One of the troubles with getting older is not that we have bones that creak—although they do; it is not that the print on the menu gets smaller and smaller—although it does. It is that we seem to lose the ability to look at things anew—from a different point of view, to look at something familiar in an unfamiliar way.
It happens from buying the same toothpaste that we have for decades to assessing someone just by their looks. To step outside our comfort zone is, well, uncomfortable. Yet, it also has the potential to revitalize and rejuvenate our way of thinking and acting. Perhaps applying this to everything would paralyze us from moving forward or making decisions. But take one thing in your life today or this week and pause. Consider before you automatically respond. True, your response may be no different then the hardwired response you have netted in your brain, but maybe not. When we contradict a thought or pattern we may discover something brilliant and amazing with our open eyes, our compassionate hearts, our wise souls.
Even the briefest of pauses before we put our brain on automatic pilot will at least offer us the opportunity to consider wholly what it is that we are doing; what it is we are judging; what it is we are closing out or opening to. Be willing to contradict for the consideration of your true self.
If I contradict myself, I contradict myself. I contain multitudes. ~ Walt Whitman