Changing Habits – Habits die Hard

 Today we will see “ Habits die Hard”. This holds a great amount of weight-age when it comes to changing bad habits. Bad habits die even harder. ’Old habits die hard’ is an enduring phrase because there’s more than some truth in it. 

Vijay Dalwani Sanda Wellness explained about this.

 

According to Vijay Dalwani Sanda Wellness “It is simple to list the things we intend to change; give up sugar, wine, cigarettes, gambling, picking the wrong kind of romantic partner, but it is quite another to change them.  It is why it is so difficult keeping new year resolutions. We know how bad certain things are for us but that in itself isn’t enough to change anything, most of us just endlessly repeat the same old habits.”

 

Well firstly, habits they have become ingrained in us.  The old habit is as familiar as a pair of old shoes, they fit us, so we keep on wearing them.

Common considered bad habits are:

 

-Nail biting in tension on routine basis

– Scratching the head while thinking or during a confusion

– Shaking a leg or two out of anxiety

– Snapping our knuckles when tensed

– Itch or touch personal parts of one’s own body

– Yawning while others are talking

– Not being punctual

– Make false promises

-Keeping things for the last minute

-Overeating when stressed or under pressure

– Smoking, especially if it's chain smoking

– Alcoholism

 

Where did our old habits start?

 

We tend to live by habits and routines that started long ago.  Perhaps from the very beginning of our lives we have been steered along certain directions, how are we supposed to get out of them now?

Psychotherapy, particularly models of therapy that have developed out of ideas of psychoanalysis and analytical psychology, take as their basic premise the idea that our actions are partly driven by unconscious motives.

This doesn’t just mean that we have forgotten where the habit came from.  It means that part of our motivation for making the habitual choices that we get caught up in, is based upon obscured motives involving pleasures and satisfaction.

This suggests that we may keep doing things that we know are not good for us, because of a sense of satisfaction which we find hard to give up.

Vijay Dalwani Sanda Wellness says “I am sure each of us has some or other of these and it's very difficult to get rid of them. Well this is normal with everyone. But the crucial question is, can this be changed ? Can we get rid of bad habits and the answer is Yes, we could but it requires patience and perseverance. It’s important to first understand where and when all of this started.”

 

Most of the habits start with observation at a very young age, probably when we were young we saw our best friend’s mother or our grandparents or a relative do it. At first we tried it and we liked it. It was enjoyable and soon we did not realize when it became a habit. These are habits that throw light on the conditioning of one since childhood. 

 

Yet another reason is when one has knots in his mind. When we act or do something, after knowing its not good, still we do not have control on those, it's all a result of some experiences of the childhood that has formed some knots in the mind and every time you get close to the knot, you unknowingly get into actions.

 

To rectify this one has to go back and start constant efforts, one has to let his peers or family members to observe his actions and ask him to stop immediately, just at that point one should think what was on his mind. Next step is decide what was the thought like, was it a shocking news or a horrifying thought, did it have anxiety or fears and ensure that when he has such thoughts observe actions and when continues to do this for a one or two, HABITS WOULD DIE AND NOT LEAVE BEHIND TRACES.