the habitual
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about habits. I’ve done some amount of reading over the years, and I’ve been considering how I work my way though the days and weeks.
I recognize that some people feel that habits are counterproductive, in the sense for instance of being a straightjacket on their passage through their days, but I’m coming to see that a set of regular habits is helpful for me.
Part of this is me reflecting on my aikido practice. Our annual summer school was last week, a good solid week of aikido, and I came away with a few souvenirs, a tweaks shoulder and a sore foot, but I also came away, as I do every year, with an appreciation of what the regular application of effort can accomplish.
In a sense, this is the opposite of a stream slowly eroding away a rock sitting in the water, as I’m building up my level of skill over time. It is the case that my speed of increase has essentially leveled off at this point, and given how long I’ve been practicing that’s only to be expected.
But there are other areas where I haven’t been as diligent about applying effort as regularly as I apply effort to aikido. And I think those areas of activity would benefit from that regular application of effort.
This is not a new realization; I’ve been through this cycle before, I’ve had this realization before, but what might be different this time is that, for all sorts of reasons around all parts of my life, I may finally be ready to listen.
And so I’m writing in praise of the habitual. Of having a structure and a schedule, and even (as in the case of my stretching regime) doing the same activities regularly, and just listening while doing them. Interrogating them through the activities, and listening to what they say.
multijimbo 