Careful what you're practicing!

Have you ever noticed that the habits we humans create in our lives get more stuck and entrenched as we age. It brings to mind a vinyl record. The more times we play the same song over and over, the deeper the groove in the vinyl gets.

And the more entrenched our habits, the harder they can be to change. We have to really challenge ourselves to set up new pathways in our brain, for a new habit to stick.  

James Clear suggests starting very small and piggy-backing the new habit to an old one. So if you want to improve your balance for example, you might practice standing on one leg while you brush your teeth.

If it's a habit of thinking though it can be a little harder to change.  First we have to identify the habit.  Maybe it's a tendency to criticise yourself harshly which might look like always dismissing yourself as being clumsy or uncoordinated for example. Maybe it's a feeling of always being hard done by or getting the short end of the stick. Maybe you always catastrophise when things get uncertain and you start daydreaming about the worst case scenario.

The first step to changing a looping thought pattern is to catch the thought. This is where our yoga and meditation practice is invaluable. It teaches us pathways that create space to see the patterns as they emerge. We only need to be prepared to get present and quiet enough to listen and see. Then we are given the gift of choice. We can continue the same pattern or we can choose a different response.