noun /ˈhabit/ 
habits, plural
A settled or regular tendency or practice, esp. one that is hard to give up
- this can develop into a bad habit
- we stayed together out of habit
An addictive practice, esp. one of taking drugs
- a cocaine habit
An automatic reaction to a specific situation
(Merriam Webster, the Free Dictionary)

The above definition implies that habits are activities we engage in without thought. So, if we think about what we’re doing, there’s every possibility we can stop doing all those things that don’t serve us well – sugar habit, alcohol, late to bed, too much food, not enough food, wrong type of food, not stretching, not exercising. Right?

Well, okay, I’ve really simplified things there, but what if getting rid of the things that hurt us, really is as simple as not doing them?

There are a billion articles, videos, flyers, journals and resources out there that tell us what we should and shouldn’t be doing to try to lose weight, get fit, be healthy, blah blah blah…yet we still all seem to struggle with our health and wellness.

Why? When we try to change our behaviours for the better, what is really happening is we are replacing one habit with another. We’re layering our already busy lives and overloaded brains with more information and ‘shoulds’ – should do this, should do that – than we have room, time or patience for. It’s a little bit like wallpapering a wall over and over again. Eventually the paper stops sticking and everything just starts to fall apart.

So, what if you were to let go of the things you don’t need, so that the things that you instinctively know are good and right for you, simply happen?

“People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures.” F.M. Alexander

How do you let go of something that you’ve used as a crutch for years, if not decades? Granted, it’s not easy, but there are means and there are ways. Truthfully, these means and ways are not easy, but they remove the problem, rather than creating more.
Alexander Technique: “Using the Alexander Technique, you can learn to strip away harmful habits, heighten your self-awareness, and use your thought process to restore your original poise.” (Joan Arnold)

Meditation and yoga: Yoga helps to bring balance to the nervous system, the first of the body’s systems to come under attack when we are exposed to any stressor.

Homeopathy works on stimulating the body’s own ability to fight dis-ease, thereby bringing your system back to a state of natural balance, rather than the imbalanced state most of us exist in.

Kinesiology also works to rid the body of dis-ease by identifying “the elements which inhibit the body’s natural internal energies and accessing the life enhancing potential within the individual.”*

Massage. Well, we all know massage feels good and goes a long way towards healing soft tissue injury, stress and tightness. Relaxation or remedial, they are equally effective.

How you choose to make change is up to you. You can struggle with it and you can create raging drama and wind yourself up to the point of illness. Alternatively, you can choose to work with yourself, not against. Whatever that choice may be, there will always be someone or something to help you get rid of what you don’t need so you can better become who you really are.

* Australian Kinesiology Association 1999.