As a parent to a child with special needs, creating new habits that support self care can seem like a daunting task, and even the thought of taking 10 minutes out of your morning routine to start a new mindfulness meditation practice can sound like a herculean feat.
As a mother to an 11 year old girl with non speaking autism, I can certainly relate to the seemingly uphill battle of finding time for my self care routine and creating new healthy habits for myself.
When we build new habits, our brain quite literally has to form new neural pathways! The good news is that your brain has already built a strong network of neurons to support your current behaviors. The more you do something, the stronger and more efficient the connection becomes.
You probably have very strong habits and connections that you take for granted each day. For example, your brain is probably very efficient at remembering to take a shower each morning or to brew your morning cup of coffee or to open the blinds when the sun rises … or thousands of other daily habits. You can take advantage of these strong connections to build new habits.
How?
When it comes to building new habits, you can use the connectedness of behavior to your advantage. One of the best ways to build a new habit is to identify a current habit you already do each day and then stack your new behavior on top. This is called habit stacking.
Habit stacking is a special form of an implementation intention. Rather than pairing your new habit with a particular time and location, you pair it with a current habit.
Habit Stacking Examples
The habit stacking formula is:”After —> I will”
For example:
- After I brush my teeth each. morning, I will meditate for 10 minutes.
- After I brew my morning coffee, I will take 1 minute to do a breathing exercise.
- After I sit down to eat a meal, I will take 5 deep breaths before eating.
- After I get into bed at night, I will list 3 things I am grateful for that happened today
- After I start my car, I will take 1 minute to check in with my body to see if I am holding tension in my shoulders and hands
Again, the reason habit stacking works so well is that your current habits are already built into your brain. You have patterns and behaviors that have been strengthened over years. By linking your new habits to a cycle that is already built into your brain, you make it more likely that you’ll stick to the new behavior.
Need help building your daily self care routine? You won’t want to miss the next free online workshop in the OMM Facebook group (click here to join)!
Would you like a little one on one help? The OMM Coaching program can help give you a jump start to creating habits that stick! Click here for more information.
