to reject it."Once we've developed our mindfulness to a point where we can notice the intent to act, we find ourselves poised at the choice point. We might ask "What do I do instead?" and "How do I do something different?" It's difficult to change a behavior pattern even though it no longer serves us. We can't change our Enneagram type; our emotional and behavior patterns are habituated from a lifetime of use and etched in our psyche. It's much easier to travel a paved path than to forage through unchartered territory:"Repetition of actions intensifies the urge to further reiteration and renders theirexecution easier and better, until they come to be performed unconsciously.In this way, habits are formed. They can be compared to streets and roads; it is somuch easier and more convenient to walk along a street than to force one's way through the undergrowth of uncultivated land.""...Gustave Le Bon, in his book La Psychologie de l'education, goes so far as to statethat 'education is the art of making the conscious pass into the unconscious'." Roberto AssagioliThe Act of Will6Neuron PathwaysNeuron pathways are the channels through which information travels between the brainand body. A neuron pathway begins with a message, thought or impulse from the brain.This message travels along nerves, muscles, neurons, neuron peptides, molecules,receptors, pherons, membranes, and connective tissue. They communicate a message toappropriate muscle groups which then engage the body in the desired action.Messages also flow in the opposite direction along the same neuron pathways. A physical sensation, like touching a hot stove, sparks a series of messages. The muscles enervate the nerves, and the nerves send a message to the brain -- pain. The brain returns a message along the same neuron pathway -- remove your hand.The body is intelligent and this series of messages is communicated quickly, fluidly, and unconsciously. This example is part of the automatic nervous system. Distinct from that, but equally important, are neuron pathways that are trained to perform special actions like chores of daily living, doing sports, and expressing emotion.An infant learning to drink from a cup demonstrates the laborious development of aneuron pathway. At first unable to grasp the cup, eventually the infant will lift it to his lips, only to miss and dribble the milk all over his face and onto the bib. With repetition,this neuron pathway is trained, and the infant eventually will drink without spilling. By the time we're adults, we've engaged this pattern so many times it has become unconscious, and we can even read the newspaper, hold a conversation, and drink a cup of coffee without spilling.We have equally well-developed neuron pathways for all our thoughts, feelings andactivities; for getting dressed in the morning, cooking, driving, for the way we listen, express emotion, our degree of self-confidence, the way we organize our desks and our lives. The thinking and feeling patterns that we engage in most often have the most well- developed pathways. If we always tell ourselves we're a failure, it creates a pathway that affects our posture and how we function. Believing we are