Why Do Habits And Rituals Matter?
#1 Auto-pilot, especially under stress
Habits are your automatic mode when you need to respond quickly to something. Let’s say you are in a high-intensity discussion. Now, if you are in the habit of yelling usually, you will. If you are in the habit of taking deep breaths, you will. You choose, but not in that moment. You choose at the time when you decide which of the two habits you will build.
#2 Habits underpin our identity
Our habits make us who we are in the material world. Our personalities are nothing but repetitive patterns of perceiving, thinking, feeling, and responding. These set ways are habits our brains and bodies got into over a long period of time.
Our rituals grow us into our current version one day at a time. Some are conscious, others are conditioned.
#3 So you can break them
The ultimate purpose of a habit is to come out of it. To transcend it.
We are human beings, not bots. Habits allow us to become efficient enough to manage our material existence effectively. It is a necessary stage in our evolution. Yet, not the final stage.
The final stage is to awaken to our full potential where we can make fresh choices in the moment, every moment. To do that, we must unlearn the habits we have painstakingly built. However, there is a time for that. And you will know when you’ve arrived there.
About me: Prajakta is an Amazon #1 best-selling author of the book “Worldschoolers”, and a celebrated author of the innovative approach to work-life balance as laid out in her latest book, “Buddha Balance Journal”.
She is an economist-turned-author who has worked and lived internationally, for reserve banks on three continents. When not writing, she enjoys travelling, music, and the forests. She lives with her husband, three daughters and an imaginary (actually, real…shhh) unicorn in Whistler, Canada.
It is her mission to bring back balance, five minutes at a time!
