What comes to mind when you hear the words 'toxic habit'? A couple of cliché examples may come to mind due to our 'Morals and Ethics' classes in school. Excessive drinking, smoking, doing drugs, and basically anything that may harm your physical and emotional well-being. Evaluating your own life, can you easily identify a toxic habit you perpetuate?
In a recent meditation led by Justin Michael Williams (yes on Insight Timer, some of you know my love for that app lol), he posed this question for us to explore before the meditation. What I loved about this discussion was his definition and clarification! He defined a Toxic habit as “anything in your life that you are doing regularly that's keeping you from becoming the person that you say you want to become.” He stresses that it can be anything, and what is considered toxic for you right now may not be toxic for you at another time in your life. What may be considered toxic for you, may be fine for a friend. Some examples he gave were social media, TV, coffee, and his, which was staying up late. He shared, “Staying up a little bit too late makes me tired in the morning. I end up sometimes skipping my workouts. I can't be fully present. It feeds caffeine addictions and so staying up too late is my toxic habit.” These habits are not inherently toxic he says, but it's more about your relationship with them, what they are holding you back from, or how they affect your well-being.
He then shared a lovely tip which I think makes a huge difference in how to explore, frame, acknowledge, and ultimately remove your toxic habit. “There's a little trick that happens in your mind that will keep you from discovering your toxic habit," he says. "When I ask you to explore your toxic habit, I don't want you to tell me what you're not doing. Some people will say my toxic habit is not working out or not eating healthy. I don't want to know what you're not doing. I want to know what you are doing. A toxic habit is something that you are doing regularly that's keeping you from reaching your goals and becoming who you say you want to become.” For me, this was such a clear and necessary distinction that created a little shift. I've heard this explained before, but for some reason, this resonated differently this time.
Check out the link to the meditation here. It was good! It’s only 15 minutes long, so I hope you can fit it into your day! I hope this sharing was helpful!