From how many times you hit the snooze button,
to the way you lay down in bed;
from the side of your mouth you begin to brush your teeth on,
to the side of the bed you sleep on;
from the story you tell yourself upon waking
to the feelings you have when your boss is talking;
all habits.
Our brain loves habits.
Habits take less thinking,
so they take less calories.
And the brain loves to conserve calories.
The brain will do anything to avoid
pain
and seek
pleasure and comfort.
This is why habits are difficult to break,
especially the “bad” ones.
The bad ones feed our comfort.
Like the proverbial quart of ice cream after a breakup,
the binge drinking after a fight,
they aren’t good for us,
but they feel good in the moment.
And so we continue in our habits,
believing we have little power to change.
We forget.
The habits we have now,
the ones not serving our best self
are not inviolable.
We created them.
We
formed,
shaped,
made
them.
We can re-create them.
Today is a great day to get honest with yourself.
Write down all your daily habits, rituals, routines.
Celebrate everything that is good.
Be grateful.
Identify which habits aren’t serving to make you
better,
stronger,
more resilient,
more whatever it is you want to become.
Pick one. (only one!)
Shift one small step.
(Warning: it won’t be easy. Calories, remember.)
But a small shift made
Every. Single. Day.
will
break it,
replace it,
recreate it.
Re-form your habits,
re-form your life.