Originally Posted by
thisisme 
Habit is extremely powerful. If you force yourself to do something for 3 weeks you will find yourself doing it automatically after that with little to no effort.
I agree that 3 weeks of new actions can lead to new habits almost automatically with one exception - the ISM of alcohol-ISM.
I tried 3 weeks of not-drinking and the obsession was still with me 24 x 7. I kept increasing the time spent not-drinking all the way up to 20 weeks and the habit of not-drinking still did not happen automatically.
What it took was the practice of very specific principles (good Karma and Dharma) to turn not-drinking into something like a new habit (spiritual awakening). Abstinence was not one of those principles.
