Change your mind - change your life
Another important aid to change is the recognition that in any given situation we are faced with options. We
can choose to do this, we can choose to do that or we can choose to do nothing. The choice is ours.
This is important because under the control of
the ‘opt out’ bad habit we would often re-act to situations as a knee jerk reaction – if at all. We did
this because whatever happened it was someone else’s fault. and never ours of course.
Unlearning bad habits such as these
will be extremely difficult (as any ex-smokers will confirm) this is because our habits are our addictions.
Having said that, we should try to get
into the habit of considering our choices and acting upon them. We also need to get into the habit of thinking things through.
Especially as every choice we make has consequences - we need to be aware of those consequences. Consider the long-term consequences
of all 'life changing' important choices. It may help to write down these choices and stick to them. It
has been suggested that we do this until it we ‘get into the habit’
Another milestone involves curbing our
impulsive behaviour. Controlling
our impulses is an enormous task. One suggestion is to put things off until the next day, next week, next month etc. However,
the problem with this is that we could use it as an excuse to do nothing. The
lesson is clear…
If we do nothing – nothing will
happen. Waiting doesn't help us to change. Doing nothing really is a non-starter.
Rather
than sitting around doing nothing, we need to make the effort to identify and seek out those opportunities that assist us
to change. Training ourselves to see options and opportunities is one thing. Training ourselves to take advantage of them
is another.
We
could begin by training ourselves to take positive action the moment we recognise an opportunity for what it is. This could
be best achieved by
Get into the habit of looking for and taking
the easiest possible first step we can find. Often just getting started will help to develop our motivation.
"Change your mind - change your life."
http://johnr207.tripod.com/8/
