Love & Relationships

Choose Your Habits, Choose Your Life - 5 Secrets For Breaking Your Bad Habits

By Jonathan

12 months ago

Read more: choice, secrets, cigarettes, journal, unhealthy

Choose Your Habits, Choose Your Life - 5 Secrets For Breaking Your Bad Habits
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

By nature, we are all creatures of habit. We instinctively adopt familiar routines for most activities. We eat about the same number of meals each day - at more or less the same times. We have a regular pattern of sleeping - unless it is perturbed by illness or shift work. Most everything we do is habitual.

You probably eat three meals each day, but why? Why not two or five? There is nothing particularly "natural" about our pattern of eating three meals each day - it is just a habit that we share with most of those around us. Actually, a number of studies indicate that eating five smaller meals is more satisfying and healthier than eating three large ones.

You will always have habits - things you do regularly and without conscious thought - but you do have the ability to CHOOSE your habits. Here's how...

1. Begin to pay attention to WHAT you do, WHEN you do it, and WHY you do it. One of the bad habits I fell into was eating a large dish of ice cream in the late evening. Obviously, "ice cream" was the "what," but the "when" was more than just "in the evening." "When" was times I felt stressed, hadn't had a satisfying dinner, or was bored. "Why" was mouth sensation, having something to do with my hands, and sometimes hunger.

2. Keep a journal of the "what", "when," and "why." Make an entry whenever you find yourself doing something that isn't really your choice. You will find that you gain better insight into the "when's" and "why's" as you get more entries in your journal. Soon a pattern will emerge that can enable you to find healthy habits to replace the harmful ones.

3. Look for other activities that would satisfy the "when" and "why." A hot bath for stress, hard candy for mouth sensation, a good book for activity, a warm bowl of soup for real hunger.

4. Make the undesirable activity difficult. Don't keep the cigarettes or ice cream in the house. When ice cream was in my own freezer, it was hard to resist, but when eating a dish of super chocolate chunk required a trip to the convenience store, it was much easier to turn my attention to other activities and a low calorie snack - if any snack at all.

5. Begin new habits not only because you need them to replace unhealthy ones, but also because they are the things you always wanted to do, but couldn't find the time or money. That book club or yoga class makes a great substitute for the eating or smoking, and you can more than pay for your health club membership with what you save on cigarettes.

Brighten your mornings with my Daily Inspiration - Daily Quote blog.

Today, I dance lightly with life
- jonathan lockwood huie

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Comments (6)

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By ausetkmt6 weeks ago

great advice, hopefully I'll use it.

Last post by ausetkmt: Be Aware of the Trojan-C Game – Dont’ Get Caught with your pants down

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By rojar7 months ago

Great! Keep these tips will definitely help for healthy life.

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By Jonathan12 months ago

myqute, many thanks

Last post by Jonathan: Life is no brief candle to me - George Bernard Shaw

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By myqute12 months ago

Hi Jonathan! Your blog posts are always right on the dot! Identify what actions and habits are disempowering. Once that is done, it's easier to get rid of bad habits. :)

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By Jonathan12 months ago

sprintzach, thank you for your support and great thoughts

Last post by Jonathan: Life is no brief candle to me - George Bernard Shaw

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By sprintzach12 months ago

Replacing a bad habit with a more empowering one is indeed very important. Wanting to eliminate a bad habit but not replacing the "emptiness" within you with another one will only spells disaster and it is really a matter of time when one will revert back's to his/her previous disempowering habits.

And when that happens, they will think that they are their habits and they will remain as who they are.

It is true that we humans are creatures of habits, however, we do have the power and choice over our habits. It is then up to us to decide what kind of habits we want to allow into our lives.

Those that will stretch and empower us or those that will limit and drain us of our energies?

Last post by sprintzach: Smash Self Denial and Regain Your Self Esteem