Break your bad thinking habits challenge
This post was originally tacked on to the end of my last post. But I wanted to make it more visible, so I’m giving it it’s own slot. I am performing the world’s most unscientific experiment. In aim of coming up with some concrete answers, I have decided to start denying and documenting the two worst mental habits I have. Between the hours of noon and six pm every day, (because they are my most regularly scheduled, and they include, mostly, me working at my desk at home) I am keeping two sets of tallies:
1) How many times do I have to derail an urge to get food?
2) How many times do I have to derail a negative thought about myself or food?
I hope to show you that with practice the volume decreases with time. And also to share with you the other variables I discover effecting my thoughts and conditioning. I will keep you posted in another couple days.
In the meantime, why don’t you join me in this exercise? Carry a note card around with you, and every time you have an urge to eat, banish the thought! And write it down. This also might help you be accountable to yourself, and the idea of preserving the integrity of the experiment might help make you compliant.
If you’d like, email me with your intention, your plan, the types of thoughts you want to get rid of, and your results every so often. I want you to be, first and foremost, accountable to yourself. But I am also super psyched about your progress and would be honored to serve as your accountability go-to.
Finally, this really puts a lot of our thoughts in perspective, and I think really powerfully reveals the strength of our subconscious minds. Don’t be shocked by your numbers! They can be quite high. I’m looking at an average of 20 urges to eat each afternoon. That, or much, much more, depending on the day, is perfectly normal, and it’s totally okay if you end up eating from time to time. Never forget that progress, not perfection, is the name of the game here.
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I have a really hard time counting #1 above. To do this I would have to be able to make these thoughts into discrete episodes instead of a continuous stream of being fixated on eating more.
Pepper, thanks so much for sharing your journey. It’s great to read about someone with some of the same struggles as myself. Keep up the good work.