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The only tool you need to break free from bad habits…is something you already have access to.
Read on to find out what that tool is!
How We Form Habits
Do you ever find yourself caught in the cycle of continuing to do something you no longer want to do? For example: over-eating, over-drinking, lying, yelling, being negative, fighting, watching lots of tv, etc.
It might feel like there’s no way to break these habits, and that’s because yes, that is the truth to you in that moment. Your mind has set up your behaviour to act in ways you have adapted for your environment. Your mind wants to keep you comfortable and safe.
We CAN change these habits. I’ll show you how.
Let’s say your habit that you want to get rid of is over-consumption. I’ll share a personal story with you on this.
My Starbucks Habit
Growing up, my mom would refer to sweets, bakery items,good coffee, especially from Starbucks, as being “goodies”. An exciting afternoon with her might’ve been buying a Starbucks to sneak into the movie theaters, or taking a starbucks and a scone to the beach to read. Now, I cannot speak to exactly what got my mom hooked on Starbucks. However, I do know that this Starbucks habit I was included in during my childhood got me hooked into adulthood.
I was programmed in childhood to associate buying and consuming something from Starbucks as happiness, as a treat.
Now, it’s fine to have a treat every now and then, of course. However, this Starbucks habit I built trained me to seek for happiness outside of myself. Whenever I felt down and saw a Starbucks, I would have a pavlovian response of an endorphin rush. (Honestly, I didn’t even need to see a Starbucks, I would just think of one and get excited.)
I went through a few very sad and rattling years after experiencing a series of losses. One of the losses included the death of my mother. All of a sudden, the behaviour became amplified within my mind, likely due to the connection it had to my mother. Really, I was just down and wanted a lift.
So my subconscious mind would say: “Ah-hah, I know what to do! Mom showed me that Starbucks is exciting, fun, and a treat to enjoy. Grabbing a Starbucks will solve my problems!”
…oh, dear.
My craze got to the point where I would drive 20 minutes out of my way to grab a Starbucks “en route” somewhere. I even found the back road employee entrance to a NJ Turnpike service station Starbucks. I would sneak often into this employee lot for midday work pick-me-ups. Yikes.
The thing is, most the time my body would be telling me, “no, thanks. Please, no. I really don’t want this. Please. I’m good.” All that sugar, caffeine, milk, artificial sweeteners would mix together and creation a lovely concoction of “let’s give Sarah a sugar high then coma.”
I didn’t want Starbucks, but I wanted Starbucks.
What?!
Why on earth do we do things that we don’t want to do? HAH. Hah. Heh….
BECAUSE OUR SUBCONSCIOUS TELLS US TO.
Woah…ok, cool. Let’s unpack that.
What Are Habits?
Habits are formed within our subconscious as automatic functions so that we require less energy to go about our day. Habits allow us to preserve and reserve our energy for special circumstances, or fight/flight moments we encounter. Our subconscious is developed during childhood.
Any habit that you continue to execute now is a practice that you witnessed or was told during childhood to be essential for your self-preservation.
You may have picked up the habit of smoking because you saw it as an opportunity to connect with a community of other smokers. You may have picked up smoking to simply pass the time.
Checkout our list of “Power Tools” for resources to help you reboot and reprogram your subconscious. Scroll down to category 3. “Reboot”.
Most of the bad habits we have we put in place to hide emotions that we don’t want to feel. It is our mind’s job to protect us from harm.
Let’s say you expressed frustration as a child and someone reacted to your feeling with hurt and anger. You would probably then program your mind to hold in all of your frustration from that day forward because you don’t want to hurt or be hurt. That is what that experience taught you.
Society is constantly sending subliminal messages that emotions are a sign of weakness. Especially to boys. Yet this is most certainly not the case.
Emotions are the most powerful tool we have (read here for why).
Habits Hide Emotions
Habits start off as well-meaning, but can quickly become a crutch for hiding emotions in learned behaviours. It’s easy to hide your low feelings in habits of consumption, for they result in chemical reactions which physically activate pleasure.
“Over”-doing, “over”-consuming, “over” anything means doing something more than necessary to sustain one’s energy. Emotions are “energy in motion”.
Whether it’s Starbucks, alcohol, shopping, gambling, t.v., exercising, junk food…anytime we’re over-doing something, we are caught in a loop. A loop of blocked emotions.
How to break free of these blocks? Reprogram your subconscious.
Break Free From Bad Habits – The ONLY Tool You Need
Break free from bad habits by reprogramming your subconscious.
How do you reprogram your subconscious? Hypnotherapy.
Hypnotherapy is something you can do for yourself – YouTube how to create your own recording – or you can seek out the help of a hypnotherapist.
The first hypnotherapy practice I ever used was subscribing to Lacy Philip’s Manifestation School. Wow. For less than a dollar a day you get access to several manifestation workshops, all with guided hypnotic meditations recorded personally by Lacy. When I started practicing her work, I ended an abusive relationship, was promoted at work, got a raise, and started studying to become a hypnotherapist myself…all in a matter of 6 months!
Hypnotherapy.
It’s as simple as that, yet as difficult as that. The difficulty is in understanding how you got to where you are. Once you understand, you are free. (Just remind yourself that you’re free for at least 21 days 😉 .)
I love you. You’ve got this.