ARE YOUR INTERNAL POSSESSIONS HELPING YOU LIVE HOW YOU WISH, OR DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING ELSE IN THERE?
.
When people think of clutter they think of an untidy attic, unwanted knick knacks or drawers overflowing. That type of clutter is the obvious type, it is our external clutter, but there is another sort – our internal clutter. Those beliefs and habits which are not supporting the way we would like to live our lives and are just there because we never got around to removing them or making new ones. We either inherited them many years ago as children or we were given them and just started to use them as they were there at the time. They are the habits and limiting beliefs that clutter up our potential in life and stop us from achieving all we can achieve. They get in the way of us being all we can be by clouding our aspirations and weighing us down with negative thoughts and self sabotaging patterns of behaviour. Just as we give our houses a spring clean and throw out things we no longer need so we should do the same with our internal ‘possessions’.
Identify one habit or belief that is no longer useful to you and get rid of it.
Now, this is not as easy as external decluttering because we cannot just throw it out or give it away in one swoop. Internal decluttering is different as we do not ‘chuck out’ our old internal possessions but must swap them for another which is better suited to our needs. Habits/beliefs cannot be disposed of but they can be changed to one that is more suited to the way we now wish to live.
Once you have identified your habit/belief then you must decide what the replacement will be
A lot of what we do on a daily basis is habit, so it is in our interests to have habits which will support us the most in achieving what we want to achieve. Different things work for different people but I find that notes put up as reminders work for most people. These have the effect of constantly reminding us of our new habit in the early stages when the old one is still dominant and the new one has not yet been embedded. A bit like learning to drive acar where we must be conscious of all we do in the early stages – remembering to push the clutch in to change the gears and to look over our shoulder when manoeuvring etc. It all seems very mechanical in the beginning and we think it will never be easy and flow but after a while it does and it all becomes automatic (as long as we press on and continue and not give up). So it is with changing a habit or belief. It may seem like a struggle in the beginning to remember to do it the new way because our system is set up so that we automatically do it one way and it can be hard to change that after many years.
Five steps to changing an internal possession (habit)
- decide which habit or belief you no longer want to use
- find another to replace it with
- put up notes and reminders to prompt you to do it the new supportive way
- be conscious of when you are doing it the old non supporting way
- keep pushing on until the new habit is embedded and stay alert for the old one returning so you can nip it in the bud
If you liked this then you may also like reading
RELATED POST:
Habits are the basis of our success
Pingback: What are you making your reality? | Logos Coaching