Familiarity and Habits

Thanks for being here, today! I’ve been reading the book, “The Mountain is You” which has been a game changer for my self awareness. It helped me to realize that I’ve been stuck in certain patterns due to the feeling of familiarity it provided. I’ve learned that our brain tends to comprehend familiarity to be good for us even when it might not necessarily be true. For example, it feels good in the moment to sleep in. However, I know that when I wake up earlier I get more time to take care of myself.

Breaking a pattern of familiarity isn’t done by “feeling” like doing it. It’s done by simply taking action and doing it. The good feelings will come from taking action. This is something else I’ve been learning. I can’t live my life solely on feelings, because honestly, we’ll rarely feel like doing what’s best for us and even if we do, it will likely only be a short time until we crave the familiarity of our habits. I guess this is why you hear about how important it is to create healthy habits. Habits are familiar and we now know we tend to crave familiarity.

Today just happens to be Ash Wednesday. I’m not sure how or if you observe the season of Lent. My church has encouraged it’s congregation to give up social media for Lent. To be honest, I’m not a fan of blanket requirements for Lent. I connect more with the meaning of Lent when I personally seek God and ask what I should be giving up or adding to this season. After some prayer and journaling, I’ve come to realize giving up social media is a worthy practice for this season. We know the enemy comes to steal, and social media steals more time than I’d like to admit. So, I’m surrendering it in this season. Who knows, maybe refraining from social media will become one of my new healthy habits. I look forward to sharing more of the healthy habits I’m working on cultivating in this season.