Ruts part 2

rut/rət/

Noun:

A long deep track made by the repeated passage of the wheels of vehicles. An annual period of sexual activity in deer and some other mammals, during which the males fight each other for access to the females.

The ruts I want to talk about fit definition number 1. he he he

Thinking about ruts and how to get out of them.  First off...not all ruts are bad, well...if they don't control you; if you can crawl out of them at will. But, that's probably why it is called a rut, because you can't get out of it easily, without making a conscience effort. So, I'm guessing that the most important part would be awareness.  Always analyzing your life and seeing where things are out of control or too excessive.  So for myself I need to figure out what my ruts are. What mindless activities do I have in my life?  Do they help me, hurt me or just plainly waste the time that God has given me.

By definition, a rut is made by....YOU!  If we make them, can't we unmake them?  I would think so.  If you fell in a rut along side the road, you would never get out if you just kept walking in the rut, now would you?  So the only logical thing to do would be to put some effort into it and go against the grain. So, why is that so hard?

Back to mindfulness.  I think we, or I, do things without thinking, because we couldn't possibly think about every action that we are going to do along with everything else we need to think about.  So, in order to get out of a rut, or break a habit, we must make the effort to "think".  And most of our lives do not lend themselves to that much leisure time.

My solution:  THINK, in advance.  Since I'm a creature of habit, of patterns, of ruts...I will make new, better ruts.  Plan them out ahead of time and THINK about them in advance.

Will I get around to it?  Who knows!  I may just get stuck in a planning rut. :)