The Solution to Ending Bad Habits

I kicked my Diet Coke habit years ago. I decided that I didn’t want to drink all of the artificial ingredients any more. So, instead of soda…these days I usually have iced tea!

In honor of National Iced Tea Day, I thought I’d talk a little about habits. {How’s that for a segue?!}

We all have things we do on autopilot. {Like, grabbing a soda out of the fridge instead of a glass of water}. What are your habits? Have any that you’d like to quit? Maybe hitting the snooze button every morning or grabbing a sugary snack instead of a healthy one…

Judson Brewer is one of the leaders in studying habits and mindfulness and explained that the part of our brain that is used to make decisions goes “offline” when we get stressed.

And, if one of our habits is triggered by a stressful emotional response…it’s no WONDER that habits are hard to break…even though you know cognitively that they aren’t great for you.

Here is a *link to Judson Brewer’s book, The Craving Mind on breaking habits. I HIGHLY recommend it!

So, mindfulness can play a great role in helping us changing our habits. We have the ability to actually become curious about what is going on within our bodies and minds when we are triggered to step into a habitual response to something!

What are your experiences with habits and trying to break them? Have you tried a little mindfulness? What was that like for you?

*an affiliate link…I get a tiny cut when you buy the book via my link!