This article seems so significant to me this morning. I have just logged-on to my computer, around two hours later in the day than I normally would, and I am writing without the distraction of music or television. I promised myself yesterday that I would stop turning on the computer/television first thing each day and would instead try and devote my time to…well, anything else.
I have so many hobbies, that’s what first attracted me to this article, it seemed to be aimed at people, like myself, who resent the idea that each of us is on this earth to behave one way or, even worse, to do one thing. I find myself drawn to doing things that allow me to relax, because I spend so much of my life experiencing anxiety, however a lot of those things, like watching the television or spending hours trawling my Facebook dashboard, actually lead to an increase in my sense of frustration, guilt and impotence (three emotions that definitely fuel my anxiety, if not cause it); they are habits, not hobbies.
Before reading the longer article from which this blog post was derived, I had already followed the process of listing five of my undesirable habits and then listing five alternative, productive hobbies that I can indulge in when the temptation to do something undesirable had grown too strong. For me, this means things like reading a good old fashioned paper book sometimes, instead of devoting all my time to reading things online, which is a subtle but noticeably different experience.
For anyone unsure of whether they can break a habit that they consider undesirable I urge you to work from the information given; so far, I am barely a few days into my efforts to replace my ‘bad’ habits with ‘good’ ones, but I am feeling optimistic and I believe I have science on my side.
by Christina Sarich, Staff Writer, Waking Times
“The truth is that everyone is bored, and devotes himself to cultivating habits.” – Albert Camus in The Plague
That bad habit you have been trying to break is likely causing you consternation for more reasons than you think. Perhaps you’ve sworn to yourself that you would stop being late for appointments, or binge eating ice cream at 3 in the morning, but you can’t seem to change. It is likely due to a delicate dance going on between your neuronal synapses. There is a way to re-wire them, in effect, but it helps to understand what caused your brain to develop that habit to begin with.
Any action you take develops into the opportunity to repeat itself almost robot-like via your neurochemistry. Neuronal synapses are reinforced by their use through the production of acetylcholine. When we stop doing a particular thing…
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Cheal Out 