According to Wikipedia, motivation is what explains why people or animals initiate, continue or terminate a certain behavior at a particular time.
That's not how we think of the definition of motivation. Motivation, for a lot of us, is this mystical feeling that comes upon us like the holy spirit and empowers us to complete our goals. Or something to that affect, lol.
The interesting thing is, if you know WHAT your motivation is it can help you with your goals and stop behaviors.
A lot of time our goals are start behaviors (things we want to start) and we often keep our stop behaviors as something separate.
So let's use my ice cream problem as an example. I had a rough day yesterday. Work was extra long and frustrating. Ice cream sounded really good. What was my motivation?
Let me just be brutal and cut right to it (from experience with this particular issues) that ice cream is an "I deserve it" treat that I am working to uncement from my lizard brain out of 10s of years of training that this is my treat for when things go good, when things go bad, when I feel bad, when I look bad, etc..
"I deserve it". Let's challenge that entitled statement. What I really deserve... is to take care of myself and to honor my body when it is feeling stressed. Let's be honest, there is no way in Hades that my body "deserves" inflammatory foods that will add to the stress load.
Right?
Stop and think about all of that. My motivation is because "I deserve it". Can we use that motivation and tweak it to something that actually serves us? How about an exotic piece of fruit? Or a new book that has no intellectual value? Or let's not add to our financial burden and go for a walk!
What is motivating you in your bad habits and how with a little tweak can you make it a good thing?
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