The secret of your success is found in your daily habits!
Table of Contents
Why your daily habits matter
Your daily habits and routines really matter because they will determine how you feel, what you eat, when you sleep, how you spend your time…
They create patterns that become motivation in our life. Habit of overeating, of drinking coffee, of biting fingernails, of snacking, of staying up late, running from your problems…We repeated those actions so many times that they became part of our unconscious mind.
Your personality, your character is composed of habits. The simplest way to get to know yourself better is to observe your daily habits and try to understand them. You will realize that your personality, behaviour, actions, thoughts are nothing but deep rooted habits. It’s you who created them, you are the architect of your own being.
Noon is my lunch time. As soon as the clock strikes twelve I stand up and go for my lunch. But wait, am I really hungry? Even if I wasn’t hungry, I would eat lunch just out of habit.
All our habits were conscious actions that we continued doing regularly. We have done them so many times that our body knows better how to do it than mind.
That’s why they are ingrained in our unconscious mind. We know we shouldn’t overeat, drink at lunch, eat junk food…and we know we should exercise, eat healthy, but we do it or don’t do it anyway. Why?! It’s because of those deep habits! You run through your daily habits, you’re operating on autopilot, you never reflect on them. Whether they’re still serving you or not.
You may want to loose weight but you continue to prioritize comfort over accomplishment. You are drawn to eating chocolate rather than exercising.
How to break a bad habit
To break a bad habit, you need to form a good habit.
Awareness is the key! You need to become aware of your daily habits. Then you can clearly see those positive habits that motivate you to do things, make you feel cheerful. And those negative habits that make you feel unhappy and bad about yourself. Certain situations will trigger certain habits so it’s important to become aware of those situations.
Let me share my story on this topic.
I used to be an emotional eater. Whenever I felt any strong emotion I would snack something. I did it spontaneously over and over and over again which created grooves in my unconscious mind. When I wanted to change it, I couldn’t because it became my daily habit.
Yoga helped me understand my habits by becoming aware of them. I understood where this habit was coming from and how it was formed. I had to create new grooves.
First, I made my mind up to stop snacking. When we make a decision about something, we cut off all other opinions so that fears and doubts can’t sneak in. Willpower is created.
The seed of every habit is a single, tiny decision. But as that decision is repeated, a habit sprouts and grows stronger.
Then I substituted junky snacks with “healthier” versions. For example – I went for nuts, seeds, whole grain crackers, oatmeal bars instead of chips, cookies, pastries. Then I switched to eating fruits. And I became a fruit lover! Finally I discovered a whole-food, plat-based diet and started practising meditation.
Whole foods are produced by nature. They are unrefined, colourful, have a real taste, and make you satisfied. Meditation is a powerful tool for processing emotions. Instead of going for a snack I hang out with my emotions.
That’s how I slowly changed one of my bad habits, and created new grooves in my mind. The new habit created food freedom. I’m not anymore controlled by food, I choose what I want to eat instead!
It’s a process. It takes time and patience. Any new habit has to become part of our identity, of who we are. Then we can stick with it for a long time.
It’s amazing how we can change our entire personality, character, mind by just changing our daily habits and replacing them with different habits.
"Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become."
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