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A habit is a way of behaving that has been repeated so often that it becomes a regular behavior, usually done subconsciously. Have you acquired habits that aren’t helping you on your journey to be healthy and fit, or worse, are hindering you? Are there healthy practices that you would like to become habits?

There are entire books written about habit change, but here are 5 realistic steps to focus on to change an old habit or create a new one.

1. Make the hard habits hard and the healthy habits easy: If you want to change a bad habit, make it visually unappealing or taint the satisfaction that you think you are receiving from it by reminding yourself of all the negatives that come from that habit. Leave candy wrappers or beverage cans on the counter so you can see that you have a habit you don’t like. On the other hand, if you want to cultivate a habit, make it so that you don’t have to go out of your way to do it. Prep easy snacks, healthy foods, water bottles or gym clothes so they are readily accessible and easy to grab.

2. Practice: Just keep swimming, day after day. Every time we repeat a habit, good or bad, we reinforce it. Picture wagon wheel ruts. That can sound discouraging when we think how long we might have been doing a habit, but it is encouraging when we think that we can carve out new ruts on a new path… the old path never goes away, the new path just becomes easier. You have to have faith in the promise that things are changing.

3. Reset ritual: In the course of a day there are moments when things don’t go the way you want. It is important to reset with a word and/or a ritual to physically and mentally change your thinking. Take a deep breath, roll back your shoulders and say a positive affirmation to yourself. Doing this breaks the negative thoughts associated with the moment and replaces it with positive ones. *See below for more details.

4. Success log: Don’t just say it, write it down. It is important to give ourselves credit for our efforts no matter how small they may seem. Noticing the things that did go right is a way to reset when things are going wrong.

5. Keep visual reminders of why you care. Surround yourself with things you can see; photos of family and friends, inspirational sayings or other reminders of why you want to be healthy. When things are getting tough and you are struggling, you can look around and remember the reasons why you keep trying.

* Ways to design strong, helpful affirmations.

Because positive affirmations are written in the language of the brain, they follow a specific formula.

1. Positive affirmations are always in the present tense. Your brain only responds to present tense statements. “I eat healthy foods” rather than “I am going to eat healthy foods”

2. Positive affirmations only include positive words. “I pack my lunch” rather than “I won’t get fast food”

3. Positive affirmations are spoken as statements of fact and truth. “I am strong” rather than “I can get strong”.

https://blog.mindvalley.com/positive-affirmations/

According to David J. Hellerstein, M.D., a Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University, neuroscience now proves that our thoughts can change the structure and function of our brains. By practicing positive thought patterns (affirmations) repetitively, we actually create neuroplasticity in the area of the brain that processes what we are thinkin