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I'm continually amazed at how habituated my life is. Despite successfully shedding "tons" of negative beliefs and emotions I find that I naturally and almost immediately want to replace those energies with some new routine.

As much as I enjoy entering each moment with a fresh, non-historic approach, I realize there is still a portion of me that is longing for a status quo, clinging to what I "know" rather than being purely engaged in the Here and Now.

Luckily, enough of me is "present," so I'm not missing out on the experience of life, but I'm beginning to understand that if I want to create life according to a vision, I'm going to have to develop some new habits to propel me there.

Rather than having to choose in each moment whether a thought or action is self-beneficial and tracking toward a desired result, I'm starting to see the benefit of deliberately creating new habits, so that I don't have to consciously and perpetually choose "correctly" each time.

I used to consider living habitually an inferior approach to a life truly well lived, much the way a Buddhist might value the "not knowing mind." But I'm starting to see that we can have our existential cake and eat it too! Both Joy and Success can become habits, so it would seem that some habits would be worth creating. With regard to retraining oneself for success, Stephen R. Covey's "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" comes to mind.

Creating Joy definitely requires the relinquishing of an historical, analytical approach to life, so that life's energy can continually flow through us and enliven and renew us. Developing a non-historical, non-habituated view certainly frees us to enter the river of life and would prevent stagnation. This approach can become more habitual through practice, though one would never want to forget that Joy is a choice we must perpetually make, and we must adjust to life gyroscopically to stay in balance.

To have our existential cake and eat it, too, we can take our well earned experiential freedom and make certain choices deliberately and routinely that would set into motion a new course or destiny - creating a freshly directed inertia. And we can stay beautifully present while our new habits hurl us toward realizing our dreams.

So... make your bed every morning; put a little money away every month; meditate every day; and repeat after me, "Everyday, in every way, I am getting better and better."