It’s no secret that I’ve healed from (more than) my fair share of bad habits.
I know what it takes to truly let go of the things that get in the way of living a soul-filled and joyful life because I’ve done it (and I continue to do it).
I know what it feels like to come out on the other side, feeling more alive, confident, and steeped in feelings of self-love and self-acceptance.
In fact, over the course of my life, I’ve completely let go of:
❖ drugs, alcohol, and smoking
❖ having sex with strangers
❖ binge eating, yo-yo dieting, and body hatred
❖ buying crap I don’t need
❖ abandoning people I love when the relationship gets hard
Those are some pretty amazing accomplishments if I do say so myself.
But it also begs the question:
Why did I do all those things in the first place?
And, well, THAT is the most exciting thing about bad habits.
Habits are doorways into deeper emotional patterns and if we don’t heal those patterns, either you won’t be able to break the habit, or you’ll just trade it in for a new one.
For example:
Have you ever tried to stop overeating? Like, cold turkey? (horrible pun, I know!)
And you do fine with it until you have a rotten day at work. You come home, and the laundry is piled up, the kids are screaming, and you just want to dive face first into the Cherry Garcia?
So, you put on your white knuckles and resist the ice cream.
Only to find yourself pouring a glass of wine or scrolling through Instagram playing the compare and despair game?
Sure, with a mighty force of willpower, you can stop almost any habit.
But this kind of rinse and repeat cycle is an indicator that you need something way more potent than willpower.
So, if you find yourself doing the same things over and over again or trading one bad habit for another, you’ve also got to see the energetic pattern that’s “under” the behavior and heal it.
You have to discover the needs that drive the habits and heal the stories of unworthiness, not-enoughness, and too-muchness that prevent you from meeting those needs.
You have to EXPAND the definition of who you are, instead of collapsing in on yourself everytime you fuck up.
And when you do that, you don’t just change your habits; you set yourself up for real and lasting transformation.
You awaken.
You become filled with light.
You embody your deepest, soul-level, desires.
And not because you should or because you are faking it until you make it.
But because you’ve cleared out all the junk that prevents you from honoring your own needs, values, and desires.
When you do that kind of healing, the habits fall away like magic.
And magic is way more powerful than willpower by infinity.
What have you tried to transform your habits? How has that been working for you?