How to Change an Unhealthy Habit
February 12th, 2008, by Shelley Riutta
What habits do you have that hold you back? Is it procrastination, overeating, watching too much T.V., not exercising etc? I’m sure you can easily rattle off what these unhealthy habits are for you . I’m sure you have maybe struggled with one or two of these habits for years. You may have been able to stop your unhealthy habit for a week, a month or maybe even a few months. What is it going to take for this to be completely eliminated from your life?
One of the first things to do is understand at a deeper level how this unhealthy habit serves you–how it helps you on some level. A great way to find this out is to actually dialogue with the unhealthy habit. Take out a piece of paper and with your dominant hand–the hand that you write with- ask the question to your habit “How do you help me?” and then close your eyes and see what pops into your head–even if it doesn’t make sense to you–and then write it down with your non-dominant hand. Writing with your non-dominant hand is a way to to access more of the unconscious information inside of you. If you have tried to consciously change a pattern for years and haven’t had success, you know that there is an unconscious pattern that needs to be understood and addressed.
You will be surprised at what information you will find out by doing this exercise. You may find out that your procastination says back to you “I’m afraid if you do this you will fail and I want to protect you from this–so I won’t let you finish it.” Reassuring your procrastination that there really is no failure only learning–and by taking the risk and completing the task–that is the success–not the actual outcome. The other thing to let your procrastination know is that your performance does not define you—what you create or do is an expression of you, but does not define who you are. Who you are is already whole and complete and cannot be dimished by any of your actions–or outcomes of things that you create or do.
What do your unhealthy habits have to say to you? Ask and find out the good reasons why they are doing what they are doing!
Hi, I'm Shelley Riutta MSE, LPC a Holistic Psychotherapist in private practice. I specialize in helping people connect with their Authentic selves--and from this create a life that is in alignment with their Life Purpose and filled with Joy. I offer transformational individual counseling, presentations, groups and Workshops. You can get my Free Workbook "What Do You REALLY Want: Finding Purpose and Passion in Your Life" here or contact me at 920-265-2627.
