My morning reading introduced me to a man named William James. On the topic of “How to Change One’s Habits”, he offered a few great reflections on the power of these tendencies and patterns that we create:

“Could the young but realize how soon they will become mere walking bundles of habits, they would give more heed to their conduct while in the plastic state. We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, and never to be undone…

The drunken Rip van Winkle, in Jefferson’s play, excuses himself for every fresh dereliction by saying, ‘I won’t count this time!’ Well! He may not count it, and a kind Heaven may not count it,; but it is being counted none the less. Down among his nerve-cells and fibres the molecules are counting it, registering it, and storing it up to be used against him when the next temptation comes.”