HABIT ENERGY

          Before you read today's thoughts I would ask you to partake in a little experiment with me.  Wherever you are (unless you are driving and in that case you shouldn't be reading this anyways) take a moment to get comfortable.  Sit comfortably in a chair or on the floor and cross your legs then cross your arms and rest them comfortably on your chest.  Now close your eyes and take some deep breaths noticing how you feel and how easy it is to become more relaxed regardless of the environment.  Okay, stop reading and go try it.  Once you have completed this brief relaxation exercise then I would like you to repeat the exercise but this time after you have gotten comfortable with your arms and legs crossed I would like you to uncross them and cross them in the opposite fashion that you did last time.  When we cross our arms or legs we naturally cross them the same way almost every time we do so.  This time I would ask you to consciously place the other arm or leg on top.  Now close your eyes and spend a minute with your eyes closed and pay careful attention to how you feel and if you are able to get comfortable in this position.  This simple object lesson is aimed at bringing you more in tune with your habit energy.  Habit energy is a very powerful force in each of our lives whether we recognize it or not.  Just as we cross our arms and legs the same way every time without thinking about it, we do thousands of things each and every day in the same manner with little or no thought.  Indeed, for many of us our habit energy carries us through the day.  Many of us are very comfortable with our daily routines and don't realize that our comfort in always doing things the same way stifles creativity and at times creates feelings of monotony and boredom with our lives. 

          Being busy is the enemy of mindfulness and creativity.  Many of us have trained ourselves to believe that the busier we are and the more things we get done and cross off our to- do lists, the more productive, valuable, or important we are as individuals.  Although we all have tasks that we must complete on a daily basis, we run into trouble when we equate our value or self-worth, as an individual, to our productivity.  Instead of being helpful, this situation can create conflict within us when we don't get things on our to-do list accomplished.  We may even find ourselves putting things on our to-do list just so we can cross them off and feel better about ourselves.  Our challenge is not to do more, but to be more mindful and focused on the present moment or task at hand.  Mindfulness is a skill that is developed by consistently focusing solely on whatever activity we are doing in the present moment. One way to practice this skill is to take five minutes a day to meditate or to simply focus solely on our breathing.  Focusing on our breathing and on living in the present moment creates space for our minds to evaluate what we are experiencing.  This helps our consciousness determine if the current task at hand is really the most important thing we could be doing in that instant.  By practicing mindfulness, we will work smarter, not harder, and actually be more valuable to ourselves and to those around us.  When we are mindful, we also look at things from a higher level of consciousness, which allows us to be more creative. This creativity takes on multiple forms.  We may find that we are able to come up with more effective ways of getting things done, or we may discover a solution to a problem that has been difficult to solve.  On the other hand, we may realize that the things we are spending our time on do not really fit well with our goals or what we value. These insights can then be used to refocus and reprioritize our lives.

            Today I challenge you to be mindful of your habit energy and to make a concerted effort to break away from your habit energy especially any negative thoughts or habits.  Stop doing things the same way just because that is how things have always been done.  Drive to work using a different route, perform routine tasks in a different manner than you are used to, and purposefully adopt a different attitude towards any tasks or activities that you don't look forward to doing.  Be open minded that our habit energy contributes to feelings of regret or boredom with our lives. Know that by simply changing our habit energy we can breathe a fresh breath of positive energy and creativity into that which may otherwise be mundane or boring.  Recognize the impact that habit energy has on our attitudes and feelings and bravely change your approach to living in order to purposefully take yourself out of your comfort zone which will make everything new and exciting.  This new creative energy will push us beyond our self imposed limits to new heights.

KAIZEN!!!! 

   

Respectfully,

  

Steven M. Erickson

Sensei.Erickson@KiInspiringThoughts.com

© Copyright 2009-11  Steven M. Erickson, MD 

All rights reserved.  Ki Inspiring Thoughts. 

The Center for Humane Living.

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