Habits are the invisible framework of our days. They guide us, shape our behaviours, and ultimately chart the course of our lives. From the mundane to the significant, habits influence how we think, act, and feel.
When we adopt positive habits, we sow the seeds for a future that aligns with our aspirations and goals. But how do habits form, and why do they hold such power over our daily lives?
Habits for Healing is a box of tools for a fresh start, whether you have suffered trauma or not. You have the boundaries and self-care knowledge to transform your life, with tips from a former counsellor and social worker who has helped thousands of people change their habits.
There is a lot of rubbish in the media about ‘manifesting’ or ‘the law of attraction’. Like anything, it’s based on truth, but then gets hijacked by get-rich-quick schemes promising unlimited happiness, if you pay lots of money for a course.
Or on the other side, religious zealots threaten if you try to ‘manifest anything’ without adhering to their way of thinking, you’ll burn in Hell!
The best way to get around the latter is simply not to watch YouTube videos from fearmongering converts, but thankfully we don’t tend to do this in England (more an American thing).
Replace bad habits with good ones. If your life’s a car crash, it’s likely due to making a few bad decisions (you can get back on track by making a few good ones instead). You can’t change your soul’s journey (or manifest dreams if bombs are raising down on you in Ukraine).
But if you spend your life complaining about how the world has it in for you (victim mentality), you’ll find things won’t go well.
If you get out of bed the wrong side and everything goes wrong for the rest of the day, doing this daily will kind of create a life in the same vain. At some point you have to accept responsibility for your own actions (and past mistakes) and get on with life.
If someone has caused your life to dip, up to a point yes you may blame them.
But after a while, you have to realise that whatever happened to you in the past, you have to take the actions to get yourself of old negative mindsets and ruts – because in this ruthless world, no-one else is going to do it for you.
And the secret to any change is not ‘one big bang’ moment. It’s habits!
Leo Babauta is one of the world’s most successful bloggers (he writes about simple living). Not so long ago, he was living in his native Guam with his wife and six children. He was overweight, a smoker, had no energy, didn’t like his job and was unmotivated and depressed.
So he simply started replacing bad habits with good ones. He and his family now live in San Francisco. He earns passive income, he gave up smoking, went vegan, took up running and is now healthy, happy and successful.
LSW Mind Cards for Good Habits
LSW Mind Cards were developed by a therapist to help people live with intention, and create new habits for good mental health.
Also find short self-hypnosis downloadable tracks. LSW Habit Notes is a 12-week undated tracking journal, to choose habits that can create goals, authentic to your new life.
Illustrated Habit Trackers (on recycled paper)
These habit trackers are beautifully illustrated, printed on recycled paper, and sent in plastic-free packaging. Get a good overview of how to plan your life. From office projects to getting fit. Sometimes ‘manifesting a dream’ is as simple as changing weekly habits.
The trackers include fun quotes to inspire, too. This habit tracker lets you choose 6 habits to build into your lifestyle, then track them on the ring-bound A5 notepad.
Features a user guide to help you plan new habits, and let go of old ones that no longer serve you. Undated, so start whenever you like (tomorrow!)
The 12-Month Goal Planner has 3 sections each month, so you could list what you would like to achieve each week and month. Freestanding.
The weekly goal planner is simple and affordable, for habits without the fluff. List what you’d like to achieve in a month, year or decade.
The 12-month daily habit tracker helps you build new routines. Each page features a colourful gradient background with a positive quote.
An Ignatian Daybook for Spiritual Living
Small Simple Ways is a wonderful book that offers compassion and encouragement to lift you up through 52 weeks (in 4 week sections) of spiritual growth, as taught by St Ignatius of Loyola. Each day connects you with an aspect or action of a healthy spiritual life including:
- Compassion
- Discernment
- Generosity
- Gratitude
- Integrity
- Courage
- Good habits
- Humility
- Joy
- Openness
- Wisdom
Sundays are reserved as a day for resting our hearts in God.
Through practice and repetition of these basic thoughts and actions that build upon themselves throughout the year, the book will help you step into your future with God.
- God in All Things (weeks 5 to 8)
- The Examen (weeks 9 to 12)
- Gratitude (weeks 13 to 16)
- The two standards (weeks 17 to 20)
- Spiritual freedom (weeks 21 to 24)
- Consolation (weeks 25 to 28)
- Desolation (weeks 29 to 32)
- Imagination (weeks 33 to 36)
- Emotions (weeks 37 to 40)
- The physical senses (weeks 41 to 44)
- Reflection (weeks 45 to 48)
- Love (weeks 49 to 52)
Ultimately, this book proposes to help you recognise grace each day, challenge you to take one action each day to live out your faith and accompany you with encouragement, with suggestions for next steps and reminders of God’s presence, mercy and abiding love.
Compassion: We think of compassion as a character trait, and we assume that some people are just naturally compassionate. But any virtue requires that we practice until it resides easily in our personality.
When you see someone today – a person you know or a total stranger – silently ask ‘What is this person’s struggle today?’ Then offer this simple prayer: Help that person through the struggle.
Courage: Not the absence of fear, but the willingness to keep going, despite fear. Not all courage is dramatic.
Pause for a moment and try to identify what you fear. Can you find the courage to choose to move into your day despite it, perhaps with a simple prayer for help?
Good habits: I can choose to include influences that will help shape me into the person God created me to be.
I can choose daily prayer, regular conversation with people who encourage and teach me, and engagement in a community that helps me live out my faith.
Also read The Spirituality of Transformation, Joy and Justice (a wonderful exploration of the Ignatian faith, based on spiritual exercises developed by St Ignatius of Loyola of Spain). And The Ignatian Guide to Forgiveness 10 steps with stories and a powerful prayer for healing).
Use Ignatian Examen to Change Your Life
No matter what your faith, the Catholic Ignatian order has a very useful practice to help you live your life better. Called ‘the daily Examen‘, it’s basically a five-step process that was practiced by St Ignatius Loyola, a Spanish saint to help you see God’s hand at work in your whole experience.
There are many Catholic orders (Franciscans focus on helping animals and the planet, Dominicans are more intellectual). Ignatians would be the ones that ‘ask you to use God’s gifts to help others). The idea is to:
- Become aware of God’s presence
- Review the day with gratitude
- Pay attention to your emotions
- Choose on feature of the day, and pray from it
- Look toward tomorrow
Ignatian spirituality also has good advice on how to make a decision (something we all often struggle with). This is a simple 11-step process that looks at the reasons for making the decision, how to weigh up the options, who to talk to, Scripture to read and how to ‘let go and let God’.
