Willingness
As long as habit and routine dictate the pattern of living, new dimensions of the soul will not emerge.
—Henry Van Dyke
If nothing changes, nothing changes.
One reason people read books like this or throng to meetings is they want change—if not total change, then at least a modification of the portions of their lives that cause them distress. There are always reasons for our being stuck in the places we are. Those reasons are often our habits and patterns. If the painful consequences of whatever we find hurtful in our lives are frequent and recurring, we have a negative pattern.
As long as those habits and patterns remain unchallenged, of course there will be nothing new. Habits are like machines routinely, consistently, stamping out the same product year after year. They can do nothing else. They are made to create that specific product.
Change demands new behaviors, new thoughts, possibly new surroundings. Change demands the willingness to go to war with old habits. Frightening—yes. Exciting—even more so!
I am willing to risk the security of old ways for the prospect of happy new tomorrows.
Fom the book: Days of Healing, Days of Joy