What Virtues Make a Well-Ordered Life Second Nature?
A habit is a tendency to perform an action readily and easily. Virtues are good habits – habits that resonate with who we are meant to be. Habits are formed by doing something over and over again. This repeated action literally forms a path in our brain that connects a need or desire to the habitual set of actions that provide a familiar solution. I need to feel good. My brain automatically moves to chocolate (yes, shamefully true). Habits can be strengthened when we perform the action with greater intensity. They can be weakened by neglect or by replacing the habit with another action that meets the same need or desire. The magic of habits – which can work for us or against us – is that habits make the actions and the good that the action seeks to attain second nature to us. It just becomes part of who we are. If we are in the habit of eating healthy and exercising, we become healthy. Health becomes part of who we are. If we choose tobacco as our pathway to pleasure, we become a “smoker.” Smoking becomes part of who we are.
Choose Your Habits Carefully
Too often we fail to choose our habits. This really means that we fail to choose we are becoming. When we say things like, “I just fell into the habit,” we are really admitting that we failed to exercise self control.
That can be dangerous.
Because of our fallen human nature, habits that we “fall into” are usually bad habits. This is because our over-active physical appetites are always seeking immediate gratification. Our strong desire for food, drink, comfort, pleasure, sex and other physical goods, leads us to repeat the actions that bring us the desired good. In our fallenness, it doesn’t really matter if it’s good for us, only that it brings pleasure. Good habits tend to have delayed gratification. The ultimate good is usually much better for us, but the delay in gratification means that we won’t be automatically pulled toward it.
Forming and strengthening virtues requires strategy and self-discipline.
The good news is that once we understand how habits work, there are strategies we can use to make forming good habits much easier. I won’t call them shortcuts. They won’t bring immediate gratification. They don’t remove the self-discipline. But they help in our battle against ourselves. We will learn all about employing these strategies in the full Planning for Grace course.
Virtues That Bring Order
What’s important for us here is recognizing that we need to choose our habits and be willing to put the effort into forming good ones. But which ones lead us to live well-ordered lives? The general answer is any virtue that falls under the Cardinal Virtue of prudence. Let’s take a quick look at some of them that are especially appropriate for us today.
Planning
The habit of planning is core to the virtue of prudence. Prudence is knowing what is good and making a plan to get it. Consider planning out your week ahead each Sunday night – in a relaxed atmosphere, sipping your favorite Sunday evening beverage. Instead of checking your email the first thing in the morning, plan out your day. Know what you have on your schedule, what you need to get done that day and when you’re going to do it, and when you will give time to God each day.
Organizing your physical space
Organizing your physical space affects not only your physical efficiency but also your spiritual sense of peace. Cutting down on clutter and having a place and a purpose for everything are important habits. I’m horrible at this habit. In fact, I decided I needed to get some help. Click here to explore my solution.
Take immediate action
Procrastination causes chaos. If you want to bring order into your life, you need to deal with your daily mail as soon as you bring it into the house. Write out the check for your bills as soon as you get them (or use automatic payment options). Put stuff away as soon as you finish with it (yes Mom, I’m still working on that one). These little tasks are so much simpler when you don’t let them hang over your head.
Simplicity
Speaking of simple, let this become your mantra. Simplify your life. Try to minimize how many things you own. Try to simplify your schedule. Some things are worth making more complex – like a fine meal made to celebrate a special occasion. But for our daily lives, simple is better.
Focusing on one thing at a time
One thing we need to simplify is our daily activity. Multitasking was once extolled as a virtue. The only problem is that human beings are really bad at multi-tasking. Turns out, our brains aren’t made for it. Trying to do more than one thing at a time just ends up with us not doing either one efficiently or well. So choose one focus at a time.
Daily routine
Finally, if you can train your brain to follow an optimal path every day you will have accomplished bringing order into your life. Create a daily routine for yourself that maps out a path through your priorities – a time to work and a time to recharge, a time to pray and a time to nurture your relationships. Establishing a daily routine will make your priorities second nature to you, empowering you to really live your priorities.
Forming these habits won’t just happen because you decide to do them. Habit formation takes strategy and discipline. But in the long run, forming good habits is the best way to shape our lives and to shape ourselves. In fact, they are so important that they are part of every course that From the Abbey creates. If you want to grow in these specific virtues, especially in the area of your faith life, seriously consider investing in the opportunity below to get more involved in From the Abbey‘s programming. We’ll help you learn your faith with our online courses and articles, and we’ll help you live your faith with our practical online spirituality programs. Your next action step is below. Do it today!
Brought to you by Jeffrey S. Arrowood at From the Abbey, dedicated to helping you rediscover the JOY of learning and living your faith so you can grow in intimacy with God.
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