Habit

  Habit is the state of any thing implying some continuance or permanence; temperament or particular state of a body, formed by nature or induced by extraneous circumstances; as a costive or lax habit of body; a sanguine habit; a disposition or condition of the mind or body acquired by custom or a frequent repetition of the same act. Habit is that which is held or retained, the effect of custom or frequent repetition. Hence we speak of good habits and bad habits. A great point in the education of children, is to prevent the formation of bad habits.–Webster’s American Dictionary

Who is strong? He that can conquer his bad habits.–Benjamin Franklin

  At first glance, the idea of habit has three general connotations— good, bad, or humdrum — as in routine, custom an inclination or propensity. The downright negative habits range from addiction and fixation to susceptibility and falling into a rut. Yet a habit can also be a discipline that soul consciously imposes on the self.
  On the Via Christa, we use the term "design" to describe the array of constructive and executive disciplines that make up our plan for ascension. One of the most deadening aspects of unconscious habitual behaviors and mental-emotional illusions is following family, ethnic, or racial patterns without thought or deviation. No expansion in consciousness can result from this; in fact, consciousness can and will regress.
  Edna Lister said that life itself is designed to be a grand adventure composed of a series of small but exciting adventures. When life grows dull, boring, uninteresting, look to your habitual thoughts and emotional ruts as the cause. Live graciously, in the presence of the Lord, being filled with His grace and loving kindness.
  A perfect habit for gracious living is this: Mary Batson, who was turning 99, when asked her secret for longevity, answered, Why, I get up in the morning and invest my first thirty minutes with the Lord. I put my hand in His and He leads me throughout the day.
  The only legal addictions are God, Light, perfecting the soul virtues, releasing Power, and declaring everything and everyone good. Declaring Light a thousand times an hour is a divine addiction.

Edna Lister on Habit

You must develop the habit of right thinking, and using the right words. Every man’s words shall be his burden.–Jeremiah 23:36, so make yours as light as a balloon.–Edna Lister, Prayer, the Broad Highway, May 15, 1935

The more you think about a habit, the deeper you impress it on the unconscious mind.–Edna Lister, The Golden Fleece, September 1936

When you experience a relapse after a miracle or conquering self, you are probably indulging in a habit.–Edna Lister, August 9, 1940

Plan to do everything in your life in a more thoroughly beautiful way. Try to change your routine, your time of doing things, your old ways, even if you only eat your soup last! Do something different and more beautiful in your daily tasks, and new ideas will flow.–Edna Lister, January 26, 1942

Memorize and work on one law a week until law becomes a habit.–Edna Lister, November 2, 1944

Develop the habit of doing to replace procrastination.–Edna Lister, July 4, 1945

One law well learned, until it becomes a life habit, is worth more than a book full of knowledge soon mislaid or forgotten in life’s turmoil of actions.–Edna Lister, August 1, 1945

As an adult, your subconscious mind has moved in a certain set of grooves about some ideas for years. It takes five years to fill in such a deeply-cut habit groove. Once you have torn out the roots of an idea, you must refill the groove with Light and new constructive patterns of thinking and behavior to prevent the past habit from resettling.–Edna Lister, September 4, 1945

Let’s form the habit of living each hour by praising God.–Edna Lister, September 10, 1945

Instantly lift everything that comes to you into the Light, as a constant, steady habit.–Edna Lister, February 14, 1946

Subconscious mind corresponds to the impulsive appetitive facet of soul as it builds and maintains the physical metabolism. It reacts to all stimuli with impulses and appetites for it is incapable of thought; it can only follow a pattern pre-established by the rational mind or by a habit that conscious mind has permitted by default. Hence, the subconscious is the source of all your delays and difficulties in life.
  The subconscious mind’s purpose is to run the body as the servant of the conscious and superconscious phases of mind, so it must have a pattern to follow. Yet, if you are body-conscious in any way, you will live by the appetites and impulses of the subconscious dictator. The superconscious mind of Oversoul I AM forever seeks to change your path in life from fate to destiny by directing your conscious mind to form habit patterns for the soul’s destiny, which is like pulling teeth.
  Appetitive soul operates like a robot—it can’t change the pattern, but works according to every habit pattern you let it set for you. If you allow others to change your habits by dictating to you, confusion results in your life pattern. Stated another way, if you let others’ emotional advice recondition you away from principle, your mental patterns will become confused.–Edna Lister, Integrating Mind and Power, June 22, 1952

Personal habits are all right if they are wise for you and do not interfere with anyone else.–Edna Lister, December 18, 1952

Do not curse yourself when you smoke, but declare that the cigarettes represent the Power of the Living God soothing every nerve. Gradually you will no longer need them. Do not curse, but bless substitutes. The substance in cigars is the same as in the Communion bread and wine; only the form changes. As you think in your heart, so it is, for you are the creator. Habits cling because you curse them without blessing them.–Edna Lister, Jesus, the Descended God, December 12, 1954

