Flexibility in Your Habits - Flexibilidad en Sus Hábitos
Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2021 11:59 am
Some Habit Actions are tougher than others to 'wire' into our subconscious minds.
Some HAs - especially those that are triggered only once a day - or multiple times per day but not part of a chain/routine - are easily forgotten...
I have a few personal examples:
-My affirmation habit of saying the ACA Explorers Promise as the FIRST thing I do when my feet touch the ground after getting out of bed in the morning.
-My meditation habit of doing 4 Bear Breaths + metta loving-kindness intention before EVERY meal.
-My Output habit of cleaning a plate after using a plate
-My Output habit of organizing an electronic device when I first open it
All four of these have taken quite some time to remember - and I still struggle with doing them perfectly. So how do I cope?
By adding flexibility to each regimen. Basically, a way to "save" the habit. If I forget to do it, as soon as I remember that I forgot, I 'practice' / 'rehearse' / do again the Habit Action 3x than normal.
-Affirmation habit => I would do the promise 3 times. Each time going back into bed, pretending to be asleep, and waking up, stepping on the ground, only to say the promise again
-Meditation habit => 12 breaths then, doing loving-kindness for 3 people instead of just 1.
-Cleaning a plate => I clean 3 if I forget!
-Electronic device => I organize 3x as many (usually about 10 or so)
The effects have been great. I remember these much more AND I am not worried or stressed about forgetting it since the Plan B option has me doing even more of it than I originally would.
Definitely something to keep in mind as well as applying it to as many of your Habit Actions as you can!
I am experimenting with a related philosophy which is to even do the Habit Action the next day and 'count' it still! At the end of the day, whatever motivates you to get the work done, to get more practice/more time spent with the habit, is what matters most. Anything you can do to get you there is a good idea and something to be experimented with!
Some HAs - especially those that are triggered only once a day - or multiple times per day but not part of a chain/routine - are easily forgotten...
I have a few personal examples:
-My affirmation habit of saying the ACA Explorers Promise as the FIRST thing I do when my feet touch the ground after getting out of bed in the morning.
-My meditation habit of doing 4 Bear Breaths + metta loving-kindness intention before EVERY meal.
-My Output habit of cleaning a plate after using a plate
-My Output habit of organizing an electronic device when I first open it
All four of these have taken quite some time to remember - and I still struggle with doing them perfectly. So how do I cope?
By adding flexibility to each regimen. Basically, a way to "save" the habit. If I forget to do it, as soon as I remember that I forgot, I 'practice' / 'rehearse' / do again the Habit Action 3x than normal.
-Affirmation habit => I would do the promise 3 times. Each time going back into bed, pretending to be asleep, and waking up, stepping on the ground, only to say the promise again
-Meditation habit => 12 breaths then, doing loving-kindness for 3 people instead of just 1.
-Cleaning a plate => I clean 3 if I forget!
-Electronic device => I organize 3x as many (usually about 10 or so)
The effects have been great. I remember these much more AND I am not worried or stressed about forgetting it since the Plan B option has me doing even more of it than I originally would.
Definitely something to keep in mind as well as applying it to as many of your Habit Actions as you can!
I am experimenting with a related philosophy which is to even do the Habit Action the next day and 'count' it still! At the end of the day, whatever motivates you to get the work done, to get more practice/more time spent with the habit, is what matters most. Anything you can do to get you there is a good idea and something to be experimented with!