Breaking a Habit through Awareness and Choice

I bought some products from Aveda yesterday. I had tried to order my foundation throughout the pandemic and they were sold out. The supply had been replenished and I received an email offering me 25% off my purchase and routing me to the website.

I ordered. I paid. I checked out. Then I took a survey.

The survey asked for my feedback. My feedback was I am disappointed that I had to wait for the inventory. Then the follow up question was … get this … it is BIG …

Was your feedback positive, negative, or both.

That question woke up a trained habit within myself that said, “feedback equals improvement.”

So I did look up the word feedback which does mean pointing out what needs improvement, so in essence I was giving feedback. Yet this follow up question woke me up to a habit.

I stopped to think of ALL of the wonderful things the store did right and I liked. 1. They let me know when the product was in stock, 2. They gave me a discount PLUS free shipping, 3. Their website was clean, laid out well and easy to navigate, 4. Payment was seamless. If I sat with the positives I could have easily come up with 30 or 40 and eventually close to 100.

Yet, with all of the allotted characters, I told Aveda I was disappointed. Was that even true? Inconvenienced maybe, disappointed at first, possibly, but when I sat ordering the product I was happy, elated, and relieved. Isn’t that interesting. I dug for the negative and pulled it up and out and typed it through my fingers.

Now, I didn’t have to give any feedback. I didn’t have to give negative or positive or both. The awareness I had was that when I chose to give feedback I gave it from an unconscious trained place not a present place filled with choice. I operated out of habit. I want to replace habit with choice. If I was disappointed and CHOSE to share that than yippee, I wanted them to know. If I was a loyal customer, loved their product and was waiting in anticipation for the release, I could let them know too. The power is not in the type of feedback, but in being asleep in the midst of this alive moment.

Pay attention!! Any and everything throughout the day can awaken us to where we are operating from habit and when we are alive. I would say it is often the smallest moments that put a crack in our Protective Self we began developing as wee ones to feel safe. One crack lets in more Light. A plethora of cracks is, well, beautiful and promising.

When I am given the gift of seeing the trained, unconscious self and I re-choose out of awareness a happy dance follows. This awareness is a HUGE gift from the Love of God to me in essence inviting into the dynamic flow of Life and out of the routine of habit.

Let’s get cracked open,