I realized the danger of habits early on when I had two mental lapses (later known as “brain farts”) in quick succession. Around the age of 7, I was riding in the back seat of the family station wagon. As we pulled out of our driveway and began moving slowly through the neighborhood, I reached to put on my seatbelt and instead opened the car door. I remember looking down at the sliver of pavement flying by and thinking, “I should really pay more attention.”
The second mental lapse occurred when I was wandering around in our backyard, blowing bubbles through a bubble wand. The act of dipping the wand in the soapy concoction and blowing a string of bubbles became increasingly hypnotic, and at some point in my deep day-slumber, I confused it with the act of eating yogurt with a spoon. I remember scrunching my face and thinking, “Did I not just learn this lesson?”
Before the advent of auto-pilot and zombies, I think this kind of behavior was labeled “absent-mindedness.” I try not to succumb while doing things like driving a car, playing the violin, or getting dressed in the morning. Of course, habits are what make it possible for humans to do all three of these activities in one day, so it’s not our habitual nature that is so dangerous. The problem is the proximity of the “reply” and “reply all” buttons, so to speak, in our brains.