5 Steps To Creating New Habits That Promote Inner Happiness

Did you know that we live 98 per cent of our day from the subconscious mind? Yes—nearly everything we do every day comes from habit, which includes many actions we don’t even think about because we’ve been doing them day after day, and maybe for years. This includes everything from bodily functions like your heart beating, breathing and digesting your food to automatic movements like your morning routine, driving to work (where you ask yourself, “How did I even get here?”), riding a bike, swimming and playing an instrument.

Many of us live according to a program we’re not even aware of that’s dictating how we think, feel, act. These behaviours can include waking up, grabbing our cell phones to check our texts, emails and social media, then getting out of bed and following a routine sequence of behaviours throughout the day only to repeat the same process all over again tomorrow. These automatic actions are guided by one of the most powerful inner forces that drive human behaviour: the subconscious mind. “By the time we’re … there is a memorized set of behaviours, emotional reactions, unconscious habits, hardwired attitudes, beliefs and perceptions that function like a computer program,” according to Joe Dispenza, New York Times best-selling author, researcher, lecturer and corporate consultant. This leaves us with a meagre 2 per cent to consciously change our thoughts, beliefs and actions and become aware of what our subconscious mind has been doing and reacting to every single day. 

If we are going to be happier people, then we must take a more active approach to designing the life we want. So how do we do that?  Well, with dedication, consistency and rewiring, we can reprogram our minds with thoughts that empower us to reawaken our innate potential. The first step is awareness; becoming aware of the thoughts and beliefs that aren’t serving you and have you living a life you’re unhappy with. Next is deciding what you do want and focusing on it by giving your brain direction: what do you want physically, emotionally and spiritually in your personal and professional life? Then, it’s committing to doing away with any negative and limiting beliefs about yourself in order to change the paradigms that are having you play it small and changing a fear-based mindset to a growth mindset. Last is taking consistent action to consciously take the thoughts we do want to have and plant them in place of the old belief.

Taking steps such as the following can assist in rewriting the programming in our minds:

• Become aware of the negative self-talk and beliefs that are having you playing your small self. Replace these with empowering opinions and statements like positive affirmations about ourselves, our goals and the aspects we want to change about our lives.
• Have an attitude of gratitude. This helps you to notice more of what is going well in your life and remark less about what isn’t. Being grateful for all the small advancements along the journey will keep you motivated and positive, rather than feeling defeated when you focus on not reaching a goal in the timeframe you initially set out. Happiness lies in the journey.
• Have a positive attitude toward change. Rather than approach the uncertainty that comes with change with feelings of fear, worry and pessimism, try switching your mindset to embrace the new possibilities that can arise out of change instead, understanding that change is inevitable and a natural part of all life, and appreciating that life never stays the same.
• When reprogramming our mind for success, it’s important that we surround ourselves with people and things that help keep us on track. So, spend more time with positive, uplifting and inspiring people, music and books.
• Visualisations are also a great tool that can help you to envision a goal as if it has already happened. Incorporate all your senses when doing this and feel the achievement emotionally. What does the endpoint look like, smell like, sound like, feel like? Your subconscious mind will absorb the thoughts and feelings in your images as if they were real and. with enough repetition, create new neural pathways in the brain. These new pathways enforce the new behaviour, and the old pathways or habits wear away. On a spiritual level, when we visualise our goals as already having been achieved and feel gratitude for this, we’re telling the universe to help make our goal a reality. Experiencing the end goal with all our senses places us in vibrational alignment with the energy that will draw what we desire to us.  We must remain consistent in the belief that the universe will align things in such a way that our goal becomes a reality if it is for the highest good for ourselves and others.

To live the life you desire, you must decide who you want to be, commit to letting go of fear and beliefs that are you holding back and take actionable steps in the direction of your happiness. Make a conscious choice to be present and aware of your thoughts, beliefs and actions in every moment and redirect your focus on making your life a masterpiece and designing a life with happiness, passion and fulfilment. —Teresa Greco

Teresa Greco is a certified happiness life coach and the host of a weekly internet TV show called The Steps to Happiness Show With Teresa Greco. She is an educator and educational technologies consultant with a master’s degree from Toronto. Follow Teresa @teresagreco_stepstohappiness and visit her website for information speaking engagements, workshops and services.