How Do I Eliminate My Bad Habits

How Do I Eliminate My Bad Habits is a question frequently asked in places such as magazine advice columns, internet newsgroups, etc......

In non-fiction books dating more than a century from now, there is a lot of attention placed on the role that the subconscious mind plays in making or breaking negative, life-decinerating habits.  Since Dr. Joseph Murphy released his popular books based on the workings of the subconscious mind, and Maxwell Maltz released PsychoCybernetics, much more credibility was added to the existence and nature of this powerful region of our mind.

Replacing the habit with something positive seems to be the common answer to the question. When one instead tries to just use sheer willpower to stop thinking about and thus stop engaging the habit, it's like staging a fight between a mouse(the conscious portion of the mind) and an oxen bull (the relative larger size of the subconscious over the conscious mind). It's not only a waste of effort in the long run - it just exacerbates the frustration, and sometimes, depression, associated with the habit.

Habits can be broken permanently, when one simply believes they can, and places more attention on the feeling of relief that occurs when the habit has been transcended. Ask yourself how it would feel if you knew that you had not gave in to the particular behaviour for the last seven days.  Repetitive focusing on the answer to this question posed to yourself, will on its own begin to train your subconscious to act differently and effect an effortless change to your behaviour.

 

Eliminating Bad Habits