There are three things now, in my current life, I want to do every day. They overlap with one another, two or all three blending into one time, or at the end of a day I may remember them as distinct.
The more interesting (and humbling) fact is, I don't do them every day. More often than not, I don't do at least one of them.
My consciousness drifts, other occupations become preoccupations, feel more seductive or compelling. That hasn't often felt like a bad thing, but I feel the challenge of developing the habit of doing all three each and every day. I can't easily explain, but there seems some special gift — for me certainly and I hope for others as well — in nourishing the habit of doing all three.
So it was with a sense of promise and serendipity that today I came across Leo Babauta's reflections and guidance in a short essay he calls "The Habit of Starting." Babauta has a blog to which I subscribe — introduced by my son Adam — that he calls "Zen Habits," and lots of his thoughts have been provocative and useful. But Babauta's thoughts today on the habit of starting speak to me with a special resonance, a fine instance of synchronicity, hearing the right words at the right time.
Anyone who knows how hard it is to get a good habit going is likely to find utility in exploring Babauta's words at more length, but here's the essence of what he suggests:
"the key to forming a habit is not how much you do of the habit each day (exercise for 30 minutes, write 1,000 words, etc.), but whether you do it at all. So the key is just getting started.
"Let me emphasize that: the key to forming a habit is starting each day...
"Make it as easy as possible to start, and hard to not start... Focus on the smallest thing — just getting started. You don’t have to do even 5 minutes — just start. What do I mean by starting? If you want to form the habit of meditation, just get your butt on the cushion each day. If you want to form the habit of running, just lace up your shoes and get out the door. If you want to form the habit of writing, just sit down, close everything else on your computer, and start typing. Form the habit of starting, and you’ll get good at forming habits."
Babauta has a lot of more specific how-to suggestions well worth review and experiment, even including a four-week self-study "habit course" that one can pursue online. But that's his basic point.
What are my own three goals for developing daily habits? Simply put,
1. Walking or bicycling outdoors. I live, thankfully, in an area rich in natural beauty — marshland, hills and valleys, rivers and streams and the sea close by, and blessed with a varied but temperate year-round climate.
2. Do something wholeheartedly with my full consciousness. As Jon Kabat-Zinn says, "Life is surpassingly interesting, revealing and awe-provoking when we show up for it wholeheartedly and pay attention to the particulars." Ordinary things — here are some examples suggested by two of my Zen teachers: as I first touch the floor after waking, the first sip of coffee or tea, before answering the phone or opening my computer, washing the first dish, turning the knob of the front door, being in the shower, and I think my current favorite, flossing.
3. Practicing loving-kindness and compassion toward a person or another sentient being, an animal, a tree, a flower, a bee.
As I say and write these three habits I want to develop, I imagine more vividly how they can interact with and nourish each other. The spirit of wholeheartedness and paying attention to particulars is essential to the practice of loving-kindness and compassion, and the landscape while walking or bicycling invites expression of that same spirit. All three are ways of affirming and growing life.