#191: The Habit of Being

The Habit of Being

A Lecture in the Voice and Spirit of Neville Goddard

You have come to this moment because something in your life has not yielded to your efforts. You have desired a change in your circumstances, in your health, in your relationships, in your finances, yet the same patterns repeat themselves with a persistence that seems almost malicious. But there is no malice in life. Life is forever faithful to the state of consciousness from which you view it. The repetition you see in your world is the reflection of a deeper repetition within you—the habit of being the one who experiences these things.

Your identity is a habit. It is not a fixed and unchangeable thing. It is a state of consciousness that you have assumed and to which you have returned so often that it now feels natural to you. You do not have to think about being the person you believe yourself to be; you simply are it. This is the power of habit in consciousness. What you have made habitual in feeling has become your identity, and your identity is forever out-pictured as your world.

Consciousness is the only reality. There is nothing in your world that does not have its root in some state of consciousness. When you say "I am poor," you are not describing a condition; you are assuming a state. When you react with fear to a situation, you are not responding to an outer fact; you are expressing the habit of being the fearful one. Every reaction, every assumption, every feeling you entertain is either strengthening an old habit or forming a new one. There is no neutral ground. You are always building or maintaining the habit of being this or that.

The world does not cause your state; your state causes your world. This is why you cannot change your world by working on the world. The mirror cannot change the image unless the original changes. Your habitual state of being is the original. Change it, and the reflection must change. This is not a theory to be debated; it is a law to be applied. You apply it by assuming the feeling of the new state and repeating this assumption until it becomes as natural to you as the old state once was.

How does a state become powerful? Through repetition. Just as the muscles of the body grow strong through repeated use, the states of consciousness grow powerful through repeated feeling. Each time you assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled, you are adding substance to that state in your consciousness. Each time you return to it, you are strengthening the habit. The state that is repeated becomes the dominant state. The dominant state is the one that out-pictures itself most faithfully in your world.

You may have tried to assume the feeling of your desire, only to find that the old feeling returns almost immediately. This is not failure; this is the old habit asserting itself. The old habit was formed over years of repetition. It will not yield to a single effort. But it will yield to repeated effort in the opposite direction. The new habit is formed in the same way the old one was formed—by the quiet, persistent return to the desired feeling. Do not be discouraged by the strength of the old. Be encouraged by the knowledge that the same law that made the old habit strong will make the new habit stronger still.

What is it to assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled? It is to feel as though you already are the one who has what you desire. It is not to wish for it, or to hope for it, or to long for it. It is to feel the naturalness of having it. It is to think from the end, not toward the end. When you think from the end, you are occupying the state of the fulfilled desire. When you think toward the end, you are occupying the state of the one who lacks it. The habit you form is determined by which state you repeatedly occupy.

In the beginning, the new feeling may seem strange, even false. This is because it is not yet habitual. The old habit calls it false because it contradicts the old identity. But you are not asked to believe in the new state as a future possibility. You are asked to assume it as a present reality in feeling. Belief will come as the habit is formed. The feeling comes first. The conviction follows. The outpicturing follows the conviction.

You are not trying to change your world. You are trying to change your habit of being. When your habit of being changes, your world changes as a matter of course. You do not have to make it change. You do not have to force circumstances. You simply become the one who naturally expresses the new state, and the world, being the faithful outpicturing of consciousness, arranges itself accordingly. This is the effortless way. This is the way of the habit of being.

Consider your present life. Is there not some area in which you feel stuck, some pattern that repeats itself no matter what you do? That pattern is the outpicturing of a habitual state. Perhaps it is the habit of being the one who is always struggling financially. Perhaps it is the habit of being the one whose health is always precarious. Perhaps it is the habit of being the one who is never truly loved or appreciated. Whatever it is, it is a habit. And a habit can be changed.

To change it, you do not attack the pattern. You do not fight the circumstances. You turn your attention away from the pattern and assume the feeling of the opposite. If you have been in the habit of being the struggling one, you assume the feeling of being the one for whom all things work together for good. You feel the relief of having enough, more than enough. You feel the naturalness of security and abundance. You do not do this once and then return to the old feeling. You repeat it. You return to it whenever you remember. You make it your practice until it becomes your nature.

The same applies to every area of life. There is no condition that cannot be changed by a change in the habit of being. For every condition is the outpicturing of some state, and every state yields to the assumption and repetition of its opposite. This is the great secret that has been hidden from the world, not because it was withheld, but because it was not understood. It was not understood because men looked for the cause in the world of effects rather than in the world of consciousness.

