I love these questions about habits. Especially because I used to be someone who lived with such bad habits that I always fell back into. Didn’t matter my intentions or how much I wanted to change – would always be back to square one within 3 months. I’d love to share what’s improved the quality of my life from the most powerful habit on.
1) LETTING GO OF WHO I THOUGHT I WAS AND HAVING A CLEAR MIND:
I can’t understate this enough! All those stories in my mind-
“I’m not good enough”
“I’m just going to fail again”
“I’ve tried this how many times?”
“You know you’re just going to go back to your old ways”
“I’ll never be able to change”.
They had to go first! Not going to lie, it took me years at working on this and it was a process of letting them go from my mind through meditation, and a process of building new habits to give my mind evidence I was worthy and I could change! Those deeeeeeeep feelings trapped in my body, that I felt literally enslaved me into a way of being also had to go!
Honestly, without this step, everything beyond it falls apart and had been falling apart for over 30 years.
2) LEARNING TO SERVE OTHERS SINCERELY:
The more I come out of “myself” and help others, the more I’ve been able to see that this is the everlasting source of true happiness. Devoting myself to a cause has broken down so many of my self-centred and egotistical ways. It’s allowed me to go with the flow and embrace the world whole heartedly so I can change and adapt more quickly.
3) EXERCISING AND EATING WELL:
Regular exercise has been so important to my wellbeing. It’s given me the belief that I can change, because my body is physically changing along with my mind. Also, the release of endorphins is an amazing way to start the day.
And with eating, I used to have IBS. But I knew it was a by-product of my poor eating, so I wanted to get to the root cause and I spent years trying to fix it, and can now safely say I can eat anything with no issues. I can eat what I want, but I just need to be wise and eat things in moderation.
4) GRATITUDE AND A POSITIVE MINDSET:
A gratitude journal and a gratitude blog, as well as reminders everywhere to be grateful have transformed my profoundly negative mind into one of positivity. I’m just happy all the time. Things come and go which make sadness arise, but I get past it SO quickly and am able to maintain a state of happiness. Always been able to see the light in everything and the good in every situation. The profoundness of this is too much to put into words. I’m not religious at all, but the Universe is alive, and when I have a grateful and positive mind, I can see how it works with much more clarity.
5) CONSISTENCY AND PERSEVERENCE:
By doing the above consistently, it’s given me the capacity to push through and do the things I need to do, despite how I feel. This is the only way to build new habits – with regularity. This all ties back to having a clear mind where I can just do it and pour every fibre of my being into what I do, without being dragged around by my mind. I can focus on the task, and this feeds into building that habit of consistency!
6) DISCIPLINE:
This one I’m honestly still working on, and it ties into all of them. Doing it, no matter what. I used to always wait for motivation, but I’ve realised this is a huge waste of time. Got to do it no matter what.
