Habits are the inverse of consciousness. On automatic – thought and deliberation take a back seat. Where did we come from and where are we going? As creatures of habit, we may never know.
DON’T MAKE IT A HABIT
First grade taught me about habits. Sure, I knew about brushing my teeth and bedtime prayers, but the standard garb worn by the nuns at Saint Paul’s was new to me. Far as I could tell, Sister Bernelle was just a face. That oval was framed in white, but the rest was draped in black and included a veil. The only exceptions were a white bib and a rope worn around her waist. Three knots in the rope stood for the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. They were clues to the habits that Sister Bernelle aimed to keep. In a way, the nuns had a habit of wearing their hearts on their sleeves.
But a person doesn’t need a uniform to have habits. We all have them. They constitute the fundamental habitat in which we live. When we leave our homes, most of our habits tag along. As a refuge, they are there for us, 24/7 – no homeowner’s insurance required. Habits put the routines of life on automatic and give us the freedom to explore, unencumbered. When Peter Cottontail exercised his habit of hopping down the bunny trail, he gained stress relief. Yet, every successful hunter understands that the chase ends sooner, once the habits of the quarry are learned.
The double edged nature of habits requires that we examine ours carefully, knowing that a refuge can easily turn into a trap, where the hole dug for safety, instead becomes a tomb. As modern humans, we moved out of our caves long ago, but not without a yearning for the comfort and security they offered. It’s natural and instinctive to “feather our nest”, even when our needs are few. Our homes today, and the trappings of our lifestyle are an extension of one of our oldest habits; our penchant for survival. But, our overwhelming success in that effort has gotten us into trouble. Just look around.
Archimedes said, “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world”. The Greek had a different lever in mind, but we’ve still managed through our technologies, and the changes they’ve wrought, to lever the earth into a precarious position. Collectively, our Lilliputian impact has been nothing short of dramatic, and we owe it all to the force of habit.
According to an old saying, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Though we would like the world to continue down a merry path, it’s foolhardy to expect that others will be the counterpoint to our missteps. Socrates, another Greek, said “The unexamined life is not worth living.” So, if we want to amount to anything, it’s time to examine our habits. After a sensible review, we should be able to find a few worth wearing on our sleeve. The rest, we need to bury . . . before we become entombed by them.