Welcome back, I hope you are all well. I will be starting a new series called Self Care Sunday. So you can expect a new post from me every Sunday from now on. If you like this post, please share it, and subscribe to my email list (the button on the top right hand corner of the page) to be notified every time a new post goes life. Now back to the regular scheduled programming, enjoy.
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I’m sure you have heard it all before, if you work out every day, do yoga, meditate, diffuse oils, drink tea, plant a thousand trees, or [insert previous advice], you will live a happier life. Now, of course, all of the previously mentioned things will do wonders for your health and well being. But, the key is to be able to put a habit into your routine and to establish a REASON for needing this habit. Therefore, establishing the WHY. Once the reason is established, it will be easy to figure out HOW you want to develop this habit.
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I’m sure you have heard it all before, if you work out every day, do yoga, meditate, diffuse oils, drink tea, plant a thousand trees, or [insert previous advice], you will live a happier life. Now, of course, all of the previously mentioned things will do wonders for your health and well being. But, the key is to be able to put a habit into your routine and to establish a REASON for needing this habit. Therefore, establishing the WHY. Once the reason is established, it will be easy to figure out HOW you want to develop this habit.
WHY do you need this in your life?
The first step in starting any habit is establishing the reason why you want to make this change in your life. Now, it is important that in this moment of reflection you think about your needs, your desires, your goals. This is not the time to be a people pleaser, you are taking the step in establishing a habit, so this should be all about YOU. For example, one may want to start getting up at 5am. But without a concrete reason on why they want to start getting up at 5am, odds are they will hit the snooze button until they have to spring out of bed and run out the door. Everyone’s reason will be different, but as long as a reason is established then the habit will more than likely stick. Some may wake-up early at 5am in order to have some self-care, some may go to the gym to work towards their goal of losing weight, some may squeeze in meditation and yoga, some may enjoy working on a side hustle in the wee-hours of the morning. It doesn’t matter what your reason is, as long as you establish it, believe it, and hold on to it.
I know I already mentioned this, but it is extremely important that your reason is centered around what you want and desire. If you are a people pleaser, I get it, I am as well. But think of it this way, by creating a habit that you enjoy, that makes you happy, and that satisfies your desires, you will ultimately become a greater, happier person. This will in turn strengthen your relationships with others, because you can’t pour from an empty cup, so you have to take care of yourself first.
HOW will you be able to achieve your habit?
Now that you have your reason for developing this habit. You have to think of how you will be able to achieve it. This may take a bit of trial and error, but, after a while you will find a groove on how to achieve said habit. The how may seem like the hard part here, but it is important that you realize that the WHY is really the hardest and biggest step in this process. Once you have your reason, cling to it, breathe it in, love it, worship it, and never let it go.
Here is an example of how I implemented this method to successfully continue a habit for a very long time. I have been meditating for years now on and off, but I finally managed to consistently meditate every day for the last 280 days. That consistency didn’t happen overnight, it was not by magic, it was not by fate. It was because I established the reason WHY I NEEDED mediation in my life. I realized that when I started my day off with meditation and a few mantras it set me off on a great start and made me much more mindful. So, the reason why I started and continued with mediation was because I had established my reason. In order to make this habit stick, I thus started trying many different guided mediation apps, until I found the one I really enjoyed (which is the Calm app by the way). Over time, I ditched the guided meditations and could simply mediate to sounds, such as waves or waterfalls. So like I said, establishing how to maintain a habit, isn’t always easy. You may falter, but as long as you go back to the WHY you will always succeed in the end.
This method could be applied to virtually anything that you want to make a habit in your life. It could be waking up at 5am, wanting to run a marathon, wanting to go to bed earlier, wanting to eat better food, wanting to touch your toes, wanting to diffuse essential oils every day. No matter what it is you are trying to make a habit, remember that as long as you follow the WHY, HOW method, you can achieve it.
Namaste,
Gutsy Feeling 