Welcome back, everyone. I would like to discuss how to look deeper into habits in this week’s newsletter. Understanding why we build the habits we do and whether or not these habits serve us in a healthy and supportive way will help you determine whether you should examine ways to improve.
If you take a step back and look at your habits in a way that others see you, you might want to rethink or even replace some of your less desirable ones. Yet, you will never even take notice of your habits if you do not take a look.
If you are one of the many who do not see their patterned actions as habits and would like to know more, or if you are someone who would like a deeper understanding of your habits, then stick with me as I take this next step toward becoming positively improved.
Habits defined.
When defining a habit, I would say it is when you do something repeatedly and usually without noticing you are doing it. So, how do habits get formed? In most cases, habits start by you mimicking someone else’s behavior.
This is how most people learn best; we all learn to mimic as children. However, as we grow, what was once just mimicking someone else’s behavior becomes a conscious choice. Thus, when someone who is 25 or older says, “this is just the way I am,” what they are really saying is, “this is the way I choose to be,” just to serve as an example.
If you recognize that your habits, actions, and patterns are choices in most cases, you will also begin to understand that they are changeable if you put forth the effort, time, and dedication to change them.
Why do we build habits?
Habits and patterns are ways we learn to respond to situations, define ourselves, and live our lives in a way that we can find comfort and safety. Not to say that all our habits provide us with comfort and safety. As you know, that is not true.
If you have unhealthy or destructive habits, these habits will actually provide you or your life with the opposite effect. Yet, those who keep bad habits believe that their habits are making their lives better, whether they are or not.
Again, this brings us back to the concept that habits and patterns of behavior are how we each respond to situations, define ourselves, and provide ourselves with the belief that we are safe and comfortable.
Why should we get rid of a habit?
If a habit is healthy and supportive, it will aid personal growth and well-being. Helping to improve your life and, potentially, the lives you touch. However, when a habit is destructive, it does the opposite, tearing down you and those around you.
Although, it might be hard to see how your habit could be unhealthy or destructive if it is all you have ever seen or known in your life. However, if you take a step back and think about habits in terms of healthy and unhealthy and understand that If a habit does not serve you or the lives you touch in a healthy or supportive way, then it is not a habit you should have, regardless of how good it might make you feel.
In the following sections, I will discuss why we are drawn to unhealthy habits and why choosing healthy habits will benefit us. When you finish this newsletter, you will understand better why you should eliminate certain habits.
Why are we drawn to self-destructive habits?
We are all drawn to unhealthy habits, no matter how good or bad a person is. You might ask why. The answer is simple because it feels good. In some way, We think this habit is making our lives better, even if that better only lasts a moment.
So, how do you know if it is self-destructive? Again, I would respond with easy, if it does more harm than good. For example, if you find yourself overeating certain foods because they taste so freaking good. You just can’t help yourself but overeat them but then feel fat or ugly within minutes of finishing. Then this is a destructive habit.
Any habit that tears you down, whether it be something that you are doing or something you are allowing to be done toward you, is destructive, and for your well-being, it is time to rethink whether it should be allowed to continue.
Why we benefit from choosing healthy habits.
As stated before, healthy habits provide us each with growth and support. Moreover, they benefit each of us because they allow our lives to remain grounded and harmonious even when the world seems chaotic.
Healthy habits and patterns anchor us when life gets hard, and the world is against us. And somehow amplify everything when the world is for us. Simply put, healthy habits help to keep us healthy and thriving, not just surviving.
Take a look at healthy habits from an objective viewpoint. Although you might recognize that, yes, some of these habits might be harder to accomplish at first, if you look at them objectively, you will also notice that they are well worth the effort, as they will leave you feeling happier and more at peace.
Final Thoughts:
So now that I have come to the end of this week’s newsletter let me take a moment to share some final thoughts about this topic of habits. Of course, we all have to deal with habits, and I understand how certain habits and patterns of behavior are hard to change or, for that matter, to create.
However, if you understand that you always have more power than you believe, and if you are willing to commit, then there is no habit, no matter how big or small, that you can’t change. So always believe in yourself whether or not others believe in you, and you will find a way.
I hope, as always, that you found this information helpful. If you know someone who could use this information, please share this with them. Also, if you would like to share your thoughts on this topic, please, do so in the comment section.
Thank you again for taking this step with me toward becoming positively improved. Until next week. Namaste.
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