Category: habits

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habits hygge mindfulness

mindful fall hygge for a new season

Have you ever tried mindful hygge? Hygge, pronounced (Hue-gah) is a Danish word originally derived from an Old Norwegian word meaning well-being and protection from the outside elements. Denmark has notoriously bitter long winters. So, it’s no wonder that the concept of hygge has been used by Danish people to help mentally combat the change in season and fill their homes with comfort and love.

Hygge is a word that is so important to Danish people; it’s often used to describe what their culture is all about. Hygge is not necessarily something specific that you can buy, because it’s more of a feeling than a possession.. Hygge can widely be described as a feeling of coziness, comfort, familiarity, friendship, laughter and mindful enjoyment. It is about the little joys in life that makeup your mindful experience.

Although it it totally possible to achieve hygge any time of the year. You can try maybe lighting up a fire pit in the backyard with or a movie under the stars with family are perfectly good examples of summertime hygge. Hygge is generally associated with the change in season to cooler months because of its ability to uplift spirits especially when you are downtrodden.

Here are some ways to practice mindful hygge:

1. Warm lighting. In order to achieve a great sense of hygge, be sure to change your light bulbs from bright light to warm. According to MeikeWiking, a hygge expert, the optimal light temperature is 1800K, which is the temperature of sunsets. Warm lightning is essential for an atmospheric glow.

2. Cozy clothing. Put the sweatpants away and try wearing those cozy knit sweaters and woolen socks. Think about the texture of the clothing and how it feels on your body. If it’s loose, cozy, and warm then your are practicing mindful hygge.

3. Spiced drinks. Pumpkin spice frapuccinos might just be a Starbucks thing, but it definitely makes me think of cozy fall days. Apple cider and tea are favorites too. Drinks with cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and ginger can warm up your senses. These drinks smell delicious too.

4. Scented candles. Placing scented candles around your home is a wonderful way to add a hint of mindful hygge. The warm glow will make rooms feel cozy and comfortable. Not only do candles look and feel homey, they also smell great. If you have a local candle maker near you, even better. Scents like warm vanilla, cinnamon apple, sugar plum are cozy and invigorating.

5. Heart-felt relationships. Call a friend for a hot cup of coffee and a piece of apple cake. Sweet apple cake with almonds and powdered sugar is a Scandinavian treat. With some heart-felt conversation and empathy your relationship will grow.

6. Pull out the cozy throws. Feel the warmth of a cozy throw; the plushier and softer then the better. Cozy throws are an essential, especially during a chilly morning.

7. Star gaze. Disconnect from your phone and from social media and take a look at the night sky. Fall is the time to look up into the sky and admire the stars. On October 20, look up into the sky to admire the full moon called the Hunter’s Moon. October is the month of two meteor showers, the Draconids and the Orionids.

8. Fall journal writing. Try mindfully journaling about the change in season. Pay attention to the changes in weather, smells, routines and how you feel in the present moment. Be thankful about the connections you have made.

Check out the free digital downloadable mindfulness fall journal below with 12 prompts about the season:

falljournalDownload
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habits mindfulness

essential self-discipline guide with mindfulness

Self-discipline is an important skill every person who wants to achieve more in life should possess. Self-discipline is essential in every aspect of life. Even though most people recognize the benefits of self-discipline, very few do something to reinforce and grow this beneficial skill. 

Contrary to some beliefs, self-discipline is not being harsh to yourself or living a restrictive lifestyle. Self-discipline also means self-control. It is a sign of inner strength and control of you actions, and your reactions. Self-discipline provides the power to stick to hard decisions, and follow them without changing your mind. This means self-discipline is an important requirement for achieving vital goals. 

Why self-discipline is important

Having self-discipline helps you to continue with your plans and decisions until you achieve them. It also displays as an inner strength that helps you to overcome addictions, laziness, and procrastination. 

Self-discipline is an important ingredient for success. It is the ability not to give up regardless of setbacks and failures. In fact, it is an important pillar of stable, long-term success. It is a skill that will help you understand the importance of life. 

Life presents problems and challenges on the path to success. In order to act above those challenges, you must act with determination and perseverance. Lack of self-discipline may lead to problems such as failure, relationship problems, and health issues. Just as some people have weak muscles, they can become strong with training. It’s the same with self-discipline. You can develop and strengthen self-discipline like any other skill, through training. You can develop self-discipline at any time. 

