Spiritual Weightlifting

The influence of the Daily Routine, a product of the Force of Habit, on the human experience cannot be overstated. It is a good idea to try to become aware of the extent to which the Force of Habit influences the way in which you act and think throughout the day.

Begin to notice your Daily Routine. To what extent are your thoughts and actions part of this routine? How much of your life is on auto pilot? Are you able to NOT conform to your Daily Routine

You may be surprised by the Effort required to act in a way that is a departure from your Daily Routine. There seems to be some invisible yet inexorable force that wants to keep us locked into our Daily Routines. We cannot see it, touch it, smell it, or taste it, but we can certainly feel it.

The Force of Habit that keeps our Daily Routine locked into place is not inherently a good force or a bad force, except to the extent that our Daily Routine supports our experience of well being. If we have habits of thoughts and action that are at a departure from the experience of well-being, then it will require Effort on our part to think or act in a different way.

The Force of Habit is the primary reason that it is so difficult to make changes in our lives. It takes a great Effort to override a Lifetime Habit and replace it with a new way of thinking or acting, because our Force of Habit will attempt to do its job and pull us back into our Daily Routine.

The more deeply formed the Habit, the greater an effort will be required. This is why major changes in our lives are usually the result of either some crisis or some even that provides us with greater-than-normal motivation, such as the heightened motivation we experience when we fall in love with someone.

Again, the Force of Habit can be useful in that it can keep beneficial thoughts and actions locked into place. If we are in the Habit of eating healthily and exercising, there is certainly no reason to do anything to change these habits, as they are Habits that support our experience of well-being in the form of good health.

However, the more we live on auto-pilot and allow the Force of Habit to keep our lives locked into place, the less we exercise our power to take actions based on our Will and Intention.

In order to temper the Force of Habit and develop our Will Power, it is a good idea to occasionally take actions that are at a clear departure from our Daily Routine. For instance, if we are compulsive about cleaning, this can be regarded as a good habit as it results in keeping our living environment neat and clean. However, sometimes it may be a good idea to Not clean, and just let things go for a day or so, just for the sake of Not Doing it.

Likewise, if we tend to be fidgety or impatient when standing in lines or stuck in traffic, it is a good idea to make a small effort to Not act impatiently, however long and slow the line or traffic, again just for the sake of Not Doing it.

The practice of intentionally Not Doing things we habitually do is a healthy practice. It is a form of spiritual weightlifting, if you will, because it is the exercise of intentionally acting against the resistance of the Force of Habit in much the same way that physical weightlifting is the act of lifting weights up in the air against the force of gravity.

Just as physical weightlifting is beneficial in strengthening our bodily muscles, this form of spiritual weightlifting, in the form of "not doing," is beneficial in strengthening our Will Power.

Of course, action taken against our Force of Habit can also involve "Doing" something we habitually don't do. For instance, if we tend to spend our evenings lying on the couch watching TV, occasionally it is a good idea to "Do" something different, such as turn off the TV and read a book instead, or take a walk around the block. If we habitually eat ice cream after dinner, it is a good idea to occasionally eat an apple instead, just for the sake of changing up our games and doing something different.

The more we are able to take even small actions that are at a departure from our Daily Routines, the less governed we will be by the Force of Habit. Even small actions of departure, even small "not-doings" can strongly exercise our Will Power, so that we have the Personal Power to make any change we desire and need in life, without being a prisoner of the Force of Habit.

In summary, the Force of Habit is an inescapable force in our lives. Even though we cannot see it, we can definitely feel its influence. This force is inherently neither good or bad, but it does exist and it does influence our lives.

Optimally, we want to use the Force of Habit to keep beneficial patterns of thought and action in place, while not totally conforming to it, so that we can maintain the ability to change any aspect of our lives when needed.

The best way to develop and maintain this ability is to practice "spiritual weightlifting" in the form of intentionally "not-doing" a habitual action. When we practice "not-doing," we feel the resistance of the Force of Habit, just like we feel the resistance of weight when practicing physical weightlifting. But like physical weightlifting, we also feel the "pump," a sensation of new found strength and exhilaration, when we successfully "Not Do" against the Force of Habit.

And just as the exercise of weightlifting provides our physical muscles with more strength than before we exercised, so too does the exercise of Not Doing against the Force of Habit provide our spiritual muscles, in the form of our Will Power, with more strength than if we had not performed the exercise.

Just as we don't necessarily need to do physical weightlifting in the practical sense, many of us do it anyway because we recognize that making the Effort ultimately provides us with greater physical strength. Likewise, even though we may not practically need to practice spiritual weightlifting in the form of Not Doing, once we try it, we recognize that the practice provides us with greater spiritual strength, in the form of the Personal Power we require to make positive changes in our lives.