Ipi-Ear: Six Unusual Steps to Breaking any Life-Threatening Habit

Have you been struggling with a habit or two that you detest? Have you tried everything under the sun to stop smoking, masturbation, speaking too much, womanising or more, without success? Are you on the verge of giving up on the habits of nagging, rascally behaviours, homosexuality, gluttony, laziness or even kindness? Whatever habit that takes the joy out of your life is what is hereby described as threatening. Now following is an unusual way to tackle the habit(s) once and for all. The way consists in 6 steps identified with the acronym IPI-EAR. They are:

a. Identify

b. Personify

c. Incriminate

d. Extricate

e. Affirm

f. Re-affirm

Don’t get cowed. You’ll soon discover that the steps are as easy as eating corn with pear. Now, off we go.

a. Identify

Normally, every one of us has a habit or two that they are struggling with. And, what you envy as a ‘good’ habit, might be hated by its owner. So, the very first step is to identify the habit that keeps you unconfortable, no matter how the immediate society may idolize it. If you have several habits to deal with, you are advised to take on the strongest first. Name it. Call it its real raw name. Pronounce it clearly and, even loudly. It could be ‘SMOKING’, or ‘MASTURBATION’ or ‘LAZINESS’.It is most probable your very own habit(s) has not been mentioned here. You name it NOW. Have you done that? Great! That is your first major, although simple step to a victory you will live to remember all your life long. Now, get ready for the next step.

b. Personify

Having identified this enemy habit, the next step is to actually start dealing with it. A good way to start is to imagine that the habit is a real human being – an enemy who has disguised as a friend for years, and has has kept you constantly uncomfortable. Simple though this step may seem, it has a powerful effect on your mind. It arouses strong hateful – somewhat concrete – feeling against the habit.

c. Incriminate

‘To incriminate’ is a legal phrase that means ‘to make someone a criminal’ or better still ‘to make one’s criminality stand out’. Having personified the habit, the next thing is to make it very clear that he(it) has truly been evil and worthy of punishment. How do you do this? It is by the power of contrast. This is the idea of what I mean: If you bring a dirty cloth near a clean one, the dirty one looks dirtier while the clean one looks cleaner. So, place these two opposite memories side by side in your mind. The first memory series should include all the time you have enjoted the habit. Recall as vividly as possible how you felt enjoying the habit. And try to recall as many of the instances as you can afford. While this is on your mind, begin the second memory series. These should include all the time that the habit has made you feel real bad. Most detestible habits would make you feel good for a very short time relative to the length of time that it makes you feel bad immediately afterwards. Let this occur to you and you will realise how unrewarding and destructive the habit has been. Recall all that the habit has robbed you of, and try to compare this to the momentary , very momentary gain they have afforded you.