Change your Habits, Change your Destiny

 

Change your Habits, Change your Destiny

Watch your Thoughts, for they lead to words

Watch your words for they lead to actions

Watch your actions for they become habits

Watch your habits for they become your character

Watch your character for it becomes your Destiny

 

Whether we are Happy or Unhappy, Fit or Unfit , Successful or Un Successful, Dead or Alive today all depends on our past habits. Who we are now and where we stand today is the sum total of all our Habits good or bad. This is a very blunt statement .See whether it resonates with you. Spend a few minutes now thinking over all the crisis in your life or that of loved ones currently and think about what habit if in place earlier could have averted it .Every now and then we come across people even in 40s  dropping dead suddenly with no warning or sometimes getting saved by a narrow margin .Those who survive inevitably realize the need to change their habits and the fear of losing their life gives them the willpower to do so. Must we all take that chance? Do we need to go through life half dead ? Success lies in how happy and fulfilling is the journey ,not in reaching any destination.

Let us define the good habits as those which supports you in achieving your true potential and happiness. We have so many examples of superstars undone by bad habits – Elvis Presley ,Michael Jackson, Maradona .Great Talent can take you up but without good habits you cannot stay up there for long or realize your full potential .Any superstar can remain one for a long period only if he or she has the backing of many good habits. Let us take Sachin Tendulkar who had one of the longest stints at the top as the best batsman in the world in Cricket . Even at the best periods of his career he used to put in 4 hrs of net practice daily . It is not about just being born brilliant . I remember reading about an interview with Mr Sreedharan our own Metroman about the secret of his output even at this advanced age . He attributes it to his habit of getting up at 4.30 and doing Yoga and reading Bhagavatham. This is one of the best examples we can have of a good habit that served progress and ensured sustainability. Unfortunately we all have some bad habits that takes away our valuable time or stops our progress. So life success is all about learning and unlearning .The good news is that you can change your habits. So how do we go about it?

A first step is to realise that you are the goose that lays the golden eggs. If the goose is tended well the eggs will follow. Without sound health, good energy and good clarity of mind and enthusiasm no good output is possible . It is only your sustained output that fetches in the rewards in terms of money and recognition. So is it not very reasonable to dedicate at least 2  hours of the day only to tending the goose .How many of us put in even half an hour daily ? The excuse is always lack of time . but the real fact is that if we invest this time on ourselves we will be so much more productive that it will free up our time. We should realise that it is not the long hours put in but the results that actually count. For sustained results we need things like high energy , Clarity , emotional balance, team work ,perseverance and a focused mind. Ultimately it our character or qualities that lead to the results.

To get started identify which habits would serve you best at this point in time: The first step would be to identify the habits that would make your life comfortable right now. Are you having health issues, stress , stagnation in career , Relationship issues or plain depression . If there are no major issues to be addressed then look at what can speed up your progress toward realising your full potential. This can be reading self improvement books, Daily planning and review ,Exercise ,Healthy eating ,Drinking enough water ,Updating knowledge in your chosen field or even getting a higher qualification .It can also be as simple as giving a smile to improve your relationships. Prioritise from among these and select one to start with in different areas of life . At a time it is not advisable to take up more than 1 or 2 on your own except for very strong willed individuals who want to change themselves at a very fast pace.

Where to start off ideally: Start with the habits that would support your later habits if those are not in your portfolio of good habits. For eg getting up earlier to make more valuable time available for taking up other good habits as you are likely to be undisturbed . Another bonus is unexpected spiritual gains as this is the time most suited to connect with the universe . But to do this the starting point is to ensure that you sleep on time and keep an alarm to wake up early.

Make it a Ritual : The trick is to follow the same order daily preferably at same time . Remember that you are creating new neural pathways .If you do the same activity at about the same time in a certain order every day it becomes so much easier for the body and mind . You can also link the new habit to another existing habit .eg Reading newspaper while drinking morning coffee/Health drink . If you study the greatest successes in the world most of them have a morning ritual and some even an evening ritual which they do not compromise on . The early morning time is most important as you have the maximum chances of sticking to the schedule .

Balance

Choose habits from across main domains –Physical, Mental. Spiritual, Emotional and Finance .If you develop only in one area you can become unbalanced . Many psychiatrist asylums have very intelligent and very rich people also. The body, Heart and brain must develop together for us to be really effective. Life is all about balance.

Physical

Reenergise – Keep your self healthy and at peak energy levels. Fatigue or low energy leads to procrastination and habit breaking. Even just drinking enough water can reduce fatigue .If fatigue is an issue you must take up habits that will increase energy levels.

Ø Food –How many realise that this is what converts into our body (also Brain) . Junk in means junk out.

Ø Water –More than 70% of our body .Vital for brain functioning

Ø O2 – even cancer cells cannot survive in an oxygenated environment. Pranyama is easy to learn.

Ø Yoga – The most ancient and proven way to uplift body and mind

Ø Walking /Jogging – Sitting Kills

Ø Floor exercise –Easy to do at home.

Ø Dance

Ø Games

This also strengthens your will power as the body resistance is overcome . Once the body starts moving the mind follows. Mental Inertia can also be addressed.

