Most addicts can pinpoint a moment at which they "hatched" from the addiction and left it behind.
Stanton Peele1

Once convinced of the need for prayer, how does someone form the habit of prayer? Is it a slow gradual process? Or does commitment come quickly, like a flash of insight?

Psychologists who study habit formation say that sometimes habits are made, or broken, in moment-of-truth experiences. Stanton Peele, after studying the problem of addiction for more than a decade, says that more often than we'd expect alcoholics, for example, simply decide a life of drinking is no longer worth it, and quit. No long drawn out withdrawal, no professional help—just a sudden realization that drinking is not what they want to do anymore.2

Peele admits, however, that these "moments of truth" can be identified only in retrospect. They cannot easily be predicted, and they cannot be manufactured in a one-two-three-step process. They seem to be the result of several needs and factors coming together in ...