Priorities and habit forming

From a spiritual point of view, doing something in a particular way with a particular intent is habit forming. The repercussions, good or bad, that stem from those actions, are therefore more likely to occur in the future, simply because of this increasing tendency. Psychologically this makes sense too. People say someone is "set in their ways" or even "in a rut".

I spent nearly seven hours on Saturday at Dharma class, including the short journey to and fro. For part of that time I was in discussion with someone about meditating, or rather they were admitting to me that lack of meditation was their problem. We both enthused about the effects of morning meditations, but somehow my colleague said they always found other things to do with their time - like an extra half hour of sleep. And so a tendency sets in.

I related to them a quote I had heard from Dr. Susan Jeffers that goes something like: "If we keep on doing what we've done, we'll keep on getting what we've got." My colleague noted this down gratefully. This morning, in the bath, I thought of another quote. I can't remember who said or wrote it but it's even more stark. "When we say to someone, 'I don't have time,' what we're really saying is, 'I value something else more.'"