Habits: Good & Bad
"Ward off passing thoughts, for if you do not, they will become ideas.
Ward off ideas, for if you do not, they will become desires.
Fight the desires, for if you do not, they will become resolve and determination.
And if you do not ward them off, they will become actions.
If you do not resist them with its opposite, they will become habits.
And it will be difficult for you to get rid of them."
al-Fawâid by Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah [May Allah Have Mercy on him]
In this excerpt Jawziyyah [ has very candidly expressed the developmental stages of the process of habit formation.
Passing thought > idea > desire > resolve > action > habit
A passing thought, if allowed to persist when we engage in it becomes a strong idea, this strong idea creates a desire for that particular object, the desire becomes resolve, which then leads to action. When we continue to repeat that action it becomes a habit.
Ward off ideas, for if you do not, they will become desires.
Fight the desires, for if you do not, they will become resolve and determination.
And if you do not ward them off, they will become actions.
If you do not resist them with its opposite, they will become habits.
And it will be difficult for you to get rid of them."
al-Fawâid by Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah [May Allah Have Mercy on him]
In this excerpt Jawziyyah [ has very candidly expressed the developmental stages of the process of habit formation.
Passing thought > idea > desire > resolve > action > habit
A passing thought, if allowed to persist when we engage in it becomes a strong idea, this strong idea creates a desire for that particular object, the desire becomes resolve, which then leads to action. When we continue to repeat that action it becomes a habit.