{"product_id":"2940014025225","title":"Banish Bad Habits","description":"Introduction\u003cbr\u003eAlice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?\u003cbr\u003eThe Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to go.\u003cbr\u003eCan People Really Change?\u003cbr\u003eDavid Lucero knows where he wants to go: He wants to go to El Paso, Texas.\u003cbr\u003eDavid is about sixty years old, I think. For the last three months, he has been living on a sidewalk\u003cbr\u003eacross the street from a Greyhound bus station.\u003cbr\u003eI don’t know how long David has been homeless. He is one of America’s walking wounded—\u003cbr\u003ementally ill, unable to take care of himself, unable to cope with the business of life. He is always\u003cbr\u003ehappy to talk, although you have to repeat yourself a few times before he can understand you:\u003cbr\u003eDavid is losing his hearing.\u003cbr\u003eOne day I tried to take him to a shelter for the homeless. All he had to do was get in the pickup\u003cbr\u003etruck. He had to make a decision: Get in or stay on the street. The right decision could have\u003cbr\u003estarted the cycle of healing and change, but it was more than David was capable of doing that\u003cbr\u003emorning. He decided to stay on the street, waiting for his imaginary ride to El Paso.\u003cbr\u003eWhen I meet people like David, I tell myself that Lewis Carroll didn’t make anything up when\u003cbr\u003ehe wrote Alice in Wonderland. I have met many people who are flesh and blood Cheshire Cats,\u003cbr\u003eMad Hatters, and Queens of Hearts.\u003cbr\u003eI come into contact every day with people whose lives and families have been torn apart by bad\u003cbr\u003ehabits: people addicted to cigarettes, alcohol, and illegal drugs; over-spenders, overeaters, and\u003cbr\u003echronic worriers; negative thinkers, procrastinators, and people who won’t forgive themselves\u003cbr\u003efor something that happened long ago.\u003cbr\u003eI have seen firsthand how bad habits keep ordinary people from living happier and healthier\u003cbr\u003elives. Everywhere you look, people want to know why they are unhappy. And they want to know\u003cbr\u003ewhat they can do about it.\u003cbr\u003eThe talk shows offer a constant menu of miracle cures for every type of bad habit imaginable—\u003cbr\u003eeverything from quick weight-loss programs to 20-minute lessons in positive thinking that\u003cbr\u003epromise to cure depression. We are constantly bombarded by programs that promise effortless\u003cbr\u003eand immediate results: Lose weight fast, while eating as much as you want! Guaranteed to work!\u003cbr\u003eSure.\u003cbr\u003eWe are overwhelmed with solutions today. And the more solutions there are, the harder it is to\u003cbr\u003efind one that works. Many people have failed so many times that they’ve almost given up the\u003cbr\u003ebattle. Others gave up a long time ago.\u003cbr\u003e3\u003cbr\u003eHow To Free Yourself From Bad Habits, Forever!\u003cbr\u003eEstablishing new priorities\u003cbr\u003eIs it possible to free yourself from bad habits? Can people really change in any\u003cbr\u003emeaningful and lost- lasting way? Can I change myself? The answer to each of\u003cbr\u003ethese questions is “yes.” But you can’t change in 24 hours, as some programs\u003cbr\u003eand self-help books promise.\u003cbr\u003eMy research, as well as my experience and common sense, tell me that anyone\u003cbr\u003ecan change , but at the same time, I know that people need a compelling reason\u003cbr\u003eto change.\u003cbr\u003eWhat does it mean to change? To change means to establish new priorities—to\u003cbr\u003echoose a behavior that’s different from the one we’re using now. David Lucero\u003cbr\u003eis stuck on the street, waiting for a solution that doesn’t exist. When a real\u003cbr\u003esolution is right in front of his nose, he can’t see it.\u003cbr\u003eI don’t know when his hearing started to deteriorate. And even though he can\u003cbr\u003esee, I have a feeling that he has been blind for many years. I don’t know the\u003cbr\u003estory of his life, but I suspect it is a story of bad habits and bad decisions.\u003cbr\u003eI’m sure it’s a story filled with bad people and bad situations, too. But at some\u003cbr\u003epoint we have to discard the factors, the people, and the situations that shaped\u003cbr\u003eus. Focusing on the past won’t help us solve today. At some point we have to\u003cbr\u003etake responsibility for our own lives.\u003cbr\u003eI suspect that bad habits and bad choices are what brought David to this point\u003cbr\u003e—day after day and year after year—until he hit rock bottom. That’s always the\u003cbr\u003eway it is.\u003cbr\u003eLearning how to free yourself from bad habits starts with the realization that\u003cbr\u003ewe cause our own feelings. I am the major cause of my own problems. The\u003cbr\u003emoment I grasp that simple fact, I’m ready to step into the process of selfchange\u003cbr\u003ethat will lead to freedom from the habits that keep me from living a\u003cbr\u003emore satisfying life. And when I’m free from my bad habits, the people around\u003cbr\u003eme will be free from the person I used to be.\u003cbr\u003eAll people can bring about superficial changes in themselves. But freeing\u003cbr\u003eyourself from a self-destructive habit like smoking or overeating requires a\u003cbr\u003edeep, long- lasting change. A bad habit is like an iceberg. You..","brand":"Laiftllc.com","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47079867056368,"sku":"2940014025225","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014025225_p0.jpg?v=1763599219","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014025225","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}