Man is a creature of habit - How to establish new habits.

If we want to talk about how to change old habits, we must first talk about our brain. This is because it is designed to use as little energy as possible. This is an important survival mechanism and is set up that way because of our evolution. Since, until recently, food was not in abundance, it was a matter of making the energy balance in the body as efficient as possible.

To accomplish this, our brain creates a highway for actions, repetitions and habits. All our existing data highways are no longer stored in the conscious part of our mind, but once the highway is built, it is accessed in the subconscious part of our brain. That's why we don't think about how to change gears, how to brush our teeth or how to get to work when we drive. All these programs run subconsciously and do not have to be controlled directly.

If we now want to establish a new habit, this means that our brain is standing in the jungle of brain cells with a machete and must first find a small path. It now fights its way through the densely wooded jungle and cuts and hacks its way free. This costs strength and endurance and already at this point most good intentions fail. It takes energy to create a new habit.

When this path through the jungle is mastered, the path becomes wider with each repetition of the new habit and at some point the brain gives the construction team of highways the order to create a highway on this jungle path. This usually happens after 90 days. The experts argue a little bit whether it is 60 or 90 or 120 days, but after approximately this time something changes drastically in the feeling of the new habit.

The inner pig dog 

What happens in those first 3 months or so of a new habit is this. All our subconscious, destructive programs, beliefs, patterns, reasons and parts come out, which absolutely want to prevent us from creating this change. These parts rage and rage in our inner being and one must also have enough strength and energy to win this inner battle against the popularly known "inner pig dog".

For most people, this inner pig dog is more like a raging teenager or an angry toddler, because we all started our old habits for a very specific reason and they were also very legitimate at the time.

So what specifically does it take to establish something new?

It takes 3 things:

    1. enough energy to keep up the change

    2. iron will to do it anyway, no matter what is going on inside of you

    3. 90 days at a time to do the new thing

    1. since most people have their energy levels so that they can cope with everyday life, but are still very tired in the evening, it will not be enough to simply pretend to have more energy.  There are only two ways to get more energy into the body, namely more food or more breath.

Now, most people will probably think that eating more is easier, but appearances are deceiving. With only 3 times 3 minutes of fire breath, a yoga exercise (see myAlly), we get so much energy into our body that there is then enough to make a change.

   2. to win the fight against the inner pig there is also more than one possibility. There are indeed people among us who have a very strong iron will. If they decide to make a change, they can simply make it and then implement it.

If you belong to the other category of people (like most of us, by the way) then it is very helpful to get help. Depending on the field of change it makes more sense to have a personal trainer for a certain period of time, to take nutritional advice, a coach, etc.

    3. to change something takes time. One says a nourishing change lasts usually 3 years. With smoking or similar addictions about 2 years. But what really helps is to recognize your destructive behavior and thoughts and to stop identifying with them. It helps on the way to becoming a non-smoker to understand that it is only the addictive ego that has the scarce 5 minutes again. And you only have to go through these 5 minutes again and again in order to stop completely. It also helps to change your diet by setting an alarm clock 5 times a day and then, and exactly then, drinking a large glass of water. You see what I am getting at. Organization and consistency for the 90 days are crucial.

It takes 90 days to turn a new habit into a highway. However, to dismantle the old highway and turn it back into a jungle takes considerably longer. This also makes sense. 50 year old trees do not grow in one day. 

So, good courage and lots of energy for your changes! And always remember, breath brings enough energy into your body to be able to implement these changes at all and who is smart, gets help for the first time.