“It’s just the way my mind works.”
“I can’t help myself, it’s always been that way.”

Please stop beating yourself up, or believing that you can’t change – easily!
The reason you keep going back to old habits is not because you lack willpower, or because you’re not good enough or any of the other stories you’ve been telling yourself. It is simply because your subconscious mind is wired to hang on, tightly, to everything you’ve learned in the past! It is actually doing you a favour, so you don’t have to relearn things!

When you decide to change an old habit and instill a new more supportive one, your subconscious mind needs to be trained to run the new program. With all due respect to those who say it takes 30 or 90 days to create a new habit, retraining your subconscious mind can actually happen easily and quickly.
Think about this – when you move to a new house it doesn’t take you a month or two to remember to drive to your new address. When you meet a wonderful new partner, it doesn’t take weeks to change your habits to include them in your daily activities. When a new baby is born, parents immediately respond. We CAN change our habits quickly and easily – if there is enough supportive emotional reason to do so.

I forgive myself for believing the way things have been is the way they have to stay.
I give myself permission to recognize the old pattern, and consciously make a shift.
I can choose to beat myself up for going back to the old pattern or I can simply recognize it’s the old pattern and shift. I choose to shift with ease!
I am free to say: “There is the old pattern. I’ve changed that now to something more positive!”
I created a new habit easily when I… (moved to my new house, met my sweetie…
That was simply an old pattern, and I am creating a new supportive one!

Repetition and emotion are what wires habits into the subconscious. With strong, positive, supportive emotions, the habit changes quickly. Beating yourself up for going back to the old way simply reinforces the old habit. Trying to figure out why you go back there does the same thing. Acknowledging “That’s the old habit, and I’m doing THIS now!” raises your energy and provides a positive affirmation. Consciously changing the pattern provides the repetition your subconscious mind needs.

Here’s to creating positive, supportive new patterns!
Namaste,
Suze