You know how your mom used to warn you against picking up bad habits? While things like chewing with your mouth open and picking your nose will not be discussed in this post (thank goodness), habits will.
Often, when habits are explored, our minds jump right to the negative. We ruminate on bad habits and try to figure out ways to eliminate them. I invite you to flip your perspective and wonder about how many good habits you can pick up. Instead of focusing solely on getting rid of bad habits, why not concentrate on obtaining good ones? We can only fit so much into any given day, so pick up enough good habits and it’s reasonable that some of the bad ones will fall by the wayside.
If you are curious about how this might work for you, I encourage you to try on the following good habits and see what happens:
-Start The Day With Lots of Water: From my own experience and that of my clients, the easiest way to do this is to keep a large bottle (or two) of water by your bed. Aim to drink 16-24 oz as soon as you wake up. You’ll be hydrated before your feet even hit the floor! Bonus points if you cue up YouTube and listen to some positive morning affirmations as you drink.
-Take a Walk After a Meal: Walking after meals improves digestive efficiency. Getting your steps in is particularly good after a meal if you tend to mindlessly head for a snack or dessert. Changing focus for a bit allows you to better gauge whether a snack or dessert would truly bring you pleasure.
-Find a Bit of Quiet Time in Your Day: This could be one minute or it could be one hour. This could be hiding from your kids in the bathroom or meditating with candles and incense. Make sure to take as many deep breaths as you can. Any amount of time spent getting present is better than no time at all and who knows…once you see the benefit of one minute, ten may soon follow.
For more about the mind-body connection, as well as a variety of other topics I write about, visit the Joyful Gym Rat page on Facebook or follow on Twitter!
That’s one way to do it T!