You are the cause of your world. Not the little you that bears your name, but the you that is the awareness of being assuming states. This awareness is God in you. And God in you is forever assuming states and out-picturing them. When you assume a state and make it habitual through repetition, you are exercising the creative power that is your birthright. You are not begging some external power to change your life. You are using the power that is already within you to create the life you desire.

The repetition of the assumption is not a mechanical thing. It is a living thing. It is the gentle, loving return to the feeling of the wish fulfilled. It is done in the spirit of "Thank you, Father"—the inner gratitude that says, "It is done." When you can feel grateful for having received that which is not yet seen by the senses, you have assumed the state. When you repeat this feeling, you strengthen the habit. The habit grows in power until it becomes the dominant state in your consciousness. Then the old state fades, and with it fades the old world.

Do not be concerned with how the change will come. The how is not your responsibility. The state you assume knows its own way of expression. It will draw to itself the necessary means, the necessary people, the necessary circumstances. Your only responsibility is to assume the feeling and to repeat the assumption until it becomes natural. The means will appear. But these are effects, not causes. The cause is the habit of being the fulfilled one.

As you persist in this practice, you will notice a subtle but profound change. The old reactions will lose their power over you. Where once you would have responded with fear or anger or despair, you will find yourself responding from the new state. You will catch yourself in the old feeling and gently return to the new. This catching and returning is the forming of the habit. It is the proof that the new state is growing in strength.

One day you will realize that you no longer have to assume the feeling. It is simply there. It is your natural way of being conscious of yourself and your world. This is the moment the habit is fully formed. This is the moment your identity has changed. And this is the moment your world begins to reflect the new identity with a faithfulness that will astonish you.

For the world is not your enemy. The world is your friend. It is forever telling you what state you are in. When you see limitation, it is telling you that you are in the habit of being the limited one. When you see abundance, it is telling you that you are in the habit of being the abundant one. Use the world as a mirror, not as a cause. Look into it to see what habit you have formed, and then go within to form the habit you desire.

This is the work. This is the only work. All else is secondary. You may have many desires, but they all reduce to one thing: the desire to be. To be healthy. To be wealthy. To be loved. To be free. To be at peace. Each of these is a state of being. And each state is formed by the assumption and repetition of its feeling.

Do not scatter your attention among many states. Choose the one that is most important to you now. Assume its feeling. Repeat it until it becomes habitual. Then, when it has become natural to you, you may turn to another. But while you are forming the habit, give it your whole attention in feeling. For consciousness cannot serve two masters at once. The state you repeatedly feel is the state that will out-picture itself.

The Bible speaks of this in many ways. It tells you to put on the new man. The new man is the new habit of being. It tells you to be renewed in the spirit of your mind. The renewing is the repetition of the new assumption. It tells you that to him that hath shall be given. To him that hath the consciousness of the thing, more of the thing shall be given. For the habit of having it in consciousness opens the door to its expression.

You have the power to form any habit of being you desire. There is no limitation on what you may assume and make natural through repetition. The only limitation is the one you accept by continuing in the old habit. But even this limitation is not real. It is only the old habit asserting itself. When you turn from it and assume the new, the limitation begins to dissolve.

Tonight, as you prepare for sleep, do not take the old habit of being with you into the deep. Take the new. Assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled. Feel it as the most natural thing in the world. And if you wake in the night, return to it. Let the last feeling of the day and the first feeling of the morning be the feeling of the new state. In this way, you are forming the habit even in sleep. For consciousness does not sleep. It is always assuming states. Make sure it assumes the state you desire.

As you do this, day after day, night after night, you will find that something has changed. Not just your circumstances, though they will change. Something deeper has changed. You have changed. You are no longer the one who was stuck. You are the one who moves through life with quiet confidence. You are the one for whom doors open and ways appear. You are the one who knows, without doubt, that your world is the outpicturing of your habitual state of being.

And when you know this, really know it, you will never again try to change your world by force or by worry. You will simply assume the state of the one who has what you desire, and you will repeat this assumption until it becomes your nature. Then you will understand that the habit of being is the greatest power in your life. It is the power by which you create your world. It is the power by which you become what you desire to be.

You are the habit of being. Choose wisely what you would make habitual. For what you make habitual in consciousness, you will make real in your world. Assume the feeling of the fulfilled desire. Repeat it until it is natural. And let the habit of being transform your life from the inside out.

The inner act of assuming is the creative act. It is the act by which you impress the state upon your consciousness. When you impress it repeatedly, the impression becomes deep. The deep impression is the habit. The habit is the identity. The identity is the cause of the expression. So the chain is complete. From the inner act of feeling to the outer manifestation, all is connected by the habit of being.

