Breaking Habits
How to replace a thought with another thought

In my teenage years, I was very good at lifting things(this is a way of saying stealing) and I got used to it. It was a habit that became an addiction and I was on it for long. Of course I am off the hook now but years later, I began to think of the process that led to me stealing and I arrived at the conclusion that every action begins with a thought.
I cannot remember how I broke loose but I can remember that on a certain day I’d asked myself why I was doing what I was doing. It dawned on me that there always was a flow before the action.
There always will be a flow of events leading to any action. These events may be thoughts or physical action (I’d think the physical action itself is an end result of internal voices)
Sight —Thought —Planning —Execution
You may not be able to control the sight (the eye on itself derives pleasure move about) but you can capture your thoughts.
In my case for example, I tried to replace the thought to pick something with the shame the would be melted out if I am caught. It initially bothered me but after a while, it wasn’t a bother since for long I wasn’t caught.
The next option was to always quickly imagine that what I was about to steal was mine and ask how I would feel seeing someone else do that to me.

Thoughts will always run into our minds.
Positive and negative thoughts compete on a daily basis for a place in our minds.
Don’t allow that negative thought to settle before replacing it.
Bring the positive thoughts to replace the negative thoughts.
It’s the safest thing to do
It’s the key to breaking habits
Every habit begins with a thought which now translates into actions.
When this thought comes your way, it is normal but can be corrected by replacing the thought with a positive thought (if the thought is negative).
Asides habits, does the replacement of negative negative thoughts work when a heartbreak occurs? I would think so but I’ll attempt that in my next post.
However, I’ll be willing to read from you if you’ve had to replace certain thoughts.
P. S. My method of replacing my thoughts of stealing may not work for you hence its not a universal technique.
