Old Habits

"At some point, if you’re fortunate, you’ll hit a wall
of truth and wonder what you’ve been doing with your life.

At that point you’ll feel highly motivated to find out what
frees you and helps you to be kinder and more loving,
less klesha (disturbing emotions, arising from clinging and craving)
driven and confused.

At that point you’ll actually want to be present—present
as you go through a door, present as you take a step,
present as you wash your hands or wash a dish, present
to being triggered, present to simmering, present to
the ebb and flow of your emotions and thoughts.
Day in and day out, you’ll find that you notice
sooner when you’re hooked, and it will be easier
to refrain.

If you continue to do this, a kind of shedding
happens—a shedding of old habits, a shedding
of being run around by pleasure and pain,
a shedding of being held hostage by worldly concerns."

~ Pema Chodron, Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change