I have written a lot about changing habits in the past and it’s not by accident, I can assure you. I am on my own constant journey of changing and updating my own habits to create better ones that serve me, rather than hold me back.
Sometimes we don’t even realize which habits are giving us shackles – it can be as obvious as eating the wrong things or as slight as reacting to a situation with a particular negative thought that regularly comes up for us. Sometimes it’s not even a conscious thought; it’s just a feeling that can send us on a downward spiral into whatever thought patterns and by default, behaviours, that it is we’re trying to avoid.
Negative thoughts and feelings that come up for us often create destructive behavioural patterns.
Often it can be our own stories that we run off with – I’m never going to be able to make it, I’m going to hate it when I get there anyway, I’ll be too busy if I take that step, I’ve failed in the past so why would it be any different this time, I can’t see how I can ever enjoy this, I’m not good enough, I don’t like this type of thing, and the list goes on. The thoughts will generally be in alignment with how you have felt about yourself in the past, and your ability to do certain things.
Unfortunately, these are precisely the thoughts that keep us stuck. In order to move forward we need to unstick ourselves – to unravel the blocking thoughts that we have shrouded ourselves with throughout the years, in order to move forward and create enlightenment and progress in our lives.
Tempted to find instant gratification in the moment?
Often we can get unstuck when the whole habit-breaking cycle becomes so frustrating that it feels tempting just to do whatever it is in that moment that is going to provide instant gratification because we forget how to feel joy in the present, and we feel the need to sustain positive emotional states with immediate rewards.
I have embarked on a six-week modern yoga project through my local studio, Power Living Neutral Bay, in order to get some space from all of this. My goals for the course are to encourage balance, happiness, wellbeing and relaxation in my life. I would like to step away from my constant pursuit of progress with this program and feel happy in the flow; in just being in the day-to-day; and to take this into the rest of my life. The practice of yoga teaches us that we can move forward and progress while being satisfied with, if not enjoying, what’s happening now.
The six weeks will involve six days a week of practicing various types of yoga, including 30-degree heat Vinyasa, yin and align. It includes whole food eating, a cleanse, daily meditation and journalling for self discovery.
The aim throughout the program is to encourage discipline, and I’m both nervous and exhilarated having started it. I’ve never committed so fully to anything like this before – but this time I’m delving deep into it because I believe that the rewards will be of huge ongoing benefit.
Nothing changes at the time, but when you reflect back on where you were, everything has changed.
In our program there is the quote by CS Lewis, “Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes but when you look back everything is different.”
When I look back over the past couple of years, this quote is absolutely spot on. Life didn’t seem to change much as I was going through it, but when I look back upon where I was, everything has changed – in a good way.
When have you committed to a health and wellbeing journey?
