{"id":130,"date":"2018-02-16T02:49:35","date_gmt":"2018-02-16T02:49:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sevenminutemindfulness.com\/blog\/?p=130"},"modified":"2018-02-16T02:49:35","modified_gmt":"2018-02-16T02:49:35","slug":"habits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sevenminutemindfulness.com\/blog\/habits\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Kick Your Bad Habits To The Curb"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>GUEST POST BY HEATHER MATHEWS<\/p>\n<p>Author of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/sevenminutemindfulness.com\/go\/manivideo\" target=\"_blank\"><strong><em>Manifestation Miracle<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve always found that learning is one of the\u00a0<strong>most amazing<\/strong>\u00a0journeys in life. The biggest reason is that it\u2019s a never-ending process.<\/p>\n<p>Just when you think you\u00a0<em>know enough<\/em>\u00a0about something, a\u00a0new\u00a0bit of wisdom comes your way. It adds to what you already know and it\u00a0<strong>enriches<\/strong>\u00a0your life even more.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s how I felt recently about meditation. Mindfulness exercises (what meditation is mostly about) are something I like to practice as much as I can, daily if possible.<\/p>\n<p>The act of sitting down and focusing your thoughts on nothing but the\u00a0<strong>present moment<\/strong>\u00a0helps quiet my mind.<\/p>\n<p>This is especially useful for\u00a0<strong>reducing stress<\/strong>\u00a0and giving you peace of mind \u2013 which is why I\u2019m a big fan of it.<\/p>\n<p>Recently, I stumbled on a TED talk that offers another look at\u00a0<strong>mindfulness<\/strong>\u00a0and how you can use it in\u00a0other\u00a0ways.<\/p>\n<p>Psychiatrist Judson Brewer talks about how habits start \u2013 be it good or bad \u2013 and how to use the power of mindfulness to break them.<\/p>\n<p>He calls it \u201cA simple way to break a bad habit\u201d \u2013 check it out here:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-moW9jvvMr4\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He breaks down the step of developing a habit into three steps, which are:\u00a0<strong>trigger, behavior, reward<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Now, you already know how this process goes, but on a\u00a0<em>subconscious<\/em>\u00a0level.<\/p>\n<p>For example, the habit of eating starts with hunger. This is the natural\u00a0<strong>urge<\/strong>\u00a0to consume calories to live.<\/p>\n<p>So, that urge triggers you to satisfy your hunger by indulging in a certain\u00a0behavior, which is eating. And once you\u2019ve acted out that behavior, you\u2019re\u00a0<em><strong>rewarded<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>by different sensations.<\/p>\n<p>That includes feeling sated, or full. So your mind learns to remember this\u00a0<strong>pleasurable behavior<\/strong>\u00a0and do the same thing in the future.<\/p>\n<p>Most of the time, you\u2019re\u00a0not consciously\u00a0aware of what\u2019s going on. You keep repeating the cycle of habit because your brain likes to run to on\u00a0<strong>auto-pilot<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>This is fine when if it\u2019s something positive, like grooming or working out. But other habits like smoking or overeating\u00a0<strong>don\u2019t add value<\/strong>\u00a0to your life, and in fact, can shorten it.<\/p>\n<p>So the most interesting part for me was to learn that the simple practice of mindfulness can help people\u00a0break\u00a0the behavior\/reward cycle.<\/p>\n<p>According to Judson, you can do this by\u00a0<strong>heightening your awareness<\/strong>. He says we should be mindful of what\u2019s happening to us while doing a habit (or feeling the urge to do it).<\/p>\n<p>As he eloquently puts it,\u00a0<em>\u201cSeeing clearly what we get when we get caught up in our behaviors, becoming\u00a0<strong>disenchanted<\/strong>\u00a0on a visceral level, and from this disenchanted stance, naturally\u00a0<strong>letting go<\/strong>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This\u00a0<strong>hit home\u00a0<\/strong>for me<strong>.<\/strong>\u00a0I knew mindfulness was a great practice, didn\u2019t realize how\u00a0much more\u00a0useful it could be.<\/p>\n<p>If I had known about this before, it would have been way easier for me to get over some nasty habits in my life, like watching too much TV.<\/p>\n<p>But in any case, this was a nice discovery which adds\u00a0<strong>another dimension<\/strong>\u00a0to my personal meditation routine. The implication of this approach is that you\u00a0<strong>don\u2019t<\/strong>\u00a0have to fight these urges\u00a0<strong>head-on<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of butting heads with your habit, there\u2019s a better way to\u00a0<em>break the spell<\/em>. You can break down your urges and simply observe how they make you\u00a0<strong>feel<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>That demystifies the whole cycle of addiction to bad habits. This is important because most people\u00a0<strong>feel helpless<\/strong>\u00a0against their urges.