1: Introduction Can you think of an instance when someone deeply harmed you? This can be a friend who broke your trust, a loved one who disappointed you, or a co-worker who undercut your efforts. In these situations, forgiveness may appear to be an impossible task. Have you ever thought about the transformational power of forgiveness? In this blog post, you will learn about the powerful impact forgiveness can have on your live, as well as the great freedom and inner peace it provides. 2: What is Forgiveness Forgiveness is often seen as an act of weakness. However, this is a skill that only the strongest and most mature people possess. Forgiveness can liberate you from a constant anger towards a person and can cure relationships. As Buddha once said: “ Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned .”. You can better understand this quote with an example: Imagine your best friend broke your trust by t...
1: Introduction
Habits are routines or behaviors that are performed regularly and often unconsciously. They can be a powerful tool for shaping our lives, as they can have a significant impact on our health, happiness, and overall well-being. For implementing them, it is crucial to know how habits are formed and what difficulties there are in making them stick.
2: Understanding habits
The science behind habits is rooted in neuroplasticity, the ability of our brains to change and adapt over time. When we perform a behavior repeatedly, our brain creates a neural pathway that makes it easier to repeat that behavior in the future. As a result, habits become hardwired into our brains, which is why they can be so difficult to break. This is powerful when creating good habits but it can also become your enemy in forming bad habits. Habits cause you to need less willpower to perform a given action than others do. For example, someone who has the habit of running every morning, will need a lot less willpower to go running than someone who doesn’t have that habit.
3: Steps to building habits
Now that you understand habits better, you can begin to start building habits. As you already know by now, habits are formed by repetition. I am going to give you 1 example of how not to build habits and another how you should do it.
The first example is about Simon who wants to become fitter and wants to go to the gym 1 hour every single day. He starts good but after 6 days, he is already so tired of it, he quits and starts back with the same intention as before after 2 months but this time he is already tired of it after 4 days.
His friend Jarne also wants to become fitter but he starts by doing a small workout each day for 5 minutes. Because this doesn’t take much willpower, he can keep it up and even wants to challenge himself more and starts by doing a 10 minute workout each day.
At the end of the year, Jarne is much fitter than Simon because he managed to have daily small exercises instead of needing much willpower to go to the gym an hour every day. I suggest you also build habits like Jarne. With every new habit you want to form, start with 5 minutes each day. It will look like you are not reaching anything but by keeping that habit, that habit will be part of your identity like a runner for example.
4: Strategies for making habits stick
There are a lot of tips for making habits stick but the most important one according to me is what I call “the Golden rule of habits”. This rule implies that you can never skip a habit more than once. For example if you did your habit Monday, it is okay if you “slack” on Tuesday but on Wednesday you have to do your habit again. This is crucial because if you slack 2 days in a row, you are starting to create a new habit of not doing your habit.
Slacking can be caused by a lot of things like feeling lazy or not having enough time. It is important that you don’t fall into the victim mindset. This is a mindset that everything and everyone is always against you. If you keep following this rule, you are going to need less and less willpower to do your habits and will slack less.
5: Life-changing habits
A few habits that are crucial for your physical and mental health are exercise, eating healthy, reading, meditation, journaling and practising delayed gratitude. Throughout my blog, you will find plenty of examples of these explained in detail.
6: Conclusion
The most important thing I want you to remember is that habits, rooted in neuroplasticity, play a pivotal role in shaping our lives, and by starting small and following the golden rule of habits, you can make significant and lasting changes to your behavior and well-being. Besides there are 2 ideas I want you to keep in mind. First and foremost, habits are established through repeated action and require less willpower to perform than actions without established habit. Secondly, the key to making habits stick is by following the golden rule which says that you can’t skip your habit more than once.
7: Your next steps
1. Dimension to Improve: Choose a dimension in your life that you want to improve in. (30 seconds)
2. Choose a Habit: Choose a habit that can improve that dimension. (60 seconds)
3. Perform the Habit: Start with performing that habit for 5 minutes each with keeping in mind the golden rule.
4. Stay Connected: Click the "about me" section on the right side of this page and hit the Pinterest button to follow me. By staying connected, you'll receive regular updates on future blog posts about personal development, allowing you to continue expanding your knowledge and motivation. It only takes a few seconds, but the benefits are priceless. (10 seconds)
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