Advent of Habit-A Challenge to Bombard Your Brain

First, I have to tell you all that Meagan was tickled pink that so many would take the time to wish her a Happy Birthday.  She is filled with happiness and wants me to thank you all.

It is said that it takes 21 days to form a new habit.  Well, the thirty days of blogging has certainly gotten me in the groove, or as Sandy says, maybe I have found my inner blogger.  Whatever it is, it just seems odd not to check in with the blog today.  Well, that and procrastination, but more about that in a minute.

In my search for the "21 days to a new habit" idea I found a couple of interesting websites.  The Power of Goal Acheivement Is In the Habit.  The idea is when you find yourself not acheiving your goals, daily repetition can change your outcome.  Illustrated in this blogging grrl for sure.  This writer is addressing college students, but the concept is the same.  Oh, this one is good.  All scientific about bombarding the neuroconnections and neuropathways for 21 days straight.  Bombarding.  I love that.  It makes creating a new habit an actual chemical and physical change to your brain and body.

" Brain circuits take engrams (memory traces), and produce neuroconnections and neuropathways only if they are bombarded for 21 days in a row. This means that our brain does not accept ‘new’ data for a change of habit unless it is repeated each day for 21 days (without missing a day)."

That is too cool.  Twenty-one days is nothing really.   This last thirty days of blogging felt like such a mountain on the first of the month, but the time flew by and now it really does seem to be a habit.  Norma blogged about the MoFos and how we are supporting each other in a quest to improved health and fitness.  I know better than anybody that the first steps are the most difficult to take, but imagine.  If you just schedule a twenty minute workout of some kind into your day starting right now and bombard your neuropathways with it for only 21 days, that is a great start.  It probably takes about that long to see any real improvement anyway and then once you do, the reward turns into the incentive.  Think about that one.  How about 21 days of eating breakfast (I know some of you skip the most important meal of the day).  What about going to bed on time (I need to practice that one) or if you are a late comer, getting to work on time?  Or if you are a procrastinator, maybe doing your homework before you check your email or watch TV, right when you get in the house (imagine how good it will feel when it is finished and you have time ahead of you).   

Actually, now that I am thinking of it, this is Advent for Christians, but another definition for advent is "the coming into being or use."  Sort of like a new habit.  I know this is a busy time of year, but regardless of faith maybe we could all find some small thing to change in our lives.  It could be a daily compliment or expression of gratitude to a loved one, spouse, child, significant other.  Or someone that you are having issues with such as a boss or co-worker.  It could be excercise, come on, 20 to 30 minutes.  Eating a healthy lunch.  Putting your dishes in the dishwasher as soon as you are finished with them (yeah, that is for my kids).  Flossing.  Meditating.  Keep a gratitude journal.  Knit one round on those socks, one row on an UFO.  Read five pages of a book.  Play a game with your kid.  Spend five minutes decluttering that closet.  Sort the mail when you bring it in the house.  Recycle.  Wow, I'm on a roll here, but only you know what advent of some small change in behavior or attitude you could use at this time.  Let's all create some new habits, bombard our brains.  Something positive during the holiday or winter season that will have an effect on your life.  Leave a comment here and share what new habit you will try to incorporate into your life for the next 21 days.  Keep in touch and let me know how you are doing and let's support each other a bit.  In 21 days I'll draw a name and send someone that really tried to create a new habit something from my stash.  Spread the word, small changes change the world.

Well, I'll save the procrastination issue for another day.  Now I'm trying to think of what I will do for 21 days to create another new habit.  I'll be in touch.....      

Comments

[Annie]

Your daughter is beautiful. I have twin daughters that will be 20 in April...you aren't kidding about turning around and them being grown! Please wish her a happy belated birthday. I hope it was a great day:)

[maryse]

well i'm bad about drinking water. i forget to drink. which is funny because i dont' forget to eat.

anyway, that's what my goal is for the next 21 days. try to get my 8 glasses of water in a day.

[PumpkinMama]

I love the thoughts in this post. I think I will make a habit of telling my DH that I love him - I don't do it enough when we're caught up in the daily grind of life.

