Tuesday, March 15, 2011

You are your habits.

Want to be a new person? Get new habits. Simple as that.

Wellllll maybe not so simple. Getting new habits isn't always easy. After all, you do have to contend with your old habits and old habits die hard. I recently have decided to move to a slower carb diet. I haven't completely revamped my diet as I know my adherence rate would be abysmal. Remember, when more is better, any percent of something is better than 100% of nothing.

So I started off with eating breakfast, 3 eggs, yogurt and a protein shake. I planned to do it only for one week, that way I knew it would be an attainable goal. I didn't modify anything else I ate as I wanted to make this change as easy as possible.

Beating an old habit is difficult because it takes active consciousness and action to defeat. I'm going to the snack room at work; I look around and am faced with two options. I could eat whatever junk food is laying around or I could go for a more nutritious item. If my goal is to eat food more beneficial to me getting more physically fit, I know I should eat the nutritious snack. Will I? I'd have to know first off, I have a decision to make. You may think this to be basic but had I not had this new goal, I would have automatically chosen junk food as it would be the only choice in my head. Once I recognize I now have a choice, I have to actually choose what I find to be aligned with my goals.

This section is called "Personality: You Don't Have One"

You do not have a personality.

You do not have a personality.

YOU DO NOT HAVE A PERSONALITY.

Well, at least I think so. You aren't the same person you were yesterday; however on most days, you just live like it. People make choices based on the information they're given. Overtime, a person is accustomed to weighing out information in a way it makes sense to him or her. One may go on living through life thinking a certain way and so people would say based on that person's behavior and decisions made that he or she has a personality type. He or she doesn't have anything, he or she just is. It is we who evaluate the other person and mentally construct a framework to understand them. This provides us with a quicker system to predict their behavior.

Realize then, that person is free to do whatever he or she pleases and if it violates our notion of them that's our fault for assuming. Realize as well, that you are bound to nobody and don't owe anybody anything. Be what you want. Become what you will. The only thing holding you back is yourself.

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