Developing new habits (or stopping old ones) is hard. We are creatures of routine. This is reflected by a term in ancient Eastern psychology called habit energy, which refers to the personal and social inertia that shapes much of our everyday doing. Habit energy is the way that we’ve always done things and what the culture implicitly and explicitly promotes. It is the current that drives our lives. “Habit energy is stronger than we are,” says Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. “It is pushing us all the time.” Fighting against habit energy is akin to swimming against the current; it is an exhausting
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