Trying to Create Healthy Habits? Help Is Here!
Sometimes you do something for so long that you find yourself on auto-pilot, from brushing your teeth, showering, getting dressed, to how you respond to the world and interact with others. Habits are routines of behavior that are learned; sometimes necessary, and other times self-destructive. If you regularly overeat, overspend, overreact, etc., these behaviors can go unnoticed because of your subconscious beliefs and the lack of self-analysis when undertaking these routines.
Most people think of behaviors when they think of habits, but beliefs and thoughts can also become habits. When we grow up, beliefs about ourselves get stored in our memory. Our brains have a way of making associations that get hardwired into thought patterns and make it difficult to change. For many of us, self-destructive habits come from self-limiting beliefs we formed while growing up. These beliefs influence how we react to our daily experiences.
Being aware that your happiness and emotions are a product of your beliefs puts the capacity to change in your own hands. Neuroscience has discovered that while you cannot undo hardwiring, your brain can change and create new patterns of thinking given the right learning tools and environment.
So, what do you do if you’re stuck in an unhealthy habit that doesn’t serve you? You create new habits by taking yourself off autopilot and making a conscious decision to do something productive instead. By creating new associations and directing your attention in positive ways, chemical and physical changes occur in your brain.
So, ready to make some changes? Here’s how:
Make a list of your limiting beliefs and replace them with expanding beliefs. Be aware of your thoughts and tell yourself a different story. Your thinking creates your feelings, behaviors and results. Visualize yourself without the “bad” habit and performing an alternative behavior. Imagine how you would feel.
When you notice the urge to engage in a negative habit, do something new. Form a ritual and use it right before executing your habit. For example, if you wanted to wake up earlier, this could mean waking up in exactly the same way each morning. If you wanted to stop overeating you could practice drinking a glass of water each time you felt the urge to overindulge.
Don’t try to change your life in one day. Take one day at a time and acknowledge small steps and your successes along the way. Through the act of self-observation, you will become more present and able to make conscious choices that reshape your life. You must make a decision to feel better about yourself and believe you’re worth it. Your habits form your future.
Photo: Flickr
About our contributor: Anna Goldstein is an NYU Certified Life Coach, who empowers individuals and professionals to eliminate obstacles, gain clarity, set goals and holds you accountable to achieve your desires. Anna directs individuals and professionals towards success and shows you how to shift your perceptions to make positive life changes. If you’re feeling stuck, confused or unhappy Anna provides you with the tools to take action and achieve results. To learn more about Anna go to her website here.
Need a little extra help making changes? Anna is offering a TELE-CLASS that begins tonight! Tele-classes are a great way to work with Anna at very affordable rate and you can call from the comfort of your home or office and eliminate travel time. These interactive coaching classes are conducted over the phone, using a “bridge” line. In these one-hour interactive classes, Anna will work with you and a small group of like-minded individuals on improving a specific area of your life. You will leave the call with a fresh perspective and ability to effect immediate positive change in your life. For more information or to sign up click here.
Related posts:
I have this bad habit of going into a grocery store or any store for that matter and purchasing way more than I listed or expected or wanted to. I’m also a “pack rat”, I like to have a lot of stuff available in my home so just in case if I need it, more than enough is there. I feel that I may have a moderate case of “OCD”.