I would agree that change is possible. Our challenge is to not "give up." Too many times we strive for change and work at it then become discouraged when we have not reached the goal we had expected rather than give ourselves credit for what we have accomplished. We also need to remember that as we exercise our faith and "yoke up" with Christ, "all things are possible." It is the time line that can discourage us. If we want a quick fix we will be discouraged by small challenges but if we look at things from an eternal perspective, endure, and give credit for growth, however small, we can achieve and we can change.

Great article --- As the expression goes ,"There are some people that if they don't know you can't tell them". Very applicable in Utah.

states that there are little votexes and eddies in the conscious lifeforce that are present from past proclivities from past incarnations. That 75% of your fate is set by karma. These negative votexes are called samskaras. To escape them, you must meditate and do kriya practices to destroy these little whirlpool devils. They also believe that bad habits must be changed by replacing them with a good habit. That the mind, not the soul, is a habitual entity, therefore, you have a habitual greedy lust for food or an addition to alcohol, an addiction to gossiping that is about to overcome your good intentions, go for a hike, play a musical instrument, garden, do a good deed, sit down and meditate.

Having practiced this for 25 years, this works and the mind can be controlled and you can escape from bad and negative habits of thinking and behaving. The rewards are tremendous.

I can't wait for the usual deluge of Leftists caliming it's only the right-wing that has this brain plasticity problem that makes is literally impossible for them to change, but the left are superior because THEIR brains are somehow constructed differently making it easy for THEM to change.

That's only ONE of the numerous brain superiorities the left constantly claim they have. It just makes me laugh when some people are totally convinced that your political philosophy somehow gives you super-human brain powers.

It's Bunk! It's not your brain that's different (though many on the left are convinced their brains are superior because of their political philosophy), it's just a difference of philosophy and priorities.

Mr. Cannon, thank you. Your articles push us to study and to ponder.

One of my sons struggled for years to change attitudes and appetites. He and I talked often of the process. He knew that stopping an action left a void, so simply stopping an action was not the complete answer. He knew that starting something new and strange while clinging to an something old and familiar, that he wanted to be rid of, would not work because the old and familiar would be too comfortable and the new and strange to uncomfortable. He realized that he was unwilling to let loose his grip on the old until the new was firmly familiar, so he faced a paradox.

At some point he decided that change was impossible, that becoming who he wanted to be would never happen, that his habits would only continue to cause grief and misery. So he gave up.

I hope your articles enable us to see how the mind and body work together so that those who struggle to change will understand *how* to change. As they say, "the devil is in the details", and the devil laughs when we fail.

When I first read the title of this story, I though it was about the Church.

Thank you Joseph Cannon for your thoughtful, illuminating article. It is hard/difficult for one to give oneself to honest self introspection - that is, observaton and analysis of oneself in all its mix of good and bad personalty/charactar traits and habits. But what a wonderful triumph it would be to effect a change and become a better person. Your article encourages hope.

The greatest enemy to change is FEAR.Many people will hear that and say true, but then in a few moments will deny they have any fears that keep them from those changes, which is another way of deciding that they refuse to change,ie You remove the fear which allows the change to occur.

Habits. Some so called bad habits need to be delt with 100 percent but there are some that are not necessarily all bad.I do not believe in a all black and white world.We do not need to kill the Cobra, just tame the Cobra.

That is one of the saddest comments I have ever read. My heart goes out to your son. If he gave up, I hope he is at peace with his decision and who he is. God loves us all.

I think I can frame the article in more simple terms:

We all need to repent, but it requires effort. To avoid effort we kid ourselves that we didn't really sin, or God will forgive us without our changing, or we concentrate on other people's faults (real or imagined) so that we feel we are getting better when we're really only making other people worse.

Just repent!

We can't change because we are what God made us, blame Him or prasie Him. Or accept that there is no God and the random acts of nature and man's doings combine to shape our destinies.

kenny | 5:15 p.m.

Fear is not ALL bad. It has become part of our Human nature for a reason.

We naturally fear things that have a high likelyhood of not being good for us (fire, jumping off tall things, water if you can't swim, etc). It's part of our natural mechanism that was put there to help preserve us.

Of course irrational fear, but there by cunning men, is another story. I assume that's the kind of fear you're talking about.