Self-Improvement: Ending Bad Patterns

I hope by now you've gotten a little better sense of a couple of your self-destructive patterns. Unlike caretaking patterns, which are more about putting others' needs before ourselves (and this taken to an extreme could be included as an SD pattern), SD patterns have us make choices that specifically harm us directly.

Whether it be, serious drug/alcohol intake or a love of risk-taking or food restricting to an extreme degree, self-destructive patterns can be literally dangerous to our well-being.

I wrote previously about interrupting it in our heads. But the end goal, and hopefully you agree, is to end it altogether. It's a lofty goal, I completely agree. But I think it's important to have our compass pointing towards the right direction, even while we're inching our way there!

Lovely beach outing with girlfriends..

Here are my basic 3 steps to ending our self-destructive pattern:

1. KEEP INTERRUPTING IT

  This is very important at first because they are very stubborn and will keep persisting. This is a lifelong habit we are working on ending, so it will take a little time.


     2.   JOURNAL: EARLY MEMORIES
It will be important to think back on how you think this pattern first started. The more you can dig up and remember the better!

First chia seed pudding experiment with soy milk!

       3.      PAIR EXCHANGE
I love doing these Paired Listening Exchanges in my journaling retreats! They're really very simple. Find a friend that you feel would also be interested in this kind of self-reflection work. Have them read a couple of this month's blog posts. Then get together, journal for 10min on #2 and then exchange 10min each. Taking turns listening then talking about your pattern, your experience this month and how that's been for you, anything else that comes up!

Receive this week's journaling prompts before they're gone!