I’m writing this article while on a personal retreat in Mexico. I take these solo trips often as a part of what I lovingly call “mindfulness medicine.” They allow me to get away from my Habit Energy, a concept I was introduced to a few years ago. Now I was taking these trips long before I ever heard of Habit Energy, I just didn’t know what I was getting away from had a name, until I came across the work and writing of a well-known Buddhist monk, author and activist, Thich Nhat Hanh. His lifelong efforts of fostering peace throughout the world moved Dr. Martin Luther King to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. In one of his more than 80 best-selling books, Savor, about mindful eating, he remarks about his observations from a visit to the U.S. While here he noticed that most people tend to live with a lot of Habit Energy. Here is a personal example of every-day Habit Energy, and a little bit of telling on myself.

The day before I was set to leave on this trip, I was unable to email an important letter to opposing counsel hours before our Zoom hearing in the Circuit Court, due to a technical glitch with my PC. Because I was rushed, I yelled a few cuss words at the computer and stormed out of the room like a child. One of those moments you’re glad you’re alone because you know you look and sound like an absolute lunatic. The five minutes it was taking for the machine to catch-up seemed like 5 hours because I was in a hurry to get on to the next thing in my day, determined to get as much done in as little time as possible. This is how many of us live. When I pause and replay what happened, there was no emergency. I was stuck in the Habit Energy our society binges on that emphasizes productivity, busy-ness and consumerism.

How often do you find yourself rushing through a task when you actually have plenty of time? Perhaps on the way to the store on a Saturday, with no other discrete plans after? What were you rushing about? Habit Energy is precisely that potent force that yanks us through life, propelling us to rush through most of our activities in order to get to the next one, often when there’s no rush at all. More time is better, right? Heck, more of anything is always better!

The force of Habit Energy is so unwavering because we tend to be unaware of it and often feel powerless to change it. Similar to the above example with the printer, Habit Energy is when we get annoyed and impatient when we need to wait two minutes in line to purchase our lunch. It’s when we feel irritated that our friend arrived 10 minutes late instead of just relaxing and doing something else with our time. It’s when you’re fuming at the person in the car in front of you for not advancing their car immediately when the traffic light turns green.

“These moments can be bells of mindfulness” Thich Nhat Hanh reminds us. We don’t realize we can enjoy these pauses to appreciate life and let all our blessings sink into consciousness instead of rushing just trying to “kill time.” Yes, I see you at the red light checking your phone even though there’s nothing you need to check. What a phrase, “killing time!” Time is one of our key allies!

    “We are always running and rushing. It has become a habit, the norm of everyday living. We run all the time, during our sleep, the time we are supposed to be resting and regenerating our bodies. We can be worst enemies, in conflict with ourselves, and therefore, you can easily start conflict with others…”

As Hanh suggested, what the heck is the rush? Is our Habit Energy exhausting us, making us run all over the place, rushing everywhere? Is this really a desirable life? Better yet, is it sustainable? If you seek peace and happiness, what are we doing to ourselves with all the rush?

This is your gentle reminder to slow down, as our lives are too precious to rush through. Mindfulness practice can help with this. If you’re not into practices like breathing or meditation, merely slowing down the activities of your daily life periodically can also help.

I rarely enjoy activities I rush through. I likewise less likely to produce anything of quality when I’m rushing. That’s not life or happiness. Rushing through tasks stymies enjoyment, pleasure, and possibly creativity too. It also makes us even less productive.

While it’s easier said than done, doing the tasks of our daily lives slower and more mindfully is a practice that can add ages to our lives. You don’t always have to sit quietly to practice mindfulness. You can start with brushing your teeth and doing the laundry with more attention and care.

The good news is that the more you become aware of your Habit Energy and the automatic conditioning fueling it, the less power it has over you; the more you can intentionally decide your pace or next right action. When I notice the pull, the entitled expectation for immediate gratification, I can pause and just notice it, before I act on it, directly hijacking the Habit Energy. Mindfulness practice directly cultivates this capacity.

That’s the power of mindfulness—the freedom to pause and savor your life, the only life you have.

By, Sahmra A. Stevenson, Esq. (“Your Family’s Personal Lawyer”)

S.A. Stevenson Law Offices, LLC

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