Our habits do not exist in a vacuum, but rather they engage and interact with the environment we are in. We are all very sensitive to the behavior of the people around us, and our own behavior will change when our environment changes.
When we are in an environment where our strongest habits are not welcome, where the people in our environment have very different habits than we do, or where our soft habits are under a lot of pressure, this is going to be experienced as a negative environment for us. We will feel tired, weak, trapped, and have conflict with others. We can either adapt, or get out. While “running from our problems” is discouraged in general in our culture, sometimes it really is for the best.
A positive environment for us is the opposite of this, the other people have similar habits to ours, they allow our strong habits to flourish and do not put pressure on our soft habits. When we are in an environment like this we feel very free, relaxed, and energized. After learning about our habits and their strength, we take a look at the context, our environment. This is also relevant to the work I do with teams in organizations, the subject of a future article.