<\/p>\n<p>And in turn, they seem\u00a0<strong>terrifying<\/strong>\u00a0to those who don\u2019t see through the\u00a0illusion of control\u00a0these destructive behaviors have in our lives.<\/p>\n<p>And when I dug deeper into the topic, I also learned there\u2019s a thing called \u201curge surfing\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>As it happens, it also uses mindfulness to deal with bad habits. The idea is for you to\u00a0<strong>\u201cride out\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0these urges until they subside and no longer feel them.<\/p>\n<p>Like a surfer riding the waves, your goal is to go with the ebb and flow of your urges \u2013\u00a0<strong>not against it<\/strong>. This helps you stay on top instead of letting the waves\u00a0<strong>consume<\/strong>\u00a0you.<\/p>\n<p>And like Judson says, being in controls starts with simply being aware of what\u2019s going on\u00a0<strong>in your body<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>When you take a step back and observe your\u00a0<strong>visceral reactions<\/strong>\u00a0and sensations\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2026you can\u00a0<strong>control<\/strong>\u00a0these urges \u2013\u00a0<strong>not<\/strong>\u00a0the other way around.<\/p>\n<p>So keep this in mind the next time you feel a bad habit of yours trying to keep you in its grasp. Avoid thoughts like, \u201cI need to fight this urge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Focus on\u00a0<strong>observing your feelings<\/strong>, nothing else.<\/p>\n<p>Acknowledge those\u00a0<strong>bodily sensations<\/strong>\u00a0you\u2019re experiencing. Think about what\u00a0<strong>triggers<\/strong>\u00a0your urges in the first place.<\/p>\n<p>Then think about the guilt you feel and the\u00a0negative consequences\u00a0of that bad habit.<\/p>\n<p>You can make a breakthrough by\u00a0<strong>logically breaking down<\/strong>\u00a0the trigger\/behavior\/reward cycle. Do this enough times, and it leads to disenchantment or disillusionment.<\/p>\n<p>Suddenly, all those\u00a0<strong>supposed benefits<\/strong>\u00a0from your bad habits\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0seem so appealing to you anymore. And personal growth starts with these moments of heightened\u00a0<strong>awareness and realization<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>We could all use more moments like these because they can help us\u00a0<strong>break out<\/strong>\u00a0of the destructive patterns in our lives.<\/p>\n<p>Not long ago, I felt\u00a0<em>burned out<\/em>\u00a0from all the stuff on my mind that was weighing me down. I would wake up in the morning and immediately feel that\u00a0<strong>dread<\/strong>\u00a0from having to deal with the day ahead.<\/p>\n<p>I was overworked, deep in debt and relied on medication to deal with my anxiety. But I learned how to\u00a0<strong>disrupt<\/strong>\u00a0the negative behaviors that kept me in that dark place.<\/p>\n<p>I was already practicing the Law of Attraction then, but I couldn\u2019t get it to work for me for some reason. Then I came across a simple psychological technique.<\/p>\n<p>This became the\u00a0<strong>missing piece<\/strong>\u00a0of the manifestation puzzle that was stumping me for the longest time.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sevenminutemindfulness.com\/go\/maniwr\" target=\"_blank\">You can find out how I did it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>After making that key shift in my life, things were never the same again \u2013 and I mean that in a\u00a0<strong>good<\/strong> way\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Yours in happiness and prosperity,<\/p>\n<p>Heather Matthews<br \/>\nAuthor of <em><a href=\"http:\/\/sevenminutemindfulness.com\/go\/maniwr\" target=\"_blank\">Manifestation Miracle<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>GUEST POST BY HEATHER MATHEWS Author of\u00a0Manifestation Miracle I\u2019ve always found that learning is one of the\u00a0most amazing\u00a0journeys in life. The biggest reason is that it\u2019s a never-ending process. Just when you think you\u00a0know enough\u00a0about&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-success"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sevenminutemindfulness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sevenminutemindfulness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sevenminutemindfulness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sevenminutemindfulness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sevenminutemindfulness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/sevenminutemindfulness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":267,"href":"https:\/\/sevenminutemindfulness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions\/267"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sevenminutemindfulness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sevenminutemindfulness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sevenminutemindfulness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sevenminutemindfulness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}