Habits; The Making And The Breaking

 Here it is! I thought that I might be late. BUT I DID IT. hope you enjoy!

Habits, habits, habits. Everyone has them. Even if some people think they don't. Today You are going to learn WHY we develop habits, HOW to develop habits, how to IDENTIFY bad habitual patterns, and how to BREAK bad habits

        Put simply, the reason we develop habits is to make life easier for us. When you have a habit your subconscious will automatically tell your body to do that task. This allows people to focus on more important things, like paying the bills and doing school.

         A lot of the time they do just that! They make life easier. Example; The habit of waking up at a certain time in the morning whether you have an alarm set or not. Or taking a shower and brushing your teeth every morning before going to work. Though sometimes they don't help us. Example; the habit of slouching can cause neck pain and headaches. The habit of smoking can lead to lung disease. Etc...etc...

        ok, now how to develop a good habit! Science has proven that it takes about 21 days to make a new habit. Meaning that you must do something for about 21 days IN A ROW. If you miss one day, then time to start over. It also takes 90 days for your body to accept the new habit. And it takes only three days to break it once you have made it!

        Finding a bad habitual pattern can be a very difficult thing to accomplish because habits are subconscious. There are four steps to identifying bad habits. The first is being aware that frustrations are just road signs pointing us in the direction of bad habits! The second is willingness to make a change in your life. The third is open mindedness. Lastly, you need to take a walk.

           Step one, when frustrations surface, pause, you might find that there are some bad habits lingering around them. Be open to explore these thoughts. Example, not too long ago I noticed when I was reading that I had a bad habit of slouching when my shoulder bashed into my JAW. I thought "hey, my shoulder does not belong there!" I was frustrated that every time I turned my head I was punched in the face by my shoulder. 

            Step two, willingness to make a change. What does that mean exactly? Let's use the habit of waking up at, say, 6:00am. If you want to wake up at 6:00am that means that you have to go to bed BEFORE 10:00pm! You need to make some sacrifices in order to do some things. Another sacrifice you will need to make in order to have the aforementioned habit is sleeping in. If you want to develop the habit of waking up at 6:00 then you cannot sleep in on the weekends! Or any other day!

            Step three, Now let's talk about having an open mind. This means that you need to look at the ENTIRE board! You can't look at things from one point of view. And you can't look at only part of things! That's right! Time to wear your brother's shoes! Example, you are having an argument with someone, you think you are right, they think they are right. You both go home and brood. You decide to consider the fact that you may be wrong. You give it some more thought. They decide that you are wrong. They give it no more thought. Who is being open minded? You are. You are open to other possibilities! This is the way you should think about things.

        Step four, going on a walk, or a jog, or a run or a bike ride, are great ways to get your body moving while you calmly think about things. You could even weed the garden! As long as you get your body moving without too much physical exertion. You can think about almost anything while you do this. Just let the thoughts calmly come to you. Don't force your brain to think about certain topics. Just let the process take it's course. If you realize a bad habit then write it down, NOW! So bring a notepad and pencil or a pen with you.

           Once you have written down the habit then stuff the notepad back in your pocket and continue to mindfully weed the garden. What is better than finding one bad habit? Finding more bad habits! I recommend doing this at least once a day.

When you get home or finish weeding the garden you can also write down what you are going to do to remind yourself about the habit. And what habit you are going to put in it's place, and the steps you are going to take to make it happen! Again, mindfulness is the key! 

        A great way to get rid of a bad habit is to replace it. This is the absolute BEST way of ridding yourself of those nasty, down-pulling bad habits! Ask yourself, is there something that you forget to do in the morning? Before you leave work or school? Is there something that you have been wanting to do? 

        Maybe you forget to turn on the alarm? The habit of waking up when you don't have an alarm set is a good one to consider! Just make sure the alarm is on EVERY day for about 21-29 days and your body will start to wake up then on it's own!  

        Or perhaps you want to start meditating in the morning? Do that for 5-30 mins EVERY morning for about 21-29 days in a row! When meditating try to focus on ONE thing! You may choose to focus on various things. Your breathing for example, or you can get a dried fruit and suck on it while thinking of how it feels, how warm is it? How hard is it? How does it taste? Is it warmer now than it was when you started? Is it softer? Sweeter? Etc...etc... 

        These are all great examples of good habits that you can use to replace the bad ones. Find the best habit that suits the situation.

           There you go! Now you know WHY we develop habits. HOW to Identify Bad habitual patterns. How to BREAK bad habits. And how to REPLACE them with good habits.

Thank you!

               Yours sincerely,
                            Ethan/Waredude

p.s. If you found this post useful please, tell your friends about it! tell anyone about it!