green habits - be a green shopper

"Habits are formed when the memory associates specific actions with specific places or moods," - Duke University researcher, Wendy Wood

If being green is about being aware of where our food, energy and products come from, how they were grown or made, where they will go and how they will be handled when their useful lives are over. However, replace your old habits with the new green habits will drive the conscious thinking to your subconcious level and make it easy to do.

In this post, let's focus on some shopping habits:

• Use usable grocery bags. They are more durable and often look better than cheap plastic bags. The challenge is to remember carrying them with you. Keep them in your car. Mentally rehear taking the bags with you before entering the grocery store you frequent.
• No more bottled water. It's expensive, and is not necessarily healthier than tap water. Use a stylish stainless steel water bottle. It's safe and free of questionable Bisphenol A, a chemical that leaches from many plastic bottles.
• Buy products with less packaging;
  
• Buy refill instead of products in plastic bottles, like shampoo, detergent.
  
• Cut down on meat. If more land has to be put into agricultural production to produce meat than to produce plant products, we are left with less nature.
• Buy products that are reusable, recycled, or recyclable.

Last but not least:

• Buy less. How much stuff does anyone really need? Do you really need another dress, another toy, another bag? Yes, you can recycle them later, but keep in mind they will first become your storage problem before they eventually become garbage. So before you put anything in your shopping cart, think how long you'll keep it. Another rule is to buy a few really good/expensive items that last, instead of lots of cheap stuff just because they are on sale.
  

If you have other ideas that can be added to this list, please share with us. Appreciate your effort in protecting our beautiful planet.

Kick A Bad Habit In 2 Minutes

Hey it's getting better and better.
After my last post on "Can I break a bad habit overnight?", I found this even faster trick: "How To Kick A Bad Habit In 2 Minutes".

The trick is NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming), a technique to program your thoughts. The instruction provided by Si Dawson is simple to follow. Basically, it associate your own negative thoughts with the habit that you are trying to break, by squeezing your thumb and forefinger together.

I learned it before from watching TV. I know, I know, it's a bad habit. But some TV programs are actually constructive if you know how to choose.

It was the right solution at the right time for me. I used this technique to get over not a habit, but an ex of a breakup. It totally worked for me. The way I did it was quite similar but with an extra step.

First, think of the person while squeezing the thumb and fore fingers together.
Then, think of only the bad qualities and things that I disliked about my ex. Magnify the emotion and until it's unbearable that I had to escape.
Next, release the fingers on the left hand, press the thumb and forefinger of your right hand. Now think of all the positive things I can be or do without my ex in my life, and feel good until I find myself smiling and feeling happy.

After that, whenever I find myself missing him, I simply put my thumb and forefinger together and I will get out of the thoughts right away. Then I feel good about where I am by touching the thumb and forefinger of my right hand.

For it to work with habits, replaced "my ex" with "the bad habit". And here it goes:

1. Squeezing the thumb and fore fingers of your left hand together, think of the habit you want to quit, picturing your self doing it;

2. Think of only the bad consequences, guilt, regret, past bad experiences as a result of this habit. Magnify the emotion and until it makes you uncomfortable, sad, or sick.

3. Let go of your fingers of your left hand.

4. Press the thumb and forefinger of your right hand. Visualize yourself living the good habit. Make the imagination real using all your senses, and feel fantastic about it.

Next time you catch yourself sliding back to the old habit. Call on your fingers to help.

PS. Let me know if this works for you.

Can I break a bad habit overnight?

According to Lynn Harris, Yes.
How? Hypnotherapy.

She shared her story of quit nail-bitting after a two-hour hypnotherapy session.
I've been attending hypnosis groups to experience it myself. After a few sessions, I'm still on the fence. But since hypnosis works directly with the subconscious mind, it is very likely the shortest path to changing your habit.

