Small victories create long-term habits

Mindfulness coach Rosie Acosta, Jen Caudle, DO, and therapist Juliana Hauser, PhD, discuss the benefits of celebrating the good and reinforcing our already healthy habits while challenging the bad ones.

Transcript

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[MUSIC PLAYING] We've talked a lot about adding in the good stuff-- better food, better movement, relationships, et cetera. But what are your thoughts and suggestions

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about removing some of the bad habits we might have? I'm a big fan of small victories create long-term

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habits. I think it's really important for us to celebrate those wins. Those moments when we're able to do the subtle changes--

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going to bed 30 minutes early. Turning a five-minute meditation practice into a seven-minute meditation practice.

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Being able to connect with our friends and our family. Making time for ourselves and self-care.

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I think, oftentimes, we want big results in a short amount of time.

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And I think we need to really change-- we need to really change our perspective

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and focus on the small victories. Cigarettes, alcohol, hoarding, overspending, I mean,

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there's a lot of ways we can overdo things. And what was an OK habit actually might turn into something negative.

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So how does that look on people? Is it different for everyone? Is it the same? The first thing I want you to do when you're in this place

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is to have a lot of compassion. The first part of compassion is understanding how you got to this place. And we have a society that is pleasure deprived

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and rewards depriving yourself of this and then overindulging into things. And so it makes sense that this has

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happened in a lot of our habits, as well. And so I want to have compassion, but then part of compassion is having action.

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So the second part of this is that you're going to do something about it. If you have the awareness that this is something that isn't right for you, that isn't healthy,

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it isn't supporting what you need and want, then I want you to look into that place of, where can I make these changes?

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And it's not just-- if you remove a habit, it is not going to magically turn into something beautiful and wonderful.

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You have to fill it with something that's positive and wonderful. So do both parts of that. Make sure you have the plan that is going

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to reward you for changing that pattern because you're doing it. Even though it's not healthy for you, it's giving you something, even if it's just a quick effect,

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a quick dopamine. And it's either helping you feel something that your day-to-day life isn't helping you feel or is helping

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you avoid something. And I want you to look at those two patterns, also.

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Take a deep breath in. MAN: Mindset is everything. I'm not 90 for nothing. Small steps, one motion.