The Beginning

Yes, you are very busy.  Yes, there are all these things in life, “that need changing right now!”  Why bother with thinking habits?

Have you considered where all those other things “that need changing right now” came from? Your thinking is the beginning of what you say, do and believe.

What you say do and believe become the foundation of all those unwanted “things.”

The Making of a Habit

Thinking something once or twice, unless its under special circumstances, is probably not enough to form an unwanted habit.  Its thinking something over and over again that creates two habits:

• thinking habit
• behavior habit.

You can try to change the behavior habits all you want but until you change the associated thinking habit the behavior will just keep coming back.

Change Thinking with Replacement

You might think okay, just stop the unwanted thoughts.

That is a good idea but it creates a vacuum.  That vacuum sucks all those thoughts right back sometimes stronger than before.

Replacing the unwanted thoughts works better.  It avoids the vacuum.

In order to replace the unwanted thoughts with the wanted ones you have to develop an awareness of what you are thinking.  Sometimes the thoughts are not at a conscious level.  If they remain subconscious then you get a feeling.  So, pay attention to your feelings too.

Developing Awareness

There are four effective techniques to increase awareness then switch to desired thinking habits:

• Give yourself a mental note to notice a particular thought/feeling and then switch it.
• Make yourself the mental note whenever a particular thought or feeling comes up ask a particular question.
• Wear a rubber band around your wrist and snap it every time a thought/feeling comes up.
• Wear a particular bracelet or ring and every time a thought/feeling comes up switch it to the other hand.
  

  Take small steps to change habits photo by by tallpomlin

Practice Small Steps

Changing a thinking habits can take time.

Every time you catch yourself in the unwanted habit you have to stop, switch and start the desired one.

You may want to have small goals or practice sessions.  You may want to say to yourself  “For the next 5 or 10 minutes my only thought will be the desired ones.”

If you succeed give yourself a small reward.  Then start another short practice session.  As time passes and you are going the 5-10 minutes with only the desired thoughts then lengthen the session time.  Repeat this process until you are thinking your desired thoughts for a day; then a week and then a month…

You may not want to make a big deal of not meeting your goals. When you make a big deal of a failure it attaches more energy to the unwanted habit.  That attached energy acts like a rope to tie the failure and unwanted habit to you.

You release the unwanted habit and energy; or “untie” the rope by allowing the missed goal to just pass.  Now, you are ready to start your wanted thinking again…

Your words, behavior and habits will all follow your thinking habits.  That is the biggest reason to change thinking habits.

Click this link for Getting Rid of Energy Sapping Thinking.

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