Habit or Choice?

A Curious Question: Is it a habit or a choice?

Choice is when we can discern between a preference and a compulsion.

Somatic movement pioneer, engineer and scientist Moshe Feldenkrais made some keen observations about human behavior based on how we organize our bodymind for movement. And to be clear, how we organize for movement is how we organize for life. The same thought patterns, perceptions, and beliefs color everything we do.

He suggested that when we have only one way of doing something, it’s a compulsion, if we have two ways, then it’s a dilemma and three ways… we are opening to freedom. When I use the word “freedom” here I mean the capacity to maintain our autonomy even when we are constrained by either inner or outer limits: that is an extremely important life skill!

Discerning between “choice or habit” comes down to curiosity and awareness: curiosity and awareness about the function of the defenses that keep our habits in place and curiosity and awareness about how to choose again.

Change is hard for us “homo sapiens”. We are threatened by change even when it’s for our own good which defies what “homo sapiens” means: “wise or astute humans”.

The birth of wisdom is when we are humble enough to admit we need to change our habits and trust the process enough to know we can.