Old Habits

For Christmas last year I bought my wife and me matching…
(Wait for it!)
Electric toothbrushes.
I know.
Not very romantic or exciting.
But they are practical.
And, they were on sale.
And, as I have used mine this past year, I have found I do brush longer.
Which is probably a good thing, right?
As I was brushing my teeth the other morning using my electric toothbrush, I suddenly realized I was brushing my teeth the old fashioned way. Back and forth. Up and down. Instead of letting the rotating bristles and the pulsating head do what the were designed and engineered to do.
I guess, old habits die hard.

Which makes me wonder…
What other old habits do I hold onto?
Doing what I have always been doing.
Thinking in patterns in which I have been taught to think.
Responding in ways I am accustomed to respond.
To and about people?
To and about the world around me?
To and about you?
To and about myself?
What are those old habits buried somewhere within us
Which need to be noticed.
And named.
And, set aside.
Because they no longer fit or make sense or work the way they used to.
But…
And, this is the hard part
Old habits die hard.