Habits of Mind…

Habits of Mind

Did you know that you have Habits of Mind…?

Some are good habits, others not so much. 

These habits of mind lead to certain behaviors and results.

Again, some positive, others, not so much.

Positive Habits of Mind

So, for example, one of my Habits of Mind looks like this:

Sitting at my desk, I look out the window where I have a bird feeder attached on the outside (I love watching the birds). This is the habit of mind Trigger.

I see that the bird feeder is empty, so I stop what I’m doing, go outside and fill up the bird feeder. This is the habit of mind Behavior that gets put into motion because of the Trigger.

Now for the rest of the day, I get to enjoy watching the birds flit about outside my window and hear them singing. This is the habit of mind Result.

This Result gets me the Reward of smiling, feeling joyful as I watch the birds, elevating my mood and enhancing my work with clients – a positive result! Creating a wonderful hit of the peptide hormone oxytocin in my brain, making me feel good, which encourages me to do it again and again.

Now, the same can be true for Negative Habits of Mind.

Yet, you might be wondering, “why on earth would I want to continue to have a negative habit of mind…?”

Negative Habits of Mind

Well, the negative habits of mind are just that, Unconscious HABITS.

And these habits are born out of a need to feel SAFE.

And the need to feel safe in your environment started a long time ago from the moment you were born into this world.

A popular Negative Habit of Mind experienced by many of my clients looks like this:

Trigger: Scrolling through social media you see the “perfect lives” of your friends, colleagues, and strangers. This triggers a negative thought that might sound like, “Ugg, my life is a mess. I haven’t done enough, or achieved enough yet to reach that lifestyle!”

Behavior: This ‘Not Enoughness’ thought then creates a cascade of other negative thoughts such as “I’m never going to get ahead.” Or “I can’t compete with so and so,” Or “I’m a failure.”

These self-defeating thoughts then lead to negative behaviors such as hiding out, not getting into action around the steps you know you need to take, yet are fearful of taking them, because it doesn’t feel safe.

Result: These negative thoughts and behaviors then get the temporary Result of feeling Safe inside your comfort zone, yet in the long run, they’re keeping you Stuck in these Negative Habits of Mind leaving you feeling Not Enough in some way, shape or form. Often leading to increased stress, anxiety, and other negative impacts on your health and well-being.

Does this sound familiar to you?

So why do we stay caught on the hamster wheel of these negative Habits of Mind?

You can thank Amy.

Amy G. Dala is your Amygdala, in charge of your fight, flight, freeze or fawn reaction in the emotional part of your brain.

The challenge is, Amy loves you and wants to keep you safe, yet she is oftentimes operating off of old programming instructions from your life experiences decades ago (good, bad, or even traumatic) in order to keep you safe.

Changing Negative Habits of Mind

How do you change out, swap out, or replace those old Negative Habits of Mind???

It’s not as challenging as you might think! You can-

 Shed emotional weight from past relationships

 Reignite self-worth and embrace your inherent value

 Renew faith and trust in your abilities

 Pave the way for new, positive experiences

 Learn to believe in yourself with a newfound confidence

Send me an email at coach@maximizeu.life to schedule a complimentary discussion on how you can better control your habits to maximize potential and transform to lead a more balanced, happier and impactful life.