Break that old habit the mindless way.....

Changing our behaviour is hard.  But it can be done.  If we use our own self awareness we may find it easier to change than we had initially thought.  For instance, when we see a piece of cake we see how it looks, we eat it and it tastes good.  Our brain remembers why we ate it and where we can find it to eat it again.  Such behaviour become repetitive.

We may discover having that piece of cake helps us feel better,  It is not a sign that we are hungry.  But it may be an emotional signal.  Feeling stressed is a common trigger for our anger or mood swings - so we turn to one of our habits to help us cope.

Mindful eating is about being aware what addictive behaviour may be doing to us.  What does this sweet thing actually taste like? Does it taste nice? Does it leave a nasty after taste? When we learn to think like this we can gain self-knowledge and insight.  We even discover that we become rather disenchanted with the food we are eating.  Perhaps we discover that it's not that good after all.

We can let go of bad habits and get into some new (good) ones.

It can be helpful to get to know what the food is doing to our bodies.  Bite sized munching minute by minute provides us with a natural capacity as to what is going on and how we feel about it.  Slowing down the process rather than bingeing on food until we 'have to' finish the packet can teach us a whole new way to deal with habits we want to break.

Tags:

habits self awareness