Whether you go to a hypnotherapist or DIY at home following a tape. The soothing voice is only there to guide you. It's you yourself who is doing all the work. Remember "The Secret"? The key concept is Self-affirmation. Positive thinking in your sub-conscious mind is critical in shaping your your behavior.

In previous posts, we talked about using imagination to help forming the new habit. It's actually the same theory.

The first time it worked for me was in high school. I had this vault-phobia in gym classes. No matter how many times I practiced, the idea of jumping over it always make my legs quiver. The night before the exam. I lied in my bed and pictured myself jumping over it with the precision of the gold medal winner. The next day, my body simply surprised myself with a beautiful finish effortlessly. Now I do the self-talk before important presentations and it works every single time.

Will it work for you? You'll never know until you try it.

Emotions and habits

Do you eat unhealthy food when you feel sad or depressed? Do you go shopping for hours when you feel lonely and troubled? Do you play games over night when you are stressed or bored?

These habits triggered by our emotions are often the most difficult for us to break because we are simply unaware of the true reason why we have them. Even when we do identify the emotional reason behind, your emotion will most likely take control when you're in the moment, all your attention is focused on feeling better and your habitual belief is that the distractive behavior makes you feel better.

Catch yourself doing it.
Keep a log of the things you regretted doing. Like the $300 dress you have never and will never wear. The hours spent on the meaningless activities like watching soap opera or playing games. Ignoring the problem will not make it go away. Face it before you can start work on it.

For each bad habit, find a healthier alternative.
Go exercise. Remember the light moments after your workout? You feel energized and young. Read a book, find a topic you enjoy or explore a wide range of subjects. Spend some time with your friends and family. All these are good habits that enrich you, mentally and physically.

Reduce the exposure to the old habits.
Keep away from the places and things related to the bad habits. Do not stop at the fast food restaurants and through away their fliers. Don't stock up soft drinks and cakes in your fridge. If you have to go shopping, go 30 minutes before the store closes. This limit your time spent and you'll be more focused in getting what you really need.

Keep the good habit for 30 days. Be a creator of your habit, not just a creature of it.

(photo by nickdamico)

use your imagination

So You made a decision, you set a date, you picked a reward, you still find it hard to change...
Imagination can make it much easier.

When you are trying to replace the old habit with the new one, you are denying your good friend, subconscious, and using your conscious mind to overwrite it. According to Law of Conflict, whenever your conscious and subconscious are in conflict, your subconscious invariably wins. However, you can trick your subconscious to help you.

The best time to talk to your subconscious is every morning when wake up and every night before you go to sleep, when you are most relaxed. Your conscious mind is not fully functioning, so you can program your subconscious mind to believe you are what you want to be.

Start by telling yourself what you are the person who has kicked the bad habit and enjoying the benefit of the good habit. Don't use future tense, say it as if it's a reality. Not "I will quit smoking." But "I've quite smoking and I am breathing in the fresh air." Not "I'm will get up early tomorrow." but "I am an early riser." Not "I'm trying to be punctuate." but "I am always on time."

Then, picture yourself living in the created reality. Engage all your senses: see yourself running early morning wearing tight outfits that shows your toned body; hear the birds chirping, smell the cut grass and the fragrance of flowers in the morning breeze, taste the cool water you carried with you, feel your feet bouncing from the ground. Enjoy that moment and engrave it in your mind. (Do not think how comfortable the bed is.)

A few things happen while you are doing this: your thought causes a physical reaction. Then what you expect will become reality in your mind. If persisted long enough, you will see organic changes.

You may have heard this story: A man accidentally locked himself inside a refrigerated box car. He recorded what he went though on the side of the car. "I'm slowing freezing to death. These may be my last words." The next day the man was found dead there on the floor. His body showed all symptems of frozen to death. However, the refrigeration unit was out of order. The temperature in the car had never gone below 57 F and there was plenty of air. The man died of his own illusion.

