Lillian Lake using DreamAI. Lillian Lake

My son and his girlfriend are here for the week to escape the blistering heat of the city. They love Boston for many reasons – fabulous restaurants, various entertainment options, easy travel to other areas for recreation, and so on. However, as cities do, they collect heat, and it’s not fun. It’s been a great week for me. I’ve gotten nearly nothing done that I had anticipated doing, but we’ve had a grand time playing games, talking, swimming, and, of course, eating. Last night, we had ice cream from Farmington Ice Cream Shoppe for dinner. Their soft serve is the bomb diggity of soft serve options, although I nearly always get the coffee flavor with hot fudge. It’s a habit I’ve enjoyed since they opened a few years ago, and I don’t intend to break it soon.

At breakfast this morning, as we dug into a baked egg casserole and drained more than one pot of coffee, Pardis, Greg’s lovely girlfriend, told me not to put the remainder of the casserole away and leave her cup because she’ll have more coffee throughout the day. I said I’d try to leave them both, but I have a habit of whisking away dishes with food remains and empty beverage holders. Greg chuckled and said Pardis is just like me and does the same thing at home. I laughed and said, I think you’ve partnered with my clone – Pardis has other traits that mimic mine.

Greg told how Tim’s mom would do the same “whisking” when he met up with Tim and Paul, close friends. She whisked away anything unattended; you’d have to track it down. Tim and Paul coined it “fluffing.” I’m not into moving everything unattended, but something about an empty glass or dirty dish makes me scoop, wash, and put it away. It’s a habit that’s now a part of my character. When the kids came home from college, they’d say, “Mom, don’t take this glass. I’ll use it again”. That attempt didn’t last long. Some habits aren’t meant to be broken.

A habit is a repeated action with automatic characteristics. Some harmful, such as drugs, can become as Ed Sheeran sings of in his song “Bad Habits,” chewing our fingernails or alcohol–habits that cause harm. There are good habits like getting enough rest and eating nourishing food. Some often skate near the edge of bad or good and become harmful addictions.

How do we fall into habit-making? Are habits destined to become part of us? Do they lurk in the background of our lives, waiting for us to take them up on what they offer? Is one habit the outcropping of another? For instance, my habit of whisking dirty dishes is closely related to my habit of color-coding research notes. It makes a piece of my life easier; frankly, I also like how the results look.

What about you? We all have habits. Consider this: some of your habits have passed their expiration and have become an endearing character trait.