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Development of self-discipline will help you:

  • Avoid carelessness.
  • Fulfill promises you make .
  • Overcome bad behaviors such as laziness and procrastination.
  • Engage in good behaviors like going to the gym, swimming or taking a walk even when your mind tells you to stay at home. 
  • Stay focused on your diet and resisting temptation of eating unhealthy food (no sodas).
  • Waking early in the morning.
  • Overcome the bad habit of watching too much television.
  • Start reading motivational books, and implementing what you’ve learned.
  • Meditating regularly.

If you keep working and developing the skill, you will become stronger. On the other hand, if you do not challenge yourself in life, you will not gain self-discipline.

Happiness and the achievement of goals in life results from having a wide range of positive qualities. And no quality is more important in the attainment of long-term sustainable success than self-discipline.

Whether you seek to enhance your relationships, work ethic, or health, nothing beats self-discipline as the principal trait needed to achieve your goal.

However, self-discipline doesn’t always come naturally. The good news is that it can be a learned behavior. Try out these techniques to attain greater self-discipline.

Tips to improve your self-discipline

  1. Remove distractions. Removing distractions from your environment is a critical first step on your journey to increased self-discipline. For instance, if you are looking to cut down on distractions (such as social media) and focus on your job, you need to turn off your mobile notifications and block all social media until you get off work. In the example of weight loss, you would want to remove the unhealthy foods from your cabinets and pantry to make achieving your goal that much easier.
  2. Never think there will be a perfect time. Kick the habit of waiting for all things to align perfectly before embarking on your journey to self-discipline. If you are looking to enhance self-control, it has to start with you. Embrace simple things such changing your daily routine, breaking bad habits such as negative thinking, and instead actively developing new habits even if it does not feel right in your mind. But simply start now, instead of thinking there will be a better time.
  3. Reward yourself for achievement. Being self-disciplined does not mean you have to become miserable. In fact, by being too rigid, you are opening yourself up to disappointment, failure, and the possibility of falling back into the old habits. Instead, have days when you relax your regimen. When you reward yourself, you relieve the tension that may result from self-disciplined living.
  4. Don’t beat yourself up for backsliding. At some point, you will fall into some old habits. However, the important thing is not to beat yourself up, but rather to pick yourself up and recommit to the journey. You have to accept that there will be spectacular failures and fabulous successes. Don’t get too hung up in frustration, guilt, and anger, but rather acknowledge mistakes as an essential part of the learning process. Ultimately, developing self-discipline will allow you to live more freely by making choices that are more positive and healthy.
  5. Set active goals. Active goal setting is a very important skill, if you want to become disciplined. In fact, it’s quite different than passive goal setting; with passive goal setting, you just set goals in your mind without properly define them. But active goals have a profound meaning; you make plans and maybe you have already found some strategies, in order to be able to achieve them as soon as possible. So, you need to set some long-term goals and you also have to actively track your progress towards your specific goals in life.
  6. Ignore negativity. There are may be people around you that can exert an immensely negative effect on you. But you don’t have to let them. More specifically, you don’t have to let words or even their expressions deter you. If you can not accomplish it, you can always seek advice from experts, in order to learn how to avoid negativity. For example, if people say what you want to accomplish is not possible or even sneer at your efforts, you should try to avoid them. Instead, you need to use your energy and strength and try to interact with positive people.
  7. Practice Gratitude. You may spend too much time wanting a lot of things in your life. The habit of gratitude can help you move away from constantly wanting what you really don’t have. It’s time for you to start appreciating what you do have in your life and be happy about it. When you do this, you will begin to see some remarkable shifts in your life. Actually, the effects of gratitude are far-reaching. From improving your emotional well-being, to your mental health and spirituality, gratitude can offer you a lot. The most important thing is that gratitude can help you move from a stake of lack towards a state of abundance. For instance, when you live in a state of lack, it’s impossible to focus on achieving your goals and being disciplined. So, you need to focus on positive things and try to succeed your goals, without having stress. 

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habits

new habits made to last

Let’s talk about forming new habits. We all have times in our lives where we intentionally want to change our behavior for the better and create new habits for ourselves. This could be getting in the habit of eating healthier and drinking more water. Maybe it could be exercising or taking the dog for a daily walk. Perhaps it could be work related, such as finishing up projects on time. There are so many areas in our lives that could be improved and made easier if we created new habits. 

Of course, getting into the habit of doing something is often easier said than done. We seem to acquire bad habits without any effort, but getting into a “good” habit can be a little more challenging. 

Let’s break it down into a three step process that makes it easy to follow until we’ve internalized the new behavior and made it a true habit – something we do automatically without having to think about, like brushing our teeth. 

  1. Decide What You Want To Do 

The first step is to decide what you want that new habit to be. Be as specific as possible. Don’t just tell yourself you want to exercise more. Instead say something like “I will go for a 30 minute walk every single day”.  Deciding what your new habit will be and committing to when and how you’re going to do it, is half the battle. 

