Breaking Habits and Paradigms

Everything we do, see, hear and experience, is controlled by the context of our habits and paradigms.

These are the emotional and physical programmes we have created for ourselves from past experiences.

Some of these will be serving us well and allowing us to navigate what would otherwise be a very complex world. However, some of these programmes may not be helping us to enjoy or experience our world, because they may not be founded on truth, accuracy or reason.

Since early childhood we have been programming ourselves and what to expect, think and how to respond in each and every scenario, should it or something similar to it, happen again. This is a completely natural and mostly helpful process because it helps us to anticipate possible outcomes from what we feel are predictable situations. In other words, we don’t need to relearn everything, each time we encounter it.

The danger with an over-reliance on these habits and paradigms is that they permit us to tell stories to ourselves. From these stories come anticipation, expectation and in extreme circumstances, anxiety and fear. The result from these situations is stress.

As we know, it’s impossible to feel stressed if we are truly living in the moment and being present. 

If we are then we are not anticipating any outcomes. We cannot, by definition feel stressed. As soon as we draw on our habits or paradigms then we start to interpret the scenario and draw upon what happened to us before when we made certain decisions or acted in a particular way. If the previous outcome was not favourable then we may anticipate this will be repeated and therefore we feel stressed. Our heart rate increases and our thinking becomes less clear.

Some of these habits and paradigms will not serve us well in our future journey. Some will. The trick is to identify clearly which will and you would like to retain and which you would like to untether from.

Running parallel to this is the benefit of mindful living. Constantly and consistently reawakening ourselves from the mind-numbing world of habitual living. Time in this world is perceived as short, so let’s live mindfully, as awake and aware and present as we can be. Time will feel as though it stretches and there will be numerous opportunities to release ourselves from the habits and paradigms that no longer serve us.

For more details about how to achieve this mindful living, visit the first module in Life Map by Neya, and online course called Back to Your Roots… untether from the past that no longer serves you and make the right decisions at your next crossroads.