Have you ever used an exercise ball? When you first sat down, were you eyeing for an anchor to grab hold of? With hands on the ball, a few bounces will suddenly give you confidence. Your brain will find your body's center of gravity and your muscles will quickly, easily stabilize on this unstable surface.
We use our muscles and the ground beneath us to maintain our center of gravity and keep from falling when standing, walking or even jogging. We learned to center our gravity at a very early age and depend on it effortlessly most of the time.
Finding your center of gravity takes no thought. It is a successfully acquired habit!
hab·it1 /ˈhæbɪt/ Show Spelled[hab-it]
–noun
1.an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary (definition from dictionary.com)
When establishing a new habit, there is a time of learning and falling, much like a baby taking its first steps. Determination to get moving keeps the child trying and once the skill is mastered, a whole new world is available. The child has learned a "habit" of finding its center of gravity and now can do it without much thought. It's time to focus on bigger and better things!
Eventually, behaviors repeated require no effort and become "comfortable". We mindlessly "fall into habits" when our conditions are unstable, unreliable or requiring extra self regulation from us (see Will Power blog entries). An example would be "giving up on the new diet" (returning to familiar eating patterns) when other demands tax us. When we are stressed or focusing intently in any area, we will search for an anchor of one type or another. Our old established eating habits mindlessly comfort while we focus on a trying task.
Once enough effort is placed into developing healthful eating habits, they no longer require thought and we naturally maintain them while exerting energy in other areas. This doesn't mean we will never go back to bad eating habits. A trigger such as family holiday feasting may shift us back into the old eating style, however with a little will power and focus, we can easily return to our "better eating habits" again!
It's best to keep diet or exercise changes simple, possibly one small change at a time until it has become mindless. If we gradually add new habits guarding them until they are firmly established, we will ultimately reshape our lifestyle and like the baby who has mastered walking, each new habit will open up for us bigger and better things!
Adopt a child-like determination in your quest for developing good habits, with the surety that once created, they will be anchors for you in an ever-shifting world of uncontrollable circumstances!
