I'm back, and I've been breaking patterns in my life.  The past year I've spent in writing my eating disorder self help recovery book.

Writing the book taught me more about the healing and recovery journey.  One aspect that continually came up for me is the importance of breaking patterns.

Breaking your patterns frees up in you what couldn't get out because of your locked in way of living.  Fresh perspectives can give you new ideas, inspirations, motivations, courage and determination.  If you always stand in one place on the mountain you will get a great view, but you might never know what is beyond your periphery.  If you step even a little to the side of your usual position you might see a field or even an ocean you didn't know was there.

So experiment with breaking patterns in small everyday ways.  Brush your teeth with your other hand.  If you don't eat off dishes, use dishes for your eating.  If you do use dishes, use "the good dishes" for yourself.

One pattern I break regularly (so I guess it becomes a pattern itself) is to change my mouse from left to right every few months.  It wakes up my brain and helps prevent carpal tunnel syndrome. Another is to journal before breakfast instead of after.

Weather influences my pattern breaking.  As the heat of the summer approaches, I walk my dog in the morning rather than the afternoon. I see different people, different activities and certainly a different light on the gardens.

Benefits? Some immediate and some slowly evolving.  What are the benefits you experience when you are more alert, vibrant and interested in your surroundings?  Write and let us know.