When Habits Imprison Us

Like the professor who sticks to a daily routine of a quiet supper, an evening walk, and early to bed, we all need space in our lives where unthinking habits relieve us of deciding simple tasks. By finding comfort in his sedentary home life, the professor provides thinking room to explore creative ideas in his field.

When we do the same, these daily habits can be critical in providing us with needed balance and continuity. However, when the routine becomes an end in itself, maintaining our cherished inconsequential details can become a way to avoid life's bigger issues as we neglect the needs of others. The box we build (and hide within) keeps us away from the things that refresh our spirits and give our lives meaning.

Stephen Goforth

Maintaining

It’s the maintenance of life, the plumbing of life that we sometimes slip into and forget the prose and poetry. It’s easier to make lists, it’s easier to call the plumber, its easier to wonder why the car doesn’t work, and spend our life, worrying about the plumbing. And one day at 50 we wake up and say, “Why is there no juice? Why is there no joy? Why is there no pleasure?”

Roger Fransecky