Secrets Of How Habits Are Formed And How You Can Cultivate Or Bust Them by Mphojane Leboko
Copyright (c) 2013 Mphojane Leboko
All people are creatures of habit. Many people wrongly assume that a habit is a bad thing. This is understandable as we usually refer to a habit when it is a negative trait such as smoking, being argumentative or always getting late to work. However, there are good habits, such as always washing one's hands with soap after coming out of the toilet or brushing teeth every morning soon after waking. The secret of forming a positive habit or busting a negative one is basically being conscious or aware of our actions in our daily activities. We have to deliberately and consciously act in certain ways even if we do not enjoy or like the action. In this way we can easily cultivate or bust a habit
Forming a habit and busting one is done basically the same way. The difference lies where a habit is formed unconsciously. For example, when I started smoking, it was not my conscious intention to ultimately become a habitual smoker - smoking even when I wished otherwise. I thought it was hip to smoke and I also wanted to be accepted by my peer group. Each time I pulled out a cigarette and lit up, I felt good and I did it repeatedly over some time. Ultimately, I had formed a habit I would later find difficult to bust.
When I became aware how dangerous smoking was to my health,I had to retrain myself in exactly the same way as when I started out learning to smoke. This time around it was difficult as I was consciously forming a new habit by unlearning an old one. However, the secret of forming and busting a habit is by consciously doing the same action over and over again, until new neuro pathways are formed in the psyche, which is how a habit is formed.
It has since occured to me that learning a skill such as playing the piano or riding a bicycle can be viewed much the same way as forming a habit. At first you look at the paddles of your bicycle , an then lose control, falter and then fall. With practice, you begin to have better control of the handles and perhaps after a week you can paddle without holding on to your handles. It is the same with the piano. Once you have mastered the positions of the keys, you can easily play a tune with eyes closed.
With a stubborn habit such as smoking, you need to be keenly conscious of your cravings. I struggled with stopping to smoke. Then someone advised me to watch myself when I started to crave for a puff. He told me to be just aware of this craving as I would watch a television show. He told me to view this craving as something that was not part of me. Something that came and went by such as the weather.This meant that I did not have to identify with this craving as being part of myself, but as a fleeting feeling that did and could not last.
It worked like magic. Each time I experienced a craving for a smoke, I would simply watch myself craving for a smoke, and I was surprised how soon it subsided from my mind. I kept on doing this for a month and my cravings diminished substantially.
The habit of smoking makes one anxious each time the craving for a smoke rears its ugly head. So I overcame my anxiety by consciously learning to relax by watching my breathing as I inhaled and exhaled. I started to deliberately breath in deeply and exhale each time I had a craving for a puff. I kept on this practice for over a month every morning, afternoon and evening before bedtime. As I became less and less anxious, my craving to smoke equally diminished. Now I have been a non smoker for seven years.
Remember that a habit is fundamentally a mental phenomenon. By doing those little things over and over again, everyday, you can learn to form new wholesome habits and bust those habits that are destructive. Once you understand this principle and apply it diligently, you can be assured that there is no destructive habit that cannot be busted. A positive habit can also be formed the same way.
Emeritus High school English and History teacher. Self development, health and affiliate marketing enthusiast. For
more on related topics, you can visit my website at:
http://mlinfoexplosion.com/self_development.html
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