2. Remind Yourself To Get It Done 

The next few days should be smooth sailing. You’re motivated and excited to get this done. Sticking to your new habit isn’t an issue. But a few days in you’ll notice that it’s easy to slip back into old habits. 

Maybe it’s raining and you don’t really want to go out and walk. Or maybe your day just gets away from you. This is when it’s important to have a daily reminder. Set an alert on your phone or add the new habit to your daily to-do list for a while. 

3. Make It Part Of Your Routine Until It Becomes A Habit 

Which brings us to the last step. It takes some time before a new behavior becomes a true habit. Until then, a routine will work to your best advantage. Even before the new behavior becomes automatic, a routine will help you get it done without having to spend a lot of willpower or relying on daily reminders. 

Make that daily walk part of your after dinner routine, or change from grabbing a snack at the vending machine at work at 10:00 in the morning to packing a healthy snack. 

Congratulations! Decide to create the new habit, practice the routine until it’s second nature and you’ll be well on your way to forming a new good habit. 

The Hidden Relationship Between Habits and Willpower 

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It’s hard to keep up willpower for any length of time. Yes, we can stick to a low-fat 1,000 calorie diet and go hungry for a week or two, but eventually our willpower fades. It goes kaput! And yes, we can do exercise we hate for a while that is until we run out of willpower. 

But what about getting up to take the kids to school every morning, brushing our teeth or going to work every day. Those may not be our favorite things to do either, but we do them daily without the risk of running out of willpower. That’s because they have become habits. They are so ingrained in what we do and who we are that we do them without even considering skipping a day or a week. We don’t have to make a conscious decision each day to shower or drive to work. It’s just what we do – a habit. 

When you start to think about it, there is a hidden relationship between habits and will power. When you first want to build a new habit, it takes a lot of will power to get it done day in and day out. As you start to establish that habit, it becomes easier and easier to do until you don’t even have to think about it anymore. 

Just being aware of this process helps us stick it out. We know we don’t always have to make such a big effort to go work out or skip the donut for breakfast. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. We know eventually it will become habit to go out for a run first thing in the morning and grab some fruit or fix some eggs for breakfast. 

While we’re in that transition from willpower to habit, we can use tools to make it easier. Use a to-do list or set a reminder to help stay on track. Find an accountability partner so the two of you can motivate each other and help bolster that willpower when it starts to fade after the first enthusiasm wears off. Even something as simple as laying out your running clothes the night before and keeping your sneakers by the door will make it a little easier to go out for that run. 

Do what you can to help your willpower along until you have made the new behavior a true habit. After that it’ll be easy and automatic and you’ve created a new lifelong habit. 

How Long Does It Really Take To Create A New Habit? 

They say it takes 21 days to create a new habit. That’s kind of a weird idea though, isn’t it? It doesn’t take that long to form a bad habit. And sometimes no matter how hard we try it takes us a lot longer to form a new habit. 

So how long does it really take to create a new habit? The answer is that it depends. It depends on your mindset and it depends on how big of a change it is from what you are doing now. If it is your habit to eat a bowl of ice cream at night and you switch from regular ice cream to a low sugar frozen yogurt version, it’s probably not going to take you very long to make that new habit. Giving up ice cream altogether though or cutting out all sugar on the other hand might take a lot longer. 

When we ask that question, what we really want to know is how long do we have to tough it out before it gets easier. Is there a light at the end of the tunnel where we don’t have to try so hard anymore? In other words, when will this new behavior become automatic? 

While it will be different from one person to the next and even from one habit to the next, there are a few things to keep in mind. 

It’s easier to make a new habit than get rid of an old one. Be prepared to work a lot harder to give up checking your email every 2 minutes or snacking late at night. Whenever possible, try to replace an old habit with a new one. For example if you’re wanting to give up coffee, brew a cup of herbal tea in the morning and throughout the day when you would usually reach for your cup of Joe. 

Habits will form faster if you stick to the same time and environment each day. Instead of going for a walk whenever, keep your sneakers next to the door and schedule your walk every day at 6pm, right after dinner for example. 

A constant reminder of why you’re trying to change your behavior is also helpful. Remind yourself every day that you’re exercising so your body stays strong and you can go play with the kids or grandkids in the yard. Or put up a picture to remind you that you’re making frugal habits so you can one day purchase your dream home. Keep your reason why you’re changing front and center and then be prepared to stick it out. Yes it will take some time to make new habits and replace old ones. But it will be well worth it in the end. 

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