Habit Loops

Typically, most of us organize our lives around our attachments and aversions. In doing this, we live to maintain and protect our identity. What is called the personality is a collection of the habits and patterns that have evolved to create who we think we are. This occurs in the stories that we tell ourselves, in our emotions, and our neuro-biological sensations. This is generally unconscious, and our habits and inclinations largely determine our actions.

There are self-perpetuating habit loops that occur many times throughout your day. As you respond to some event, in your outer world or in your mind, your view is influenced by your interpretation of the event. Because your interpretation is identity-based, you can't separate it from your aversions and attachments. This is the way you create the filters and your map of reality.

It feels comfortable and the perfectly normal “way things are”. This is not necessarily a bad thing but it limits your range of possibilities and prevents you from developing new solutions and ways of being. So there is a habit loop that perpetuates itself around your attachments and aversions and your self-created identity.

Breaking this loop and generating new perceptions, behaviors, and identity is key to your growth and development. These filters, habits, and patterns are hardwired into your nervous system and held in your mind-body. I often go back to what Einstein said about solving a problem on a level different from the problem. You have to step out of this pattern and get a new perspective. With the recognition of the filters and inclinations that exist which you would like to change, you can realize a greater range of possibilities. Then, you have a chance of reorganizing your perceptions and behavior.

This is one of the reasons I believe so strongly in methods that shift from the pattern to an alte
ative way of processing or experiencing the issue. The inner work and the outer work go hand-in-hand. They are really one and the same. Eventually, you can become a self generating, continuously learning and growing human being. In my opinion, this makes everything better, and life much richer.
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