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The role of contentment in controlling bad habits April 13, 2014

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Self-Discipline.
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Richard Carlson, in his personal development book You Can Be Happy No Matter What, says, “The dynamics of healthy psychological functioning tell us that you get your positive feeling back by releasing the thoughts that are taking your good feelings away.”

If we do not have serenity (contentment), Carlson says, we are then tempted to turn to other (outside) sources in a misguided effort to achieve contentment, such as excesses of: alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, food, exercise, sex, and work.

“Serenity or contentment,” he adds, “is the breeding ground for positive change…if you have serenity, eliminating bad habits is both possible and enjoyable, but without serenity, change is difficult, almost impossible.”

Can this approach work for everyone?

In terms of bad habit reduction or elimination, Carlson’s theory raises the following dynamic:
Can we think ourselves into a new way of acting (and therefore achieve contentment)? or;
Do we need to act ourselves into a new way of thinking (and thereby achieve contentment)?

The path to be taken to achieve contentment or serenity may actuallly depend more on the individual and his or her specific circumstances.

For some people, a particular bad and harmful habit may so debilitating that it must somehow be removed before an individual can have enough peace of mind and unclouded thinking to be able to work effectively on their self-improvement program.

For others, they must use a variety of techniques to gain some measure of peace of mind and clear thinking before they can have the mental and emotional strength to seriously work on reducing or eliminating a harmful bad habit.

The psychological benefits of breaking bad habits April 7, 2014

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Concept of personal development, Self-Discipline.
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Whatever the bad habit you want to reduce or eliminate, there will be psychological benefits within your personal growth program in addition to the positive outcomes of removing the habit itself.

By managing or eliminating a bad habit you will often gain:

Self-confidence
Self esteem
Self-empowerment
Self-awareness

The greater the hold the habit has on you and the greater the harm you perceive the habit does to you, the greater will be the psychological rewards in gaining mastery over it.

This is particularly true with the truly difficult-to-break addictive habits, such as those related to drugs (including alcohol tobacco), over-eating (fat and sugar) and other addictive forms of self-abuse.

Three suggestions:

(1) Tackle only one habit at a time; trying to beat too many at once can lead to discouragement and failure
(2) When possible or appropriate, substitute a new “good” habit for the “bad” discarded habit
(3) Take a step-by-step approach (in most cases) and tackle the habit by a process of reduction, with elimination as the final destination.

Thought for today

Wise living consists perhaps less in acquiring good habits than in acquiring as few habits as possible.
– Eric Hoffer