In the movie Ground Hog Day, Bill Murray was reliving the same day repeatedly. It became a routine, even though he did not like it, and it was not good for him.

Is it not interesting the things we allow to become a routine in our lives? For example, returning to behaviors which cause us pain, regret, or loss. Some of the ways we do this is by eating in an unhealthy manner, spending too much time with people who do not uplift us, listening to media that poison our faith, neglecting to make courageous decisions, to name a few.

We all struggle with breaking out of routines just because they are familiar even though they do not enrich us. Habits emerge out of our routines. Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit, said that habits work because “to save energy, the brain creates a habit loop that looks for a trigger to cue a behavior. To form a habit loop, the brain first looks for a cue, a trigger that tells your brain when to begin the next element, the routine.”

If a cue can instruct our brain to conduct one routine, we can train it to conduct a healthier one instead, thereby creating a new habit loop. Habit causes us to engage in behaviors without thinking. Have you ever had a conversation over the phone, while fixing yourself a drink in the morning and deciding which way you were going to take to work, at the same time? If not the three, have you ever done two at the same time, and even without much effort?

Fortunately, we can change our habits which change our trajectory in life. Our habits make or break us. Start today to choose a different routine when you get that “disastrous” cue, so you can develop a new empowering habit. Does this seem beyond you?

Fortunately, God can do far more abundantly beyond all that we can ask or think, according to the power that works within us (Ephesians 3:20). Trust God for the appropriate power.