Merriam Webster’s dictionary definition for ‘Habit’: a usual way of behaving: something that a person does often in a regular way.
Part one: A few facts
Part two: The dreaded dead-end
Part three: Escaping the robot
Part One: A few facts
1. One of the human body’s breath-taking capabilities is to replicate and reproduce actions.
2. Being an ultra-sophisticated robot, it obediently learns whatever we teach it. Whatever we, our life and experience programme it with. Good or bad, constructive or not constructive.
3. Habits form in us right from the time of birth and even in the womb. Most of our thoughts, moods and actions are habit-governed.
4. There are two kinds of habits: Regenerative and consuming. Both kinds branch out and grow their tentacles into every part of our being.
5. We live in a habit-governed world.
6. From a young age, we get printed and programmed with a huge range of habits: How we use language, how we communicate, how we are expected to behave, what we are expected to do, our lifestyle, how we think, the way we move, how we dress, where we live, what we eat, what we look at, what we believe in, what we practice…
7. The 21st century is constantly doing its utmost to influence its citizens into acquiring conforming thinking and behavioural habits by mass persuasion invasion.
8. By design, habits are a crucial time-saving facility so as to free us to deal into what is important in the ever-evolving excitement of ‘what next’. However, unless skilfully contained and neutralised, consuming habits can become the masters of ceremonies of our lives.
9. Billions of people surrender large parts of their unique self-expression and choice-making opportunity to being ruled by habit.
10. Unless an individual is engaging in a well-guided journey of personal growth and deepening self-awareness, he or she may only be partially aware of their deeply engrained, consuming habits. It’s a bit like not being aware of your bad breath like the one standing in front of you is.
11. So 21st century life is a battle ground between consuming habits and regenerative ways and practices. Where the question to each one of us is: Am I a free-ranging spirit or an ultra-sophisticated walking robot?
12. Habits play out at all levels of life: From personal to national to global. As an example, war mongering is a world habit, a default way to manage international conflicts. One of leadership’s tasks is to neutralize this and introduce instead peace-making habits as the default way.
13. The key operative word around which revolves the universe of habits is: REPETITION. Habits form and grow by repetition and wear off by the absence of repetition.
14. The laws of repetition – observed through the existence of cycles – are the heartbeat of the universe. Think about what would happen if the four seasons would come to an abrupt end. All organic life would cease to exist within a short span of time.
15. In the universe, everything either grows or diminishes. There is no such thing as a status-quo. Being consuming habits governed means living in a diminishing opportunity, at all levels.
Part Two: The dreaded dead-end
1. The natural design of life is such that advancing into old age is meant to be accompanied by the growth of wisdom and capabilities. What we lose in the physical dimension, we gain, exponentially so, in the spiritual and mental dimensions.
2. The reason that this is not a majorly present feature of the 21st century is the rule of consuming habits.
3. To provide a few examples: What and how much we eat – including mental and emotional contents – has a massive impact on our physical and mental well-being. This is also the case with the nature and depth of our beliefs: Those harbouring self-consuming beliefs and practices experience progressive atrophy at all levels; often ending up exercising a tiny portion of their human possibility with 100% intensity. Like driving first gear in full throttle.
4. Up to a point it is possible for a person to reverse the course of being (overly) habit governed and re-write, re-programme and re-print their consuming habits with regenerative habits and practices that support growth, development, refinement and evolution.
5. However, there is that unseen threshold, that when crossed, it means having crossed the gate of no return, into a dead end that consumes one’s higher opportunity, bit by bit.
6. To the point where old age becomes an exercise in keeping the bare minimum up and running in terms of mental mobility; in a way that also severely impacts one’s physical well-being.
7. If, like me, you happen to be looking after your parents as they advance through their golden years, you would know full well what is being pointed to.
8. The age-range of crossing the gate of no return commonly happens between 50 – 70 years old. Many of the Fulcrum readers are at this age.
9. It is advised that you take this insight to heart. You live in a world that does its utmost to integrate you into its collective habits. Think about it.
Part Three – Escaping the robot
1. To escape the dreaded dead-end, one must escape the rule of the robotic aspects of living.
2. The principle of achieving this is quite simple: To establish in one’s life regenerative repetitions, leading to the establishment of a mental platform that inspires free-range exploration and discovery, each and every day.
3. So, repeat being decent, warm, forgiving, generous, wise, sharp, astute, kind, witty, supportive, pioneering, daring, careful, patient… Choose a few qualities to companion you in your daily living, such as finesse, sensitivity, perception, openness, mindfulness, positive attitude, developing a deeply inquiring mind, not minding, giving your best…
4. Repeat, repeat, repeat… in every opportunity. Use the facility of feedback, from you to you, from others to you to become aware of behaviour and thinking patterns that never had a place in your life in the first place. Think: What shall I put instead?
5. Use the all-pervading universal laws of repetition to become master of your destiny, rather than being forever subject to other people’s agenda, whatever it may be.
6. Escape the robot or become one with a trapped human inside.
From a developmental perspective, this is one of the most important personal growth advisories I have ever written.
With best wishes,
David Gommé
World Copyright 2015© David Gommé