Transforming Habits: The Importance of Early Development : หน้า 64/164

Suzanne Jeffrey anything is wrong in the womb with the five elements, then our health will be affected. All of our habits are affected by this early process and continue to affect us throughout our lives. This is why creating good habits when we are young is so important. “If we have bad habits, then we are in big trouble. Even if people tell us how to change, what do we change? Or, even if we have the willingness to change, we may not have the opportunity to do so. Habits are very difficult to change even if we know that we will lose everything by not changing them! But, by not changing them, we only continue and contribute to bad kamma. This continues to punish us all of the time. But, as we grow older, the opportunities become less and less, and then, who can help us? If all of the opportunities are lost, then the chances of improvement become less and less. “For me, Khun Yai said, ‘you ordain!’ because this was her way of telling me how I could change my own bad habits!” And Luang Por laughs his wonderful laugh. “Some people, of course, accumulate good or bad habits from past lives. The good hab- its that we create in this life (because from our last life we can do nothing!) begin when we are in our mother’s womb. But if the mother’s habits are bad, then watch out! The mother needs to practice good habits for this life. If she doesn’t practice good habits and meditate all the time, then our own life will be in trouble! Therefore, we must always practice good habits, meditate, and make the resolution to be born in a good family the next time. “When the umbilical cord is cut, our habits start. Our mother (or parent/guardian) con- trols the making of those habits and, therefore, they program us with their own habits.” [Note: He adds here that we must all meditate in order to see the cause and effect of how our habits are built. Meditation, of course, causes us to see our defilements (our bad habits) and that gives us the opportunity to see a way to change those bad habits. This is important because this really is the start to the process of taking responsibility for our own actions: We meditate and recognize what we need to change, and we meditate to help make that change possible.] “Now, then, let’s talk about quality: Most people only understand physical quality, not spiritual quality. Take, for example, breakfast food. First, how did we acquire it? Did we steal it or buy it? How was it prepared? Are we eating it while we are angry, happy,