, that’s the sensation – because their fragile, self constructed world is falling apart. And once the veil lifts from their eyes, they have to face reality.

You lived believing that white is white and black is black; that this person is a fool, that one is beautiful, and another always behaves strangely.

But when you re examine your inner world, your beliefs, and your attitudes toward people, objects, and events, it may well turn out that black is actually white – and vice versa. And «that person» isn’t a fool at all. You realize this once you pull out of yourself the childhood belief that «anyone who doesn’t get up with their left foot first is a fool». I’m slightly exaggerating, but essentially, that’s how it is.

When you begin to dismantle your inner world into its parts, it becomes obvious how many unearned labels you’ve pinned on others – and on yourself, too. Now you have to shake all that off.

This relates to the topic of energy blockages caused by beliefs – but we’ll cover that a bit later.

Regarding pinning labels on others: the certainty that «this person is a fool» or «this person is good» also gives a sense of security – you know what to expect from them. And so, you feel as if you’re controlling your reality.

By slapping labels on people – convinced they’re «always like this» and «act like that» – you create a sense of stability and protection from surprises in your world. Imagine if you didn’t think anything about a person – then every one of their actions would be unpredictable and unexpected. And doesn’t the unknown scare us?

Of course, it doesn’t – if you’re in control of your life. But here’s the question: are you really in control?

That’s why breaking habits – including the habit of thinking in a certain way about someone or something – is an important step on the path of self development and self knowledge. It tears down inner screens and lets you see the truth without prejudice.

This matters because the laws of God and the Universe, in some respects, differ greatly from the rules of society.

For many years I pondered the earthly life,

There’s nothing unknown to me under the moon.

I know that I know nothing at all —

This is the final truth I have uncovered.

– Omar Khayyam

And again, this is Omar Khayyam. The point here is about the mind: the brain «remembers», but our consciousness is always fluid and pure. We don’t need to carry the weight of knowledge with us – we can see and understand knowledge and truth at any moment we wish. This is the capacity of our soul.