You may wonder why some people seem to manifest their desires so easily while others struggle. The difference is in the habit of being. The one who manifests easily has formed the habit of being the fulfilled one. The assumption feels natural to him. He does not have to work at it. It is his automatic response. The one who struggles is still in the habit of being the one who lacks. The assumption feels unnatural. He has to fight the old habit every time he tries to assume the new. But the fight is not necessary. The repetition will make the new natural. The repetition will make the assumption automatic. The repetition will form the habit.

This is why you are told to persist. Persistence is the repetition that forms the habit. It is not the persistence of the will. It is the persistence of the feeling. It is the persistence of returning to the end. When you persist in feeling the wish fulfilled, you are building the habit. When the habit is built, persistence is no longer needed. The state is natural. The expression is automatic.

The habit of being is the foundation of all true prayer. Prayer is not the asking for something. Prayer is the assuming of the state of having it. When you pray in this way, you are forming the habit of being the one who has received. The repetition of this prayer is the building of the habit. The habit then out-pictures itself as the answered prayer.

So you see, the habit of being is not a side issue. It is the central issue. It is the key to everything you desire. Form the habit of being the healthy one, and health will out-picture itself. Form the habit of being the wealthy one, and wealth will out-picture itself. Form the habit of being the loved one, and love will out-picture itself. The habit is the cause. The outpicturing is the effect. Change the cause, and the effect must change.

The feeling of the wish fulfilled is not a tense or strained thing. It is the most natural feeling in the world when it is truly assumed. It is the feeling you would have if you woke tomorrow and found that everything you desired had come to pass. It is the feeling of "it is finished." It is the feeling of rest in the end. When you can rest in the end, you have assumed the state. When you can return to this rest again and again, you are forming the habit of being the fulfilled one.

Many try to assume the feeling and then immediately begin to wonder how it will come to pass. This wondering is the old habit reasserting itself. The old habit says, "It is not real. It cannot be. How will it happen?" But the new habit does not ask how. It knows that the state itself is the way. The state draws the means. The state provides the opportunities. The state changes the people and the circumstances. Your part is only to be in the state, to feel it, to repeat it until it is natural.

The repetition is not done with the mind alone. It is done with the feeling. The mind may repeat words, but words without feeling are empty. The feeling is the substance that gives reality to the state. When you feel yourself to be the one who has your desire, you are giving life to that state. When you repeat this feeling, you are nourishing it. The state grows. It becomes stronger than the old state. It becomes your identity.

This is why the habit of being is so important. Your identity determines your expression. If your identity is the habit of being the one who lacks, you will express lack no matter what opportunities come your way. If your identity is the habit of being the one who has, you will express having even in the midst of apparent lack. The identity is the habit. Change the habit, and you change the identity. Change the identity, and you change the expression. Change the expression, and you change the world.

The process is simple, though it requires persistence. Persistence is not the gritting of teeth or the forcing of belief. Persistence is the gentle, repeated return to the feeling of the wish fulfilled. It is the refusal to be identified with the old habit when it rises. It is the quiet "I am he" in the face of the old "I am not." This persistence builds the new habit. This persistence makes the new state powerful.

You will find, as you practice, that the old habit loses its grip. The things that once disturbed you no longer have the same power. The circumstances that once seemed to confirm the old identity begin to lose their meaning. You see them as the outpicturings of an old habit that is passing away. You do not fight them. You simply continue in the new habit. And as you do, the old outpicturings fade, and new ones appear in their place.

This is the transformation. It is not a sudden, dramatic event, though it may seem so when it culminates. It is the quiet building of a new habit of being through the repetition of feeling. It is the most natural thing in the world when you understand it. It is the way consciousness works. It is the way you have always created your world, though you did it unconsciously before. Now you do it consciously. Now you choose the habit. Now you choose the identity. Now you choose the world you will out-picture.

The choice is always before you. In every moment, you are assuming some state. In every reaction, you are strengthening some habit. Become aware of this. Become conscious of the states you are assuming. And when you find yourself in an old, unwanted state, gently return to the new. This awareness and this gentle return are the forming of the new habit. This is the work of the habit of being.

You are not alone in this. The power that creates worlds is with you. It is your own awareness of being assuming the state. It is God in you doing the work. You have only to provide the feeling, the assumption, the repetition. The power does the rest. It solidifies the state in your world. It makes the habit visible as circumstances. It transforms your life from the inside out.

So assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled. Repeat it until it becomes natural. Form the habit of being the one you desire to be. And watch as your world conforms to this new habit with a faithfulness that will fill you with wonder and gratitude.

This is the habit of being. This is the secret of manifestation. This is the way to the life you have always desired. You are the habit of being. Choose wisely what you would make habitual. For what you make habitual in consciousness, you will make real in your world. Assume the feeling of the fulfilled desire. Repeat it until it is natural. And let the habit of being transform your life from the inside out.