The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1908-01-17
Modern Beauties-The Joy of Habit

Modern Beauties-The Joy of Habit
BY Charlotte Perkins Gilman
We hear a great deal about 1.-THE
chains of habit" of the power of
bad habits" of how habits are
hard to break" All true enough, but
why assume that habits must be bad
and that we need to break them?
Even a chain is a good thing if it
our wagon to a star. The power OF
habit is one of the most useful of
natural forces, and we should learn
to enjoy it's service and not fear it.
Wise old Mother Nature, proceeding
along the line of least resistance, had
in view an economy of life-force when
the power of habit was developed.
The whole business of Nature may
be described as the transmission of
force. We may observe that sch and
such processes are going on, and that
we are in the game whether we like
it or not. Being in it, we wish to
play we'll, for no better reason than
that success is a pleasure.
In this great game of forces, the
human mechanism finds itself pos
sest of a little private battery called
the will. We are no all-powerful
creators; we must recognize the SUI
premacy Of the great, underlying
laws; but, though moved by wind and
current, we are no logs of driftwood
we have still within us a propeller,
steer.
This power of ours is a most prec-
ious possession. By it's use we can
manage natural forces as no other
creatures may; we can, to a certain
extent, manage our own instincts and
impulseS-yes, eve our own habits.
But it is q costly power, slowly ac-
cumulated through long ages of evo-
luton; and Nature gives us this We
hicle Of habit, that we may be saving
of our steps withal. Do a thing but
twice, and the discharge of nervous
force along those channel becomes
easier. Do it a hundred times, and it
is easier than not. Do it every day,
and you can do it in your sleep!
When you learn a new process, be
it the art of walking, SO difficult to
the baby, or that of riding a bicycle
or playing the piano, at first you
must use your will. You have to
push, to put your mind on it," to
send voluntarily the power into your
feet or fingers or wherever it is want
placed by the smooth-running wheels
of habit; and then, instead of pushing
you may ride. Even the initial act
Of governing ones habits may itself
become a habit, and so be easy to us.
1t is no harder for a king to be a
king than for a slave to be a slave
he has only to be accustomed to it.
In view Of these facts-good, solid
provable facts-is it not a pity that
we should Cry out against our horses
because now and then one luns away
with us? My habits r formed"
some tell us solemnly, as if God made
them!-as if they were carved out
of rock! OF course they are formed.
A baby forms habits before he is
weaned, and goes Oh forming and re-
forming them as long as he lives.
The point is that we may at any age
consider our habits, examine them,
and change them all, if we so desire.
1t is easier in youth, to be sure, but
it may be done as long as my con-
seriousness and any will power re-
main.
II have no will power" some will
say. Even here habit is the main
question. If one uses the will, never
so little, but regularly, it soon be-
comes a habit, and then is easy. THE
force of habit will augment the will.
The habit of command is easily de-
veloped.
The practical point is that the
force of habit Is a naural force and
a great SAVING to the will. ecu invest
a certain amount of energy, carefully
and wisely, in laying the track and
starting the train. Once regularly set
going, it ~accumulates energy, and
carries you with no further effort.
vou can then withdraw your original
capital and invest 1t in another habit.