Make a Decision!

Have you ever had a habit that you wanted to get rid of? Maybe biting your nails or smoking cigarettes or snacking?

Or perhaps right now you have a positive habit that you want to create in your life – maybe you want to start exercising, or become a better listener, or start eating healthier foods.

When it comes to breaking free from an unwanted habit or stepping into a new, positive habit, there are many theories about what works.

Some people say that you have to find support .. . join a support group, or find a mentor or a coach or a hypnotherapist. I believe there’s a lot of truth to that and I, too, am a firm believer in finding support to build the life you desire.

Other people would say that what’s more important is modeling success. Anthony Robbins talked a lot about modeling . . . finding out how a successful person thinks, what strategies he or she uses and even modeling the physiology of success . . how a person stands, moves or breathes. I agree that modeling success is a sure way to increase the likelihood that we’ll be able to acquire the habits we want in our own lives.

Other people will say that in order to eliminate a habit or develop a new, positive habit, we need to have knowledge and understanding about why we do the things we do. We need to look at the past and seek to know what causes us to behave as we do. Knowledge and understanding can be incredibly valuable.

But there is one key ingredient that insures success when we want to eliminate an unwanted habit or create a new, positive habit. That key ingredient is . . . making a decision. When we make a decision to do something, it’s amazing how many internal resources become available to help us to achieve our goal. . . . Resources that are always within us . . strength, courage, determination, patience and love and compassion for ourselves. These resources are always within – but when we make a decision, now they become available, and we can harness their power and use it to help us to achieve our goals.

Often when we want to change something in our lives, we try. But what does trying imply? It implies the possibility of . . . not succeeding. Or sometimes we hope that something will happen. . . “Oh, I hope that I get to exercise sometime this week.” When I am hoping where is the power placed? Outside of ourselves. When we make a decision, the power is placed where it needs to be – within our selves.

I want to share a secret with you . . .. When I was a child I sucked my thumb . . . until the age of 12! I was not proud of this fact. In fact, I was quite ashamed of it. My family did not encourage me, either. My father used to yell at me, “Rena stop sucking your thumb! You look ridiculous!” My Mother used to scold me, “You are too old to be doing that!” and she put that horrible polish on my thumb – the one that tasted terrible – that aversion therapy, thinking that for sure that would get me to stop. But it didn’t work. In fact, it made me want to do it even more because that was my source of pleasure, comfort, reward. No one was going to take that away from me. But then suddenly one day something happened. I turned 12. On my 12th birthday it dawned on me that I could grow up and still be controlled by this habit! Horrified, I looked at my future and I saw myself in 5 years and 10 years, as an adult still controlled by the habit. I read an article about adults who still sucked their thumb! I was mortified! And then it happened. . . I made a decision. That’s it – I was done. I knew it with absolute certainty. I didn’t need to join a support group, I didn’t need a mentor, I didn’t even need to tell a sole. The past was behind me and I was moving forward because I had made a decision.

I’ve been conducting stop smoking and weight loss seminars for the last 20 years and often I have the good fortune of hearing people’s success stories. Recently a man named Earl approached me after a seminar to thank me and he told me, “I had been smoking for 30 years, 2 packs a day, and after your seminar last year, I walked out of the room as a non-smoker and haven’t touched a cigarette since then.” A woman named Judy called me up the other day and said, “I want to thank you so much. Since being hypnotized by you, I no longer eat at night like I used to. I just eat an apple if I’m hungry, or drink water, or take a walk. Thank you.”

And I smile to myself because as much as I love hearing this feedback and knowing that my hypnosis program helps people, deep inside I know that the only reason Earl threw away his cigarettes for good and Judy stopped eating junk food at night is because each of them made a decision.

Make a decision today to break free from the old negative habits that have kept you stuck and in pain. Make a decision today to step into new, positive habits that will set you free and give you the life that you are longing for. Make a decision and watch all your inner resources – the strength, courage and confidence, rise up to assist you in becoming who you are meant to be. Make a decision and watch your life soar.

Thank you.