The Power of Habits for Positive Change

Happy day, my friends!!!

Today, we embark on a journey to explore the nature of habits and how we can harness them for positive change. I define a habit as a practice or action that an individual regularly and automatically performs. In other words, it doesn't require much effort and is often part of one's daily routine. Some examples of my personal habits include waking up every morning around 5:00 am without an alarm, going to bed around 9:00 pm when my body feels tired, drinking coffee every morning, and automatically placing my hands on my face when stressed.

Habits can be categorized as good, bad, or neutral. For most people, habits are formed subconsciously throughout their lives, particularly during childhood. Up until the age of 7, our brains operate mostly in the theta brain wave state, which makes us highly receptive to forming beliefs, acquiring new skills, and developing habits influenced by family members and society.

After the age of 7, we have the ability to consciously and deliberately create habits through repetition. By practicing a specific action or behavior repeatedly, it becomes automatic, similar to riding a bicycle or driving a car. Although these actions initially require attention, effort, and coordination, they eventually become effortless as the sequence of processes is programmed in our brains. Therefore, we can consider habits as programs in our brain.

We can think of our brain as a computer where we can write new programs or delete those that no longer serve us. Repetition is the process of programming, and the more we practice, the stronger that programming becomes. Similarly, if we become aware of a subconscious habit that we no longer desire, we can delete it by choosing not to repeat the action and replacing it with a new one.

Biting nails out of anxiety is a common bad habit that many people unconsciously engage in. They will continue this action unless they become aware of it. So, how can one break this undesired habit? The moment someone becomes conscious of biting their nails, they can replace it with a new positive action. In this case, since nail biting is associated with anxiety, a better alternative to reduce anxiety is to employ breathing techniques. By choosing a breathing technique as a substitute for nail biting and consciously replacing the action in the moment of awareness, a person can develop the new habit of breathing during moments of anxiety instead of biting their nails.

We have the ability to create new habits at any time, especially ones that promote our overall well-being. Why we want to create a new healthy habit? Because once the habit is formed, we no longer have to consciously think about it; our body and brain will perform it automatically as it becomes part of our subconscious memory. Although it may require some conscious effort at the beginning, with repetition, the action becomes programmed in our brains and effortlessly integrated into our daily lives. This allows us to focus on other things while our subconscious mind continues to perform these new habits.

Our current lifestyle choices are essentially a series of habits. Some of these habits or choices were developed in childhood under the influence of our parents, while others were consciously acquired during adolescence and adulthood. Additionally, some habits were imposed by society. Unfortunately, those residing in the United States of America, considered the unhealthiest among all industrialized nations, carry a burden of poor lifestyle choices that contribute to high rates of illness and chronic health conditions.

The good news is that we now understand some of our lifestyle choices are habits, and we have the power to replace poor habits with new ones. This means that we can significantly improve our overall health by making positive lifestyle choices and creating new habits. In reality, our overall well-being can be enhanced through the development of new habits.

I invite you to take control of your health and well-being by creating new habits that will lead you in the right direction towards your healthiest and greatest self.

On our next Health and Lifestyle blog, I will discuss ways on how to create new habits.

Until then!

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