Also thinkof this: you not only created a habit of blogging these past 30 days, but you created a habit in us readers expecting to see you post each day! Scary!

[norma]

I love this post. So inspiring, and so true! I already seem to be unable to break the blogging-every-day habit (we'll see) and I'm working on the exercise. 21 days. I think I'll try it. Excellent!

[margene]

I had no problem walking away from my blog for the weekend. :-)
Great post! You have created an audience who wants to keep reading...so keep it up!

[Lynn]

OK, OK, I'll go for a walk today, really I will. It's tomorrow that's the hard day for keeping up the new habit (exercise, in my case) - so blog again tomorrow, will ya?
And I'll email you my address as soon as I'm on a computer that has the Default Setting for Contacting the World turned on, as this one doesn't. My email is harperlynnATmsnDOTcom, if that helps.
Finally, when people tell you your daughter's beautiful (which she is, quite), remember she looks just like you.

[claudia]

Provoking thought, are we?

[Karen]

This is good, really good and I need a push. Now what habit do I want to form or break?

[Vicki]

Honestly, I think you're trying to MoFo the world!! ; )

Great post, Teresa. I've already done 1/3 of those 21 days incorporating exercise into my very early morning -- but if I don't do it then, I know it isn't going to happen. My next goal will be to work more on the breakfast thing, and definitely drinking more water.

[Brenda]

Love this podt. I keep promising myself I will walk every day, this post could just be the push I need. Thanks.

[Kim]

Teresa-it's great to see you continuing to post (as I love to read them) and I have heard this before...21 days to a new habit. One of my goals last month was to journal before bed every night. I have done surprisingly well but I missed 2 nights last week. I will continue to work on that to make 21 consecutive days. Thanks for reminding us that we need to make time for ourseves, too.

[Cheryl]

Okay, I know what I'm going to do. I'll tell you about it later. What a great post, by the way. Deep thoughts by Terry.

[Debbie]

Teresa, I have so enjoyed reading your blog & this is my first time to comment. This post is so inspiring. At this time of year, I often get out of balance as far as exercise, diet, stress & rest and my goal for Advent is to take care of myself so that I can enjoy being with my friends & family this season. Thanks for writing this post.

[Debbie]

Teresa, I have so enjoyed reading your blog & this is my first time to comment. This post is so inspiring. At this time of year, I often get out of balance as far as exercise, diet, stress & rest and my goal for Advent is to take care of myself so that I can enjoy being with my friends & family this season. Thanks for writing this post.

[Danielle]

Thanks for the kick in the virtual pants. Of course, this is something I tell my swimmers all the time, but "do as I say not as I do" yadda yadda ... Starting tomorrow -- healthier eating habits! (This is the hardest time of the whole year, but if I can do it now, I can do it anytime!)

[Julie]

Great post! Like Danielle says, thanks for the kick in the pants. I have been trying to workout more and have improved quite a bit, even taking some personal training sessions together with my friend. I have a good treadmill at home that never gets used; my goal will be to exercise every day, using the treadmill at home on the days I don't go to the gym. 20 minutes; surely I can do that!

[michelle]

Well you can tell by the time stamp that I need learn to get to bed at a decent hour :) Just today I started some eye exercises in the hopes to make a new habit, but there's so much more that I need/can do with all aspects of life. Definitely worth thinking over.

[Alison]

Wow, you know it's so interesting - your month of blogging led me (even before this post) to think about some things that I would like to add to my routine by doing them every day for a month. Like blogging, and/or doing yoga in the morning, and/or starting a spiritual practice. hm.... The procrastinator in me thinks maybe I should start in January...

[Birdsong]

You covered a lot of ground here, without even getting to procrastination! I decided to reform ahead of January, though it is hard to face the alarm when it is pitch black... exercise and breakfast before work are pretty strong habits, but I can always get better, hee hee.

[Lucia]

Since I seem to spin mostly at spin-ins, maybe I should spin every day. Or write, or knit one thing for at least half an hour, or... there are way too many possibilities here.

A belated happy birthday to Meagan!

(Doesn't AA require 30 meetings in the first 30 days?)