The Little Things
October 22, 2014

I’ve talked many times about how our health is made up of many little habits that, combined together, create something huge within us- that’s even the name of this blog! Most recently, I used the example of a tiny acorn growing into a huge, strong oak tree to discuss the little decisions that we make. Today I figured that I would talk about five different healthy habits that, when implemented, have the power to completely change your life! These are all in some way related to the field of mental health, as that is what my degree is in and what I work in daily.

5 Healthy Habits That Can Change Your Life

Implementing Healthy Boundaries. Boundaries are the foundation of having a healthy relationship with others and ourselves, so without them, we can’t truly have healthy relationships. Boundaries mean that we are responsible for our own thoughts, feelings, and actions, and we don’t try to control these things in others. We recognize our influence vs. our ownership, and we don’t mix those two up. We learn to respect the no from others and ourselves (no means no, and yes means yes), and we own our own reactions. Boundaries can be a bit difficult to implement, but they lead to a HUGE amount of freedom and health in life. Boundaries are absolutely critical to healthy living.

Starting A Regular Practice of Gratitude. A regular practice of gratitude has completely changed my life. A practice of gratitude doesn’t mean that we discount the hard or negative things in life, but it means that we train ourselves to focus on the positive as well. The fact is that it seems that our minds automatically hold onto the negative things in our life, and all of life isn’t negative. Training ourselves to balance out the negative with the positive in our lives allows us to live more aligned with reality, which helps our mood quite a bit. You can read more about cultivating a practice of gratitude here.

Setting Yourself Up For Success (Getting Rid of Excuses). When it comes to behavior change, we need to take a look at our current behavior and get to know it, so we know what influences it (and what sort of structure we need to create for change). Once we know what makes behavior change difficult, we need to create a structure that will set ourselves up for success! Being proactive in dealing with these excuses can make a HUGE difference in working towards our goals.

Learning To Identify & Challenge Irrational Thoughts & Cognitive Distortions. The words and thought patterns that we use can completely influence how we feel and how we behave in our lives.  Cognitive distortions such as black and white thinking, as well as catastrophizing language can create a good amount of stress, anger, anxiety, and depression in our lives. Using things like the REBT Self Help Form and The Thought Record can help us decrease unhelpful and unhealthy language.

Learning To Be Present Where You Are At (Practicing Mindfulness). Learning to be present and engaged in the moment has definitely been helpful in decreasing my overall stress. Mindfulness is about being fully engaged in and experiencing the present moment. While we can’t do this for too long at any given moment, the small moments of mindfulness help us connect to ourselves and enjoy the moment that we are in instead of engaging in worry and stress about the past or the future. Close your eyes, breathe deeply, and check in with your own body- what are you breathing and experiencing? Sometimes I pause outside, look at something beautiful, slow my breathing, and try to truly and deeply take in the moment. It’s a beautiful experience.

I’ve worked pretty hard over the past 5-6 years to implement each of these things in my life, and while I’m certainly not perfect at any of them, I’ve noticed HUGE benefits in my overall physical and mental health as a result. I challenge you to pick one of these things on this list and try to implement it into your life over the next few weeks. As you work, sit back and enjoy the changes you experience! Good luck!

Now it’s your turn to share! What’s one “healthy habit” you’ve implemented that you feel has changed your life?

←

Comments are closed.