Habits! You have habits. I have habits. We all have habits.

We have good habits such as looking both ways before we cross the street. We have bad habits such as gritting our teeth.

Some are good. Some are bad. Most we aren’t even aware of.

For instance when you sit in a chair do you cross your legs? And if you cross your legs do you cross with your left leg or your right leg? When you sit down do you habitually cross your legs?

The thing is that we don’t have any idea what our habits are. Perhaps you see a photograph of your self and you think “Wow do I really stand like that” or you see your reflection in a mirror or a window and you say “Yikes is that me? Could my posture really be so bad?”

But habit is more than if you tilt your head to the left when you laugh or slouch when you sit. Habit is most everything about you; your energy, your intention, your timing, your sense of humor, how you sit, how you stand, how you walk how you move, how you think, how you react…

Habits are hard wired into your neuromuscular system. We do them automatically and habitually.

They resonate on a subconscious level and because they exist below our consciousness they are hard to identify and hard to change.

So then how do we change habit? Is it even possible?

Yes, it is possible.

How do we change?

We stop.

We stop what we are doing.

Stopping gives us the opportunity to notice the habit.

Stopping gives us the space to decide what comes next.

Maybe we decide to still cross our legs? Or perhaps we decide to do something differently.

We need to stop, really stop.

By stopping I mean let go of our intention and all the muscular tension that surrounds it.

Stop and wait and let go of muscular tension. Wait. Really wait and let your self be here and now and still.

Give yourself the permission to really, really stop.

Notice where you are and allow yourself to be in the present moment.

Now decide when you sit down. Do you choose to cross one leg over the other leg?

Stopping, really, really stopping gives you choice. Now you can choose not to respond habitually. Stopping frees us from habit.

It can be this simple.

Let me know what you think! Does this resonate with you?