A slave to routine

Fields of tulips

Two days ago, my friends Lily, Cindy, and Maria and I all gathered together early on a sunny morning to travel down the highway to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. As we drove, we noticed low clouds moving in, but I assured everyone they would burn off before long. Not that I'm much of a prognosticator, but given that this happens often on our Thursday hikes, I was pretty sure I was right. Well, guess what? The clouds stayed around; we had a few sun breaks early on, but otherwise we had a brisk wind and low clouds, making me wish I had my down jacket.

Nevertheless, it was a wonderful day spent with great friends, and between us we snapped hundreds of photos. Cindy's phone ran out of battery power and shut off. We kept going until most of our phones were very low. And then we went off to the town of La Conner for lunch. It was a simply lovely day.

My usual Friday routine was completely off the rails. I didn't go to the Y to work out, and I missed my Friday yoga class. Considering that I was having a good time doing other things, I didn't think I would feel so unsettled about the change in my routine, but yes, I did. It makes me realize how much I have become a slave to my routine. Is that a good or a bad thing? I really don't know.

However, I was reading last week in a book by BKS Iyengar, the founder of the style of yoga that I practice, and he reminds me that most of us want to turn negative habits into positive ones. But he says that from there, you turn them into no habits. In learning to act in freedom, you act appropriately, unconditioned by the past. Just considering living every day without my daily habits gives me a sense of unease. As I sit here with my laptop on this early Sunday, I am typing away writing this post, a habit I can hardly imagine going without. Getting up, brushing my teeth and dressing, going to the front porch to do my early morning exercises before heading off to the coffee shop—I can't imagine doing something different.

We will be more successful in all our endeavors if we can let go of the habit of running all the time, and take little pauses to relax and re-center ourselves. And we'll also have a lot more joy in living. —Thich Nhat Hanh

Now that I can probably manage: taking a break from my routine and paying attention to my surroundings. It amazes me how many times every day I see people with their total focus on their phones, whether they are on the bus (which now has free wifi), strolling on the sidewalk, or enjoying a meal. The art of conversation seems to have taken a big hit with the advent of smartphones. When I sit at the coffee shop with my friends, we have our iPads or phones open, too, but when one friend shows up, he insists that we all close our devices and visit with one another. At first I resisted, but now it's become a—you guessed it—a habit to close them when he walks in.

It's a worthwhile endeavor to examine my routine, I suppose, and perhaps even change a little of it now and then, like taking a Friday off and spending it with my friends. It certainly does make me aware of how much of a slave to routine I have become. I started doing the Five Tibetan Rites in early 2014, five years ago now, and I have not missed a day. They only take about ten minutes to perform, and I cannot imagine not doing them before heading out for the day. When I am traveling, it means getting up a little earlier, but as you must realize about me by now, I am definitely a creature of habit.

Sometimes, like when I was reading Iyengar's book, I think about trying to find a way out of my routine. When I do the same things day after day, as one gets older, sometimes I wonder if I am actually forgetting to do them, thinking that I have, when it was really the day before. When a habit is so ingrained that you are no longer even conscious of what you are doing, I can see how that would end up being a detriment to living a full life.

Of course, all habits and routines are subject to change, as we grow older and become unable to continue in our daily life as we have for so long. Illness and infirmity are also in my future, which will force me to adapt to another reality, but for now, I really don't know whether it's worthwhile to stir things up too much. I suppose that it would be much better to be conscious of my daily habits and not get too far into autopilot. That seems much more doable: bringing awareness into my routine.

This conversation has been going on inside me for awhile now. I have been thinking about my actions as being the ground under my feet, the only possessions I can keep. And apparently this conversation has been going on among humans for a long, long time:

All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire. —Aristotle

Aristotle was born in 384 B.C., so yeah, it's been awhile. As I continue to enjoy my daily routine, I am taking it upon myself to become more conscious of every act, so that I can exercise my mental processes and have a fuller life. My tea is now long gone, my beloved sleeps next to me, and the sunlight is streaming in the windows. It must be time for me to get going, as my post is now finished for the day.

I do so hope that the coming week will bring you plenty of happiness and that love will surround you as you move through your days. Be well until we meet again next week.