How many times have you said this assertive phrase to either yourself or someone you care about? Perhaps you have said it to a colleague, client or loved one. Usually we say it when we are at the end of our ability to tolerate the negative behavior for one more second: “Just Stop!”

Take a second and think about what needs to “Just Stop!” for you, for someone you care about, for someone you work with. Here is a mini-sample:

• Fighting with your partner
• Being nasty with others
• Yelling at your kids
• Abusing alcohol and other substances
• Spending too much money
• Being bullied either in school, on the job or at home
• Procrastinating
• Picking unsuitable lovers or friends
• Being depressed
• Overeating
• Working too much

When people think of the phrase “Just Stop!”, the next thought may be “that’s easier said than done.” In truth, continuing in the bad pattern is what makes life extremely difficult; much more difficult than life would be if we could just stop. Bad habits hold us hostage while they drain us of our motivation, energy, enthusiasm and true talents.

Think of the bad habit like the plight of the Titanic and the iceberg. The habit is the part of the iceberg above the water and visible to the eye. It is what lies under the waterline that precipitates the true danger and ensuing suffering. When you hit the unseen part of the iceberg you spring a huge leak and greatly compromise your ability to stay afloat.

When you realize that your habit is the tip of the iceberg and when you take a look at what lies beneath you can more easily navigate a course that will get you to a better and more satisfying destination. If you want to get around what lies beneath, you will need to:

1. Reveal it;
2. Recognize it when you are upon it;
3. Release yourself from the path that makes you hit it;
4. Respond to its presence by taking a better path; and,
5. Reconnect to feeling peaceful and empowered.

The Rapid Advance Series of Just Stop! books has officially launched with “Just Stop Doing That!” Available through High Conflict Institute and Amazon, you will sail away from your damaging habits and cruise back to the peacefulness and power of your higher thinking. You will travel through five simple steps that you can easily internalize and turn to instead of the destructive habit that is zapping the life out of you! You will emerge triumphant over the bad habit and passionate about the possibilities for your life.

Whatever happened to our higher thinking and spiritedness? These characteristics seem to have lost popularity with all the instant trauma content we absorb on an hourly basis. People walk around in a state of unconscious fear and then distract themselves from that fear by turning to awful habits. Let’s make higher thinking popular again by agreeing to Just Stop! our distracting, bad habits and get back on the path to our true source of personal power.