If you blame yourself, others blame you. Do not blame yourself for any habit or fault, but work to eliminate them.–Edna Lister, December 13, 1954

It's so good that you are growing up to where all detrimental things fall away, instead of wearing a hair-shirt over your “sins”! Do it joyfully! Tell every cigarette and cocktail how wonderful they are! How beautiful! How glorious! How enjoyable! Bless and bless each and every one until you feel GOOD inside! You might as well make the habits pay you some dividends! And I assure you they will, truly. You’ve cursed every drink, every smoke and yourself until “what have you?” More desire! Be sure to bless every match, lighter, light, too.–Edna Lister, March 9, 1955

From a letter: He told me that until now every word I’d ever spoken to him had “gone in one ear and out the other.” I told him how own ideas, which are undeniable, about cheating, and hiding things, had knocked people down until his sales talks were unconvincing. That when he wanted God as hard as he craved cigarettes, beer and hurrying to see a ball game on television, when he wanted to love God instead of dreaming about himself as a big shot in high places, he’d begin to become what he was truly meant to be—an emissary of Light!–Edna Lister, July 27, 1955

Subconscious mind, rooted in appetitive self, is always at war with conscious mind, rooted in the rational soul. If a battle, a conflict rages day and night, soul is ravaged, torn apart. For example, you want to stop a habit such as smoking, but you unconsciously make a law by saying, “I can’t ascend unless I give up smoking.” It starts an immediate violent chain reaction: Desire increases, the nerves react throughout the body until it prowls, restless and miserable, and you find your self with a lighted cigarette in hand, and no recollection of having lighted it. Habit lights the cigarette, a perfect example of self putting one over on soul.–Edna Lister July 15, 1956

An inner conflict cannot pay you dividends or cover spiritual debts. You redeem a negative emotion, habit or debt when you decide you have had enough of it.–Edna Lister, Nor Shadow of Turning, July 15, 1956

Do not entertain yourself quite so much with television. It’s a habit that keeps you from conquering. [Today we add computers, smartphones, tablets, texting and games.]–Edna Lister, July 20, 1956

Every conquering of self is a victory over death. You are reborn every night because the River of Life flowing through you cleanses all taints from your cells to renew you. It’s your choice whether to suffer pains and illness, which are nothing more than poor habits adopted from the world mind.–Edna Lister, August 4, 1956

Keep moving or you settle on your gains and they settle on you. Light will prod and push you until conquering becomes a habit.–Edna Lister, October 15, 1956

We came to clean up the self, so we repent as we climb every minute of every hour of every day. Seek the kingdom of heaven all the time until it becomes a heavenly habit. You need this all the time, otherwise you will not have the strength to climb when you need it. Instead, you will strike your spiritual sound barrier. When you cannot seem to get the answer you need, you have struck this barrier.–Edna Lister, April 4, 1957

Form the habit of standing steadfastly. Once you form it, it is yours for all eternity.–Edna Lister, May 9, 1957

To look back cuts every line of Light between you and your desired miracle. To doubt cuts every line. To fear cuts every line. Looking back, doubt and fear destroy God’s original plan for the matter. You are to live by royal sense, which is the comprehension of all one knows and the inability to curse before blessing. You must reach the point where you have so firmly established the habit of “You are wonderful!” that this good is all that fills your mind, emotions and imagination. You must reach the point where you never modify, dilute, or adulterate the original Power that goes forth. When you establish “You are wonderful!” as a habit, the Light of your countenance will attract love, everything you desire, and fill your personality with joy.–Edna Lister, September 5, 1957

Seek the kingdom of heaven always as a heavenly habit. If you do not seek all the time, you will not have enough strength to climb to the heights when you need to.–Edna Lister, September 30, 1957

Your work of ascension must include raising the vibration of body cells until you become immune to anything earth can produce. For instance, for the habit of cigarettes to fall away, you must ascend high enough in consciousness and desire.–Edna Lister, Conquering Space, October 15, 1957

Old habits are hard to break, but you must shatter them in prayer, so that Light can absorb them. You speak without thinking, give advice without being asked for it—your difficulty is in being absorbed in your own thoughts, when you should be alive to and observing the other person’s reaction. You act first and think later when you have already offended the other fellow. When you decide to act, then fill your mind with the need to do something without considering whether it will be acceptable at the time, how it will be received, or the resultant offense, you do offend! Review your life and search for the points of this lack of observation of others, and you will find your points of force, the times when you forced your opinions and prejudices on others. All your difficulties in life have come from this one habit.
  How and when a problem is to be handled must depend on what’s in the other fellow’s mind. Is this the right time to say this to this him? What kind of mood is he in; will he accept or be offended? Is it right or just to give offense when I speak of this matter? Or shall I pray, and do it in God’s time and in God’s way? Does God let things go completely wrong when I listen and speak in His time and in His way? Nay. God knows when and how. I do not. It’s important to hold a high point in consciousness. The outer will take care of itself once you clean house thoroughly on speaking before asked. It all depends on you moving out of your shell of self, and what you want and what you must do, to observe what the other fellow wants and needs.–Edna Lister, December 6, 1957

