"Habit-Pattern Changing"
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Change is the most difficult thing
we ever do. All growth requires change and
on every level of being, all changes are an opportunity to grow. We fear change, we lose faith in our ability to handle
it. We perceive it as loss. But if we want to let-go of, give-up, surrender the habits and patterns that impede our progress,
our potential, we have to be willing to make a commitment to enter into change. A new way of living.
Habit is "by rote". Automatic behavior.
Learned and practiced. It saves us the bother of being there, of "experiencing the experience". We
can live in our heads and not be present, fantasize reality. It's safer. We feel more in control. ("And
to hell with whatever is anyway!") It's a lot more efficient than authenticity, where who knows what might
happen. But by taking a different way home, to the store, school, office or a friend's house, this
fresh choice just might help resolve
a problem we've been trying to solve, or plant a realization seed.
Breaking your patterns shifts you into a new
reality. Insights abound. Actions follow. An adventure begins. Your own climb up Kilimanjaro or a rocket ride to the moon!
EXERCISE:
Choose the Unfamiliar, the Unknown...
- At least once a week: Eat something you've never eaten before. Eat in a place you've never eaten in before.
- Use your non-dominant hand for any "routine" activities,
such as brushing your teeth, peeling carrots, petting the dog, getting dressed etc. Discover what happens.
- Take new paths for old destinations, reduce routines, reverse behaviors
- Wear a different colour. Wear a different kind of clothing.
Shop in a new store. You don't have to "like" it. Just try it.
- Change your phone message often. Try new vocabulary.
Or a new ringtone!
- Relax
your hold on your same old comfortable chair with it's known "view", Or any other tried & true "comfort
zones." As in : my chair, my cup, my space, my 1,2,3,4,5 of life. Change it to 3,1,2,5,4 or whatever.
- Read what you never read;
look at a TV show you never look at; listen to music you don't "like" or songs you never sing.
Discard
the habitual. Just let whatever happens emotionally, mentally, physically, happen. I can guarantee:
there will be surprises!
riff A surprise a day keeps boredom away!
Why do it?
You will feel more Alive, which is really the point,
isn't it?
Take a chance. Make a
change*. It's not always an easy exercise or path.
It isn't comfortable. But the challenge is worth it. Ultimately what it brings you, whether you work in an office,
at home or out in the world, is the experience of being your Authentic Self, at one with the flow. It opens you to a broader
perspective, acceptance. It starts on an individual level, and expands from there. Ultimately, that is its power.
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Doing things differently actually creates neurotransmitters/
reactions/ connections in your brain that do not go away once
created. They change your brain, they expand your mind. (This practice could also help people with strokes or
Altzheimer's - more on that later.)
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You will
begin to notice a beautiful interconnectedness that only happens when you are willing to change your habits, your patterns.
You are suddenly not stuck where you usually are.... you are fully present. Your essential self**
is alive and available. to a whole new realm of Being.
*There’s
no such thing as a small change. One small shift causes a ripple effect, as in a tsunami.
**More on "essential self" later. Stories and anecdotes throughout the book.
