In January, I set a timer for 10 minutes and drew what I wanted to do more of and less of in 2024. It was easy to fill out the More column. I’ve always got more I want to do and learn and experience: draw, paint, listen to music, walk, hike, start a travel journal. The Less column was trickier. But one thing I drew in that column was my hand holding my phone and scrolling Instagram.
Recently, while scrolling Instagram, I saw one of those silly little list memes: 20 tiny habits to change your life (or something like that). The list included things like make your bed, step outside at daybreak, and at the end of one day, write a 3-3-3 for the next day: one big goal you’ll spend 3 hours on, 3 small tasks, and 3 maintenance items.
The list had a bunch of fun and inspiring things on it, along with everyday things like drink water before a meal. One habit-to-build that jumped out to me was this: before I pick up my phone to scroll something, read a passage from philosophy or a religious text. I liked the sound of this a lot. At first I thought, I’m sure poetry or any other type of reading could be substituted here, but I’ve never read philosophy, and I am interested in the teachings of different religions, so I’d learn something new if I followed the idea as written.
I don’t really know where to start with either of those things, philosophy or religious texts (that I’d be interested in — Buddhism comes to mind), but I wanted to try this switch, from scrolling to reading a passage, so I looked to our shelves and found a couple of books I can revisit for now: The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran, and the Tao Te Ching. I’ve also got a couple of poetry books — Mary Oliver’s A Thousand Mornings, and Basho’s On Love and Barley.
I’ve started working on this new habit this week with The Prophet, which I haven’t looked at in probably 20 years. When I remember, as I reach for my phone, I pick up The Prophet instead. Everything about the experience is lovely. I feel a peace and beauty when I read it that’s soothing. I remember this same peaceful feeling from the other books on my shelf as well.
Our bookshelves are pretty bare, though, since I read mostly fiction and mostly on an e-reader. Once I’m through with these four books, I’ll need to find others.
Butterfly Mind 
I really like this. I too scroll when I take a break, I think many of us do. It reminded me of another post you wrote about writing instead of scrolling. Gonna try and break that habit. Keep us posted how you are doing and if I am brave enough, I’ll tell you about my progress.
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