You must decide upon a new technique for everything you do. Your approach to each day’s problems must apply old and tried laws in new combinations, new formulas. You can think of many things at once but must exercise your thinking faculty constantly for good results. Multiple thinking easily becomes a habit with practice by applying all you know to everything you do.–Edna Lister, A New Technique for Living, October 13, 1958

You can rid the subconscious of old blemishes and downright evils. However, if you let the self have its way for just twenty-four hours, you will recreate habits that you must conquer again. It is a greased pole. One slip and you are in the mud on the bottom.–Edna Lister, March 7, 1960

Acceptance is absolutely necessary as a part of training. You have established this habit, and from one established habit, you can lift all other weak points. One habit of self-discipline makes it easier to create the next.–Edna Lister, June 10, 1960

Time, circumstances, situations and people will break in on your established customs and habits, and this you must accept graciously to return instantly and begin where you left off.–Edna Lister, September 10, 1961

It takes millions of years to make a habit track of faith in the brain.–Edna Lister, Your Field of Wheat and Tares, December 9, 1962

If you live in Light and center your desire on perfection and following Jesus the Christ, the habit you are trying to overcome will fall away from you. Later, bad habits will no longer mean anything to you.–Edna Lister, Power to Ascend, December 18, 1962

You can easily form a good habit or conquer any habit-taint when your burning desire to be perfect as thy Father in heaven is perfect.–Edna Lister, November 28, 1964

To assess my improvement, I must stand off a few paces and look at myself. What kind of person am I? Do I display entrenched habit patterns? Do I raise my eyebrows, or shrug my shoulders when persecuted, to show my contempt for it? Or do I lift it to a cloud continent of Light, declaring it good and ignoring it?–Edna Lister, Following Your Path of Destiny, December 4, 1966

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.”–John 3:14. The serpent represents wisdom and intellect. Intellectual darkness is evil and wisdom is the tempter of life. The wilderness is world confusion. The serpent is a tempter. When you lift up your serpent in the wilderness, you give up all opinions, prejudices, negative traits and habits. To give up a cigarette habit, bless it and call it beautiful. Bless every cigarette advertisement. When you light one, declare it burns up evil and the habit throughout the world. Declare that it is self-consuming and self-absorbing.

You do not give up a habit, it gives you up because you lift it into the Light and evil hates Light. The ones who hate the cigarette habit curse it and do more to keep the habit going than do the indulgers. The "good" people can keep the world in bondage to evil through their intolerance. Everywhere is here and we are everywhere. Think on this in lifting up the serpent.
  What you bind or loose on earth, you bind or loose in heaven. Curses about a habit create a veil of illusion and bind the habit.–Edna Lister, To Know, to Be, to Do: The Keys of the Kingdom, June 16, 1968

To cure old habits, maintain high expectancy and always keep an eye on the goal.–Edna Lister, June 28, 1968

Nothing is easy about conquering dark selfish habits, and you must maintain a constant watch, a constant standing in the Light to overcome them. To establish only the habits of Light is your privilege and glory, and gives you needed credits.–Edna Lister, July 27, 1969

When you move up into the Light, it becomes a fiery furnace. When you want to quit a habit, fan your flame of desire into a consuming fire. If you keep declaring that you are moving up and out of worshiping false gods (habits), you may throw yourself into the fiery furnace repeatedly. As you conquer the little self, you lose the tendency and finally the ability to worship false gods. As your Oversoul takes charge, Light translates you into the image of the Christed one.–Edna Lister, Seven Manifestations of God: The Fiery Furnace, December 7, 1969

Make a specialty of conquering idle words because that is the most clutching of all habits. It has the deepest root.–Edna Lister December 11, 1969

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Declarations for Lifting Habits

People ask, What shall I do to stop smoking? Cooperate with the habit. Consciously light the cigarette, saying, Baby, here’s your pacifier. Be sure you enjoy this now because I am giving it up! I am ascending to be free. I am putting you in training pants and cutting off your curls!–Edna Lister, No Shadow of Turning, July 15, 1956

In your treatment before entering the golden silence say, Here I am, Father. Please move in and erase every habit taint.–Edna Lister, April 13, 1964

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