If you have made a New Years Resolution you are reaching an important time....

22/01/2011 09:42

If you have made a New Year Resolution, and managed to stick with it, you are reaching a very important time. If you started your New Year Resolution on January 1st yesterday would have marked your 21st day or 3rd week with the new habit. This is an important milestone! It takes 3 weeks or 21 days to make any habit subconscious. It's the turn around time when a habit no longer requires so much conscious effort to keep and becomes much more automatic. Your brain has rewired itself with new positive behaviours and you should feel proud!

There is however, something to watch for. It's the number one reason that people fall out of their new desired behaviour and go back to their old pattern of undesired behaviour.

People tell themselves "Jee I am doing so well at the gym! I have been eating right and working out! I am going to give myself a few days to eat whatever I want and not go to the gym."

Or the ex-smoker tells themselves "It's been 3 weeks since I stopped smoking, I have done so well! When I go out drinking tonight it wouldn't hurt to have just one cigarette as a reward!"

This is one of the ways that the mind can work against us in our quest for betterment of self. The mind never forgets anything it has experienced and as soon as the ex-smoker lights up or the comfort eater starts bindging, those patterns can return rapidly. This can lead to feelings of guilt and remorse which can lead to giving up their resolutions.

To combat this from happening, it is important to focus on the success that you have achieved. Remember the reasons for wanting to make the change in the first place. Remember how you felt before and after you made the change.

Think about what that chocolate cake or cigarette really represent! Are they a reward? Comfort? A way to relax? Think of an alternative way to get the benefit that your mind is seeking! There is a world of ways to reward, comfort and relax yourself that are far more exciting without going back to your old vices. Take a yoga class, go to a movie, visit a good friend or take up a hobby that appeals to you!

Make this the last time you ever have to make the change again....