Tuesday, April 11, 2023
There seems to be a lot of talk about developing “good habits” these days. While I’m all for crafting disciplines, I think we must be mindful of a deeper issue, being in touch with choice. Fundamentally, you don’t stay the same, so why should your actions? Does everything have to be automated? We must give ourselves a chance to long for, to want, to discern, and to choose as it arises from within.
A so-called good habit is just like a bad one, it’s mechanical. We have a lot of mechanical people – no animation, no bright eyes, no spontaneous action. My point is, everything is a habit now, and no one is thinking, discerning, wondering about the nature of variation in desire. It’s openness to newness that sparks joy. Habits disconnect you from the joy of intention and they quit working for you. Within a choice lies potential, and that’s exciting. You have to keep yourself open to what your mind and body might be wanting – change, variation, something new. Habits mask that unfolding secret serendipity.
I’m not telling you to improvise everyday. Brushing your teeth is a good routine habit. But give yourself more opportunity to choose deliberately. Practice intentionally going within and asking your divine wisdom, “What do I want today?” The flesh is programmable, but the spirit is spontaneous, and the spirit is yearning. The only way to connect to this greater sense in you is to stop, discern, and think about what differences you want. Without opening yourself to differences, you have nothing but indifference. It’s the new that we enjoy, the spontaneous, and the ever-changing surprises of our own desires. Don’t disconnect from the spontaneity of the spirit in search of a habit. Besides, if everything is automated, what’s the joy in being a robot?