As Aristotle said “We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an art but a habit”.
As all the things we do every day become ingrained into our subconscious minds we realise we are doing them automatically. Like brushing our teeth, or driving the car, or riding a bike. However, it takes some conscious thought to make changes to our normal routine. For example, if we decide to incorporate a half an hour’s walk into our day it takes a few months of doing it before it feels normal and natural and for us to miss it if we don’t do it. The same happens if we decide to cut sugar out of our diet; it takes a few weeks or sometimes a few months for our taste buds to become accustomed to food or drinks without it. Research has agreed that it takes 66 days for our brains to accept a new habit as normal, for more about this click on this link: https://jamesclear.com/new-habit
We are all trying our best at any given moment in time. Trying to be the best parent, partner, worker, son, daughter, etc that we can be. Sometimes we feel that our best isn’t as good as we want it to be. So how do we change our thoughts, feelings and behaviours so that we are living the best life we can?
I believe that the best solution to making changes in your life is to make everyday a choose-day. Choose to be in good spirits, happy in yourself, a smile on your face. Choose to be positive and see the good in people and situations. Choose to be grateful rather than begrudging. Choose to be as active as you can for example choose to take the stairs rather than the lift. Choose to eat as healthily as you can. Choose brown over white bread. Choose nuts over chocolate. Choose forgiveness over resentment. Choose to be satisfied with the little pleasures in life.
By doing this you are taking responsibility for how your day and ultimately your life is going to be. As Abe Lincoln said “Folks are usually about as happy as they make up their minds to be”.