Switch it up

When I go to the mall I usually park in the same parking lot as close to the same spot as I can.   I use the same entrance.  It makes life easier.  My brain doesn*t have to work very hard to find my car if I am parked in the same spot I normally park.   Simpler is better, right? 

Not necessarily, say all the brain experts.  It is good to switch it up.  Much as we are creatures of habit, much as we prefer to do the same thing in the same way, it is good to make our brains work even on these simple things.  There is evidence that making simple changes such as parking in a different location makes our brains work in new ways.  All those routinized things we do make it easier to stay on autopilot.  We tend not to see as much, experience as much, when our brains run in the usual way.  Sometimes efficiency, doing things in the tried and true and routine way, makes us miss more essential things. 

Consider this:

Habits can be changed, little by little.   While I could write a piece about good habits and making those same inroads into our brains, there is something about going through life on autopilot which I find contrary to living the life of faith.  What would it mean to take a different route to work, say?  Or park in a different place?  Or perhaps pay attention to a section of the world you have missed while on autopilot?