Chapter 12
Driving Habits: Uncovering
Your Secret Programs
In This Chapter
▶ Understanding the psychology behind your habits and behaviours
▶ Using strategies to improve communication
▶ Applying knowledge of strategies to overcome road rage
▶ Discovering how to spell well
W
hen you wake up in the morning, do you brush your teeth first or
shower first? Like everyone else, you have a strategy – in this case, a
sequence of steps – for carrying out your routine tasks, whether you’re cut-
ting a loaf of bread, washing your hands, or completing your tax return. And
like many other people, you may not even be aware that you do things on
automatic pilot.A strategy is any internal and external set or order of experiences that consis-
tently produces a specific outcome.When Romilla was studying yoga, her teacher Swami Ambikananda asked the
class to gain a greater understanding of the unconscious rituals that we use.
She suggested that we start our day by changing the regular sequence we
have for getting dressed, eating breakfast, and preparing to go to work. Boy
did that scramble the brain! Real concentration was necessary to keep the
rest of the day running smoothly. Romilla felt as if she had forgotten some-
thing crucial and her brain kept trying to remember what it was. The overall
experience was very uncomfortable.You use your personal strategies for all sorts of behaviours: feeling loved;
loving your partner, parent, child, or pet; hating someone; getting irritable
with someone; buying your favourite perfume; learning to drive; and succeed-
ing and failing in health, wealth, and happiness, and so on.