Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2

Once there was a drunkard. His addiction to drinking distressed his family. They tried to convince him but whenever he was asked to quit his habit of drinking he used to say, “I did not catch this habit, but it is the habit that caught me.”

Slowly, his health started deteriorating. His troubled wife decided to take her husband to a monk of the nearby monastery, who was an expert in counseling.

They met the monk and he asked the drunkard, “Why are you not able to quit this bad habit for your own betterment and of your family?” He repeated his normal phrase, “ It is not I who has caught hold of it, but it is the bad habit that has held me.” The monk told the husband and wife to come the following day.

The next day they happened to see the monk standing under a tree and hugging it. Perplexed, the drunkard asked the monk, “Why do you embrace a tree.” The monk told, “It is not I who is embracing, but the tree, so I cannot leave the tree.” Seeing the drunkard confused, the monk told them to come the following day again.

To their surprise, the monk was in the same position the next day also, tightly hugging the tree. The monk told them, “Please come tomorrow as I am not free from the clutches of the tree yet.”

This scenario continued on and on for many days. One day the impatient drunkard asked the monk, “How can a tree catch hold of you, isn't it you who is catching the tree?”

Smiling, the monk answered, "This is what I wanted to convince you. It is not the habit that holds on to you, but it is you who holds on to the bad habit.

The man understood his mistake and his understanding helped him to turn away from his bad habit.

All our bad habits are like this. We may feel that it is not us who are holding the habit. In reality, it is we who hold on to our bad habits and until and unless we are not willing we cannot come out of it. If one understands this fact, one can come out of any bad habit at any time.

Gods grace is also required to come out of our bad habits.

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own"  1 Corinthians 6:19