18 January 2016

Talking about habits...

Next time you unthinkingly slide into doing 'what you have to do' at 10 in the morning, just stop and think if you are doing what you are doing out of habit or because you want to or because you have to. Agreed some things have to be done as part of the day's routine. But, if it is not absolutely germane to your well-being, maybe it needn't be done just at that time? Maybe it can be postponed to another time? Maybe it needn't be done at all that day? Maybe it can be done another way?

Next, check how you feel: Horribly guilty? Unsure if you are doing 'the right thing' by postponing/not doing/changing the task? Liberated from the bond of doing that chore? A feeling of free-ness?

It's very important not to allow ourselves to be hooked by tasks....by anything, actually. Albert Camus has this to say: Though habits give shape to our inner lives, they can mutate into the rigidity of routine and create a kind of momentum that, rather than expanding our capacity for happiness, contracts it.

Beware, then and kick anything that may tie your heart and soul down...