Reprogram your subconscious . You think you are the master at home but the spouse knows better… Our conscious mind is only 8% and remaining 92% is our subconscious which really drives our decision making process .The subconscious is the Master .It influences greatly your train of thoughts. The solution is to form new thoughts by an affirmation process that supports the habit that you wish to develop. I am the best ,I am in perfect health etc .We can also create visual images that imprint into our subconscious thus helping us in overcoming our inertia .Reinforce the gains that you expect seeing and feeling the joy of achieving the goal. Eg Fitting into that designer jeans that you have put away for years .

Ø Affirmations- Rewrites the subconscious

Ø Visualisation – Stored as images so more powerful

Ø Focus –Tratak

Ø Reading self improvement material

Ø Will power –Fasting

Spiritual :

Once the spiritual is addressed ways open up as support pours in from above. So at this point in time it is unwise to neglect this area.

Ø Prayer

Ø Gratitude journal

Ø Meditation – Evolves you to next level

Ø Forgiveness

ØSathsang

Ø Service to society

Emotional

The heart is the seat of emotions and if it is not functioning well you know what happens to the body. If your time allotment is skewed in favour of career, self development and making money at the cost of family and friends this is bound to impact on your emotional balance. If you are not happy 90% of the time what use is anything else?

Ø Play with children/Pets

Ø Enjoy nature

Ø Feed your child

Ø Connect to old friends

Ø Create spouse time

Ø Smile

Ø Help/serve

Finance

Ø Follow ups on investments

Ø Financial knowledge

Ø Certifications/Higher qualifications

Ø Subject knowledge

Ø Management /Leadership ability

Ø Networking /Relationships

Ø Prosperity Consciousness

Enlist Aid

Declare : Shout it out from the roof tops. We could even put it out on Facebook, Twitter,Instagram or Whatsapp .Make yourself ashamed to face your friends without adhering to it.

Partner -Get a partner in if possible .Any good habit is easier to form if there are 2 people involved. If you are planning to attend a yoga class ,try and rope in 1 or 2 friends or your spouse. Join a group if available.

Create a supportive environment. An example would be – in case you find it difficult to get up early you could keep 2 or 3 alarms with a time gap , ones that are difficult to put off easily ,place it so that you are forced to get up ,involve your partner for support.

Review it daily. This is very critical in initial stages

Reward yourself for small gains – Weekend celebration for completing 6 days .Treat yourself.

Stick to it for 46 days .Its now yours and part of you. It becomes part of your character and you are on the way to fulfilling your Destiny .It will now happen automatically without conscious effort .But the 40 days is critical . Treat it like a new born baby . Never add more than 1 or 2 new habits till the running ones are set. Do not take on more than you can chew at a time. If you overdo it you can have big setbacks . For eg When starting exercise the body needs time to get in shape .If you add more nos or variety it can back fire .Slow and steady wins the race .

Getting rid of bad Habits

The best way to get rid of bad habits is to force them out with new good habits that takes up more time and gives more satisfaction. Eg Smoking with running a marathon, A nature walk that will cut out a TV serial, reading a good book with wasting time on social media, Drugs with say adventure sports like skydiving . After a while you will find that the bad habits will drop away. Especially when you pack your day tight with good habits and smart work there will be no space for the bad to exist .

Success is a continual journey

Take up the next good habit that you wish to adopt once the existing are well set in and stabilised. It’s a gradual process but all of a sudden you will realise you are a new person. You don’t need to look for it. The world will convey the message.

Let me conclude with a quote by our beloved Late Dr Abdul Kalam on the subject – You cannot change your future but you can change your habits and surely your habits will change your future .

 

 

Kubler Ross Model_

People feared when country’s corona count was 100. But now, there is no fear when it is over 170,000.

The answer lies in the psychological view of man. There is a philosophy called the “Kubler Ross Model”.

That is, when a human goes through any tragedy, natural disaster, accident, they pass through 5 stages. They are–

1.Denial

2.Anger

3.Bargain

4.Depression

5.Acceptance

_1. *Denial* – Refusal to believe such a thing never happened. For example, we all denied that Corona will not come to us. Even it comes , repeated denial that it will not spread to our place due to hot climatic conditions._

_2. *Anger* – Getting angry. For example, anger over the loss of income and the loss of normal life due to lockdown._

_3. *Bargain* – Inwardly lamenting that the Corona may not have come and there should not have been a lockdown at all._

_4. *Depression* – It happened like this and goes in to mental pressure and depression._

_5. *Acceptance* – the last stage. The other way around is to accept it. Example: Get used to live with Corona._

These 5 levels are not limited to Corona alone. Applies to all the problems in human life.

_The worst sufferers are the ones who do not reach Acceptance level and remain stuck in previous levels._ Fear by itself is one of our biggest enemies . Breathe deep ,relax and think of a happy moment. Watch a comedy .Smile and Laugh .Drive that fear away . Boost your immunity naturally with laughter . We live 90% of our lives fearing what will happen and it never happens .Live life in the now . That’s all there is .