Breaking Habits: Increasing Self-Awareness

Have you ever wondered what is it that makes people have the motivation to lose weight, to stop smoking, to stop biting their lip, to stop chewing, to stop tearing their skin, biting their nails, biting their hang nails, drinking, to stop any bad habit? I'm sure we have all had a time in our lives when we have done it, but can't seem to do it now. We want to, but every time we say we will, the habit gets the better of us.

Now, I'm no miracle worker; but I want to discuss some thoughts I have about this. First I want to say that you can replace one bad habit with another, but that is not what I am talking about here.

Our minds are the most powerful instruments on earth. When we really believe something we can pretty much see it, feel it, make it happen. It's borderline magic sometimes. You've heard of the placebo effect, right? It's where a group of people think they are getting a cure as an example, and they are actually just given a sugar pill. But amazingly, their symptoms and illness go away. What is that? The power of our minds. You can tell yourself anything, the problem arises when we don't listen because other things are getting in the way.

Life now-a-days is so go, go, go and so AUTOMATIC, that we don't even know what we are doing sometimes, we just do. But if you can take your mind and body OFF of auto-pilot and take each moment in. Just stop. You can tell yourself whatever you want and your mind will actually listen.

So how do you do this? You have to be ready and really mean it. Look at the relaxation techniques in my previous blog. Read through them and practice a few times. Learn to relax. Now this is something that takes practice, but within a week doing this everyday you should learn to be more self-aware by telling yourself to stop and relax. A couple times a day, stop, breathe, relax, and look at yourself and what you are doing. Relax. Look at what you are doing. Look at what you are saying and how you are behaving. Be mindful of your body. Be mindful of your emotions. Really listen to your body's reactions and what is happening inside your body.

Someone cuts you off while driving. Stop and listen to your body. Feel your anger. Feel your fear, your anxiousness, your relief. Recognize that your heart is beating fast, there was a drop in your stomach. Breathe. Relax. Look at yourself.

You are going to (fill in the bad habit here). You know you are doing it. You know you want to stop. But you actually tell yourself screw it, just one more time, and do it anyway. Not this time. This time you are going to stop. Breathe. Relax. Then you are going to relax the body part that is involved in the bad habit. If it's biting something, relax your jaw, your mouth, your tongue. If it's smoking or chewing, relax your hands, your arms, breathe, relax your shoulders. Tell yourself you don't need it. Relax. Breathe. Tell yourself you don't want it. Tell yourself you are quitting. Breathe. Relax. Move on.