Day 204 – Today’s reading is all about habits, good and bad. Rolf writes: “It takes most of us quite a while to see that our suffering is caused by our habitual thoughts about the world, rather than by the nature of the world.” Indeed, I think, growing older and creating many fringe and provocative experienes for myself in the pursuit of a higher power or health or education returns me back home to my mat, my routine day of getting up, practicing, reflecting, working, playing, and sleeping.  More importantly, for me (at least), it is not about limiting, but growing and opening.  At least I know–or hope I know—at this healthy age of 48 from backtracking that there is always a new way to approach a problem and a new good habit to cultivate.

Developing healthy habits for oneself takes times; Rolf continues with this, summarizing: “There is a long process of letting go of our cherished belief that if we could only make the world a little more to our liking, everything would be fine. On the mat, and lately, I am reflecting (not reacting) upon my habitual thinking, rather than my habitual living: my chrnic fears, predjudices, and desires. Rolf suggests we “develop the habit of noting…habitual reactions on the mat, all of them” as a way to overcome our problems, our suffering.