An Easy Way to Change Habits
Many of our habits serve us very well. Habits such as using silverware, chewing with our mouths closed (a courtesy) or tying our shoes become habits that we don’t give a second thought to. Habits can be useful or they can be obstacles that keep us stuck in the past.
Habitual patterns of behavior can be obstacles in the way of achieving our goals because feeling stuck can lead to feelings of futility and despair. We may feel defeated before we even start. Then all the reasons why we can’t accomplish something or why something won’t work for us is the first thing that springs into our minds. These are false limitations. Fortunately, that means they can change.
We use our conscious minds to set our goals and make decisions. And yet, so often, thinking good thoughts and doing affirmations endlessly don’t always bring the results we would like to see.
The Habit Mind
Our habit mind is our subconscious mind. Renowned researcher, Bruce Lipton reports that Neuroscience has recognized that the subconscious mind is a million times more powerful than the conscious mind. After all, it runs every process in your body that keeps you alive. Imagine if you had to consciously think about keeping your heart beating every second, not to mention operating each one of your 100 trillion cells. He says that they found that we operate 95% to 99% of our lives from subconscious programs.
The good news is that, just as subconscious patterns of behavior became programmed into you, they can be reprogrammed to serve you better.
Most people think that sticking to a conscious resolution requires willpower. It’s nice to find out there are easier ways to go about it.
Think about all the stories we tell ourselves so much of the time. Stories like, “That’s not the way I did it in the past. That’s not the way I was brought up. I’m not used to doing it any other way. I’m not capable.” only scratch the surface of all the number of stories we tell ourselves. This is not even counting all the stories other people tell us about ourselves and all the ones we were taught to believe when we were growing up.
Setting a goal requires seeing yourself from a new angle and there are many ways to do that. One method is what I like to call:
The Bit-By-Bit Method
Moving bit-by-bit gives you lots of opportunities to experience small successes. Frequent successes become inspiring rewards that create feelings of genuine motivation, a can-do attitude. Every marathon runner started out making baby steps as a child. Learning to play music or to read are other examples. This is one way we can gently create new habits of feeling to bypass our own assumptions, judgments and our outmoded ideas of our own limitations.
The power of belief is what is used by high achievers. As we change our beliefs about ourselves we can enlist the force of what we believe in our hearts. Then we no longer need to believe it. We just know in our hearts and our deepest being that we can do something. We don’t believe we can breathe. We know we can breathe. This is how we can enlist the force of our subconscious.
The Little-by Little Technique
Here is a little example of the Little-by-Little Technique. Let us say that you want to eat more vegetables but you don’t really want to eat more vegetables. You’ve always told yourself that you don’t like vegetables. (And, it’s no wonder – the way many people prepare them – some soggy, overcooked, tasteless thing next to your baked potato – Blah) You don’t have a taste for them. This is fine.
This is a technique for introducing them so that, at first, you don’t even taste them at all or even know that they are there, which in the case of children works really well. I was so surprised when my French fry-loving little boy started asking,” Could I have some spinach, please?” and “I have a craving for broccoli.” I would look at him and think, “Really?!!”
Mince a little bit of spinach, broccoli or whatever and add it to your spaghetti sauce, for example. Don’t add so much that you can taste it in there (add just a little bit at a time). Even though you can’t tell that it is there your body (where your subconscious lives) will and will develop a taste for it as, over time, you gradually increase the amounts. Eventually, by the time you have graduated to full size chunks, you will have developed a love and a downright craving for it. Works like a charm. You’re body will be going, “Thank-you! It’s about time! It’s just what I needed! Yum!
This is an extremely easy way of educating your taste buds. And, by the way, there are stores who don’t care if you just buy a little bit of some kind of fresh produce so you don’t have more than you need going to waste. I tried dipping raw broccoli and cauliflower chunks in guacamole the other day and was surprised at how good they tasted that way.
This works in reverse, also, to get rid of something in your life that you don’t want. Babies are weaned from liquid food to solid food. You gradually replace something with something else to take its place.
A Personal Experience of Using the Little-by Little Technique
Some days I did just not feel like running. So, I would tell myself, “Well, I’ll just put my running shoes on just in case I feel like it in a little while.” Then, in a bit, I would think, “Well, I already have my shoes on. Might as well go outside.” Then – “ Well, maybe I’ll just take a little walk.” Then I would think, “Maybe I will just run now the rest of the way down to the corner.” Then I would think, “Well this feels kind of good.” Next thing I knew, I would be noticing the beauty of the light filtering through the trees or whatever and I would be off and running.
I always felt so proud of myself when I got home. That and my new feelings of being invigorated were my rewards in the short term. More energy was, of course, the long-term reward.
What I am hoping to demonstrate is that even if we don’t think we have much will power, we can use other strategies to get around it. I didn’t think of my little-by-little running technique as a trick I was playing on myself. I thought of it as a game I was playing with myself.
David Wolfe, famous raw food proponent, says that the moment that he first hears about something new and decides to incorporate it into his life he just does it from that moment on. We can all get to that point.
After all, why waste your time and energy arguing with yourself?
He doesn’t think of it as something involving will power. When I do that, I realize that I’m feeling enthusiasm for a new opportunity, and off I go, carried by that feeling. Feeling a sense of accomplishment is the most powerful motivator of all.
The subconscious is where our feelings live. And where our habits live. Changing our habits might be easier than we think!