Remember, your brain cannot tell the difference between mental rehearsal and reality. So your subconscious will carry out the day the same you imagined. Use this powerful method to make good habits part of your life. Let your live unfold according to how you think.

(Photo by Jaquelinevanek.com)

Side effects of creating a new habit

There are side effects of creating new habits out of an old one, are you ready, you become more creative and innovative.

According to an article in the New York Times, research shows that "When we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel synaptic paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks.".

Some old habits that you want to abandon have been following you for years. They won't willingly go away. So instead of trying to erase them from your subconscious mind, create new ones to overwrite them. There is a Chinese saying:"Attack poison with poison." In this case, "Attach habit with habit."

Same effect can be achieved when you are doing something new. Think of yourself like a rubber band. When you are relaxed, there is no power, and you are in your comfort zone. The more your stretch it, the more powerful it will snap back, you are in your stretched zone. When you pull it too hard, it's becoming painfully and eventually get out of shape or break, that's when you are stressed. The ideal place you want to be is when you are stretched a little, but not relaxed or stressed out.

As everything else, there are side effects of being creative and trying new things everyday, it slows down the aging process of your brain. Are you up to it?!

(photo by pricklypearbloom)

Rapid Habit

Habit: an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary; addiction
(dictionary.com)

Good habits are hard to acquire but easy to live with. Bad habits are easy to acquire but hard to live with.
Think of it as a pair of shoes: you put them on in the morning, if they are comfortable, you can focus your day on many important things; otherwise, your discomfort gets worse by the hours, and you can't wait to end the day early, so you can go home and kick them off. Choose the right shoes before you continue your journey.


How did I acquire my habits?
A simple way to look at it is our desire for pleasure, and avoidance of pain. When we associate pleasure with certain behavior, we want to repeat it over and over, before we know it, it becomes a habit, a part of us.

How do I change?
1. Create an inventory of good and bad habits.
Look at your daily routines. What are the things you'd like to change? What are the problems that keep bugging you that can be fixed by a good habit? What habits are critical in achieving your goals, and what are preventing you from becoming successful? The list should also include the good habits that you have already established. So you can see how effortless it is to maintain a good habit and enjoy all the benefits they bring.

2. One habit at a time
You need focus to make it happen. Prioritize your list and pick one habit you want to work on. Certain habits can be grouped to form a routine. For example, go to bed before 10pm and get up at 6am, go to gym or meditate for 1 hour and eat a healthy breakfast. (Very ambitious. )

3. Give yourself a reward
Your reward should be proportional to the behavior you want to change. For example, if you want to get up early, a Rolex would be too much a prize for some of us . You can pick something you really enjoy doing once a week, or pick one item from your shopping list as your reward for accomplishing your goal. Don't ever reward bad behavior. Occasionally, a little punishment would be necessary. Here is one way of doing it: wear a rubber band on your wrist. Whenever you catch yourself repeating the old habit or having a negative thought, pull it back and let it go. (Ouch!)

How long does it take to form a good habit or break a bad one?
Usually you need 3-6 weeks to form a habit. During this time your brain will physically change its wiring to make the new habit part of your subconscious mind. It's like flying a plane. To leave the ground, you need lots of energy and determination. Once the plane climbs to a certain hight, it's on autopilot. And you get to your destination much faster than on foot. After a good habit is established, you can repeat it with ease and benefit from it for the rest of your life. Stick to it from 30 days and see your life transformed. What a bargain!

What if I go back to the old habit?
(Are you wearing the rubber band? Use it now. Done? Ok, here we go.)
When you are doing something different, there is a certain level of anxiety because of the unfamiliarity. However, it's dangerous to feel comfortable with a bad habit. People who are insensitive to pain can get badly injured without knowing it. For the same reason, your health, relationship, and success is at risk if you don't replace your bad habits with good ones. Keep in mind of the bigger picture. A little draw up is no excuse of giving up.

When shall I start?
The best time to start is yesterday, the second best time is NOW.

(Photos by cisley)