How to Change a Habit

On the Healing Her IBS podcast, we’ve already spoken a lot about different aspects of your life and how they could be contributing to your suffering, or to healing your IBS.

We’ve talked about the importance of quality sleep and fiber, getting enough protein and the importance of taking care of yourself to the best of your ability, managing stress and addressing the gut-brain axis connection through mindfulness and self-compassion.

One of the missing pieces for so many of my clients and women with IBS is how to start doing something new, how to change a habit, develop a new one or change an old one.

Today we will discuss one important aspect of habit change which is identifying your true why.

Find the full transcript for this episode and other resources at healingheribs.com/26.

IBS Healing & The Heart of Habit Change

One important aspect of habit change that is overlooked in the world of self-help is what I would call: Identifying your Why. When you want something in your life to change, you have a lot of conflicting parts of you that can come in and block that desire or question it when real life comes up.

The saying of Old Habits Die Hard is so true and it often is the most challenging part of healing your IBS. Often you are informed on what to do, you just can’t seem to implement it in your real life.

For instance, maybe you really do want to lose 30 pounds, but you also really want to continue relaxing at night and getting the pleasure that you get from wine and any other indulgences that you have that you secretly know may be contributing to that excess weight on your body.

Maybe you really want to get back into running but you don’t want to feel like you are having to sacrifice your sleep to do so.

One of the key steps that people skip because they don’t know it exists or because they think it isn’t that important, is identifying the why —the deep and profound reason behind why you want to do something in your life, why you want something to be different.

When it comes to healing your IBS and starting to incorporate new habits into your life that can help you heal, you must get really honest about what kind of life that you want to have, and why it’s important to you.

You’ll know if you are going deep enough with this question if it gets to the core of what’s truly important to you.

Having a truly strong why is the heart of successful habit change.

How to Know if Your Why is Strong Enough

One of the reasons it can be so effective to work with a coach or health professional when healing or IBS or trying to accomplish any number of important health goals is partially the knowledge that they bring you that you didn’t know about.

Another incredible thing about working with someone to help you heal is the way that they can ask you questions to find out what it is that you truly want in your life and why that’s so important to you.

Often times, discovering this why underneath it all can be a deeply emotional process that is hard to go on alone. Having someone witness and guide this process can make the difference between getting to the truth of your why and remaining more superficial in your understanding of this desire to change or establish a habit.

Getting to that strong why can carry you through the process of habit change when it feels so hard to keep going.

If you are considering starting something new in your life, adding in more movement or getting better sleep, you need your why first.

Ask yourself before you set your goal:

Maybe your goal has to do with being able to support yourself better, or it’s connected to finding more love and connection in your life. Maybe your habit change goal simply has to do with inviting more peace into your life.

IBS Healing Goals are Unique

Whatever is the true reason, the true why behind your new goal is so unique to you. We all come to life with our own different stories, families and cultures and backgrounds.

We are all here with the stories of those that came before us and how they have shaped our lives, given meaning to our lives and given us direction towards who we are and who we want to become.

At times we aren’t even aware of the scripts that have been set out for us and how we are playing into them, how the programming of our lives can dictate so much of how things turn out for us.

Discovering who we are, where that has come from and then deciding to move our lives in new directions that feel better for us personally is really the work of our lives. It’s not a simple thing or an easy one.

We are all different, we are all unique and therefore our whys are going to look different to each of us. Our goals are going to look different as well.

Before you decide to establish a new goal this month or this year, take the time before hand to question where that desire is coming from. Journal or meditate or ask for help in discovering what it is that you truly want and what the real reason is underneath that desire.

Having that answer for yourself can make all the difference for you in reaching your goal, and more importantly it will affect how you feel about yourself and the work you are doing in that process.