How many bad little habits are stealing from you?
Usually, we are barely conscious of the many little habits that keep us from feeling healthy and happy. Start increasing your self-care by noticing them stealing from you! Once you’ve got them on the radar, use the tips in this blog to shift them to new habits that work in your favor.
It’s easy to train yourself with good habits of self-care and break the bad habits if you are willing to replace a bad habit with a good one. This works best if you choose a new habit where the reward is more compelling than the reward from the bad habit.
Here are some habit-breaking ideas to build up good habits of self-care and well being.
Break the Bad Habit of Being Disconnected
Ask yourself, what are the things I do to keep myself disconnected and distant from others, from myself, or from my spirituality? These are very vulnerable questions. The good habits of relational self-care usually involve courage to take emotional risks.
Where can you be more honest and connected with yourself? Could you take a small yet courageous step to open up more in a relationship? These small courageous and vulnerable moves will reward you over time with a deeper connection to yourself and others, which is an honest human need.
Break Bad Habits of Negative Thinking
When your mind is being a bully to your sense of inner peace, imagine tossing those negative thoughts in a bucket full of neutralizing water. Now, give your mind something delightful to obsess about.
Affirmations – always stated in the positive, and best if they start with “I am.” Write them on sticky notes to remind yourself quickly of your new mental habit.
Watch the 14-min video version of this blog and learn an extra tip or two!
Break Bad Habits of Painful Emotions
Do you have the bad habit of pushing away painful emotions? Instead, figure out what’s triggering the painful emotion. You can have a dialog with that triggered part of you, and you can ask what it needs to feel better. There is an inner story behind each one of our painful emotions.
Dialoguing with the part of you with the emotion gives it the attention it probably always really wanted, so it has a way to evolve. See how quickly you can recognize your emotional state and offer these downer parts of you some of your love and attention to shift your mood.
Break Bad Habits of Physical Discomfort
What physical bad habits are you tolerating that cause little energy drains? These bad habits are some of the most challenging to break. Would having more balanced energy levels and clarity, or needing less sleep to be strong enough rewards for making incremental little changes?
Regularly allowing yourself to be physically uncomfortable can set you up to be more vulnerable to doing other bad habits. Physical discomfort drains energy, and since good habits take a little bit of energy to sustain, we may be draining the exact energy we need to do our best.
Incremental changes add up to big shifts over time, and they seem painless. A small change could be reducing sugars in your diet, a little at a time. Or standing up to work so your back feels better. Or buying clothes that fit more comfortably, or adjusting light or temperature levels. Keep it simple, one choice at a time.
Tune in to the little ways to add in more good self-care habits.
Use this template to brainstorm easy good habits of self-care:
- Spiritual – One little risk I will take to connect is:
- Mental – One new affirmation I’ll repeat daily is:
- Emotional – One little hurt I’m going to resolve is:
- Physical – One incremental change I’ll make to be more comfortable is:
Once you are successful with small incremental changes, you’ll be encouraged to look for other little changes you can make. They all add up to more happiness over time.