The human race is made up of creatures and our habits.

Habits are patterns of thinking or behavior. To me, the words “habit” and “pattern” are interchangeable. I refer to these structures as “habit patterns.”

Many have bought into the concept of “breaking” a habit. You would make more money investing in snake oil. Habit patterns are self contained and are isolationists. The answer to changing them or outgrowing them is outside of their border – somewhere where they never travel.

Breaking a habit just makes the habit more multi-faceted and it remains contained in the same space with no room for learning or growth.

Outgrowing a habit pattern cannot be done while staying inside the patterned structure. To achieve new learning, we have to follow the advice from a pretty smart fellow: Albert Einstein. “We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.”

So how do we get outside the box?

First, recognize that you’re in one. The amount of justifying that we do about what we do has to cease in order for us to recognize that we are hemmed in.

Once we recognize that we are locked in by our own doing and stop making excuses for it, we are at the threshold of change.

Next, in order to step through to the other side, we have to interrupt, not break, our pattern of thinking or behavior while it’s happening. Every time we interrupt a pattern, we go to a different level of consciousness where options become more visible. When we stay inside of a pattern, there are no doors or windows and the answer to our problem is just outside the walls but we can’t see it.

Patterns are blinders as to what’s possible. They narrow our vision and we miss seeing countless opportunities.

I remember reading years ago that actor Tommy Lee Jones said he worked at being optimistic. He specifically said, “I’m convinced that optimism creates possibilities.”

Be optimistic that an answer is on the other side of your pattern. You don’t have to break it, just interrupt it. That interruptive action creates osmosis, allowing you to seep through the walls of containment and enter the world of creativity where possibilities are endless.

All the best,

John