99 steps to reclaiming your individuality Step #9 

Discerning Motives & Methods:

Each one of us, is a skilled negotiator when interacting within the realm of our inner natures. We have, for instance no problem when desire elements of our natures request attention. Instantly based on our approval or disapproval of the desire state, will immediately offer up to ourselves justification for the action, or likewise justification for the rejection of the action. When this is under our control we form beneficial habits, when not in our control we develop addictive behaviors and compulsive actions.  We are inundated in our current societal status-quo with the addictive properties of many of the things we consume. But seldom is there ever a focus on the nature of addiction and the psychological antecedents that act as the catalyst for these external elements.

Again, and just to reiterate, the scope of these steps is not to alter our behavior, but to bring us back to, or make us aware of, our behavior, and once illumined, the course of action will be obvious and committed without question, simply because it will be the logical thing to do.

As an example, society has over the last decade or so changed it's tolerance for the unhealthy habit of smoking. There is little doubt within the mind of  the non-smoker or the smoker that this is indeed an unhealthy habit. Why do people still do it? The answer? Addiction! But not because the properties of these substances are indeed insurmountable to all except those of incredible stamina and determination, but because the labeling of the action as addiction has surrendered the authority to an external source. The individual then is relieved of the moral obligation to cease the unhealthy behavior  because it is not them, it is the addiction!

In order to reclaim our absolute authority in things concerning the self. we must be thorough in our discerning of the motives and methods that we operate on during the course of any one day. We must take time each day for critical analysis of our actions, and be willing to acknowledge without guilt or justification the errant behavior and what steps led to it, and what actions could be utilized in future to avoid it. Repeated errant behavior should never be written off as hopeless or futile, but worked through until mastered. The most gravest of errors occurs when we externalize, justify, or identify these actions as beyond our control or capacity. Nothing in regards to the self, is insurmountable. Accept this premise, and you will reclaim your individuality.