We all have habits that either harm or help us. A vice or vise is any habit that becomes a major barrier to achieving your goals. It could be The obstacle that stands between you and your Best Life. Your Dream Life. Your Dharma. Could be screen time, or booze, yelling & blaming, news feeds, staying up too late or fill in the blank: _______________ that is keeping you from optimum health & performance?
Three big strategies to Ease the vise's grip or Turn Down The Vice:
#1. Identify it and get support. Ask for help from people that love you, from friends and family and from professionals. You can say: " Hey I'm working on ABC can you help me with it by ..... You choose.
#2. Trade it for something that is better for your body, and the people around you, and the planet. The more reasons this "something better" hits the brighter it will shine.
Bigger bling =easier to spot among heavy clouds and storms of vice.
# 3. Guard You Need Fences-Defenses. Create strong rules and boundaries. Gatekeep. Fight it like a warrior. to keep it from creeping in. For example: Don't bring it in the house. Lock it away. Spend time with people when they are not doing the thing that you do Not want to do because you know it is harming you.
Let's consider another more common vice: my phone. Like eating, it , like Nikki Myers the creator of Y12SR taught me, is a Tiger you need to let out of the cage every day. The phone, however, is not so much of a primal need but a tool of the times. I do need to use it. But how and where do I draw the line when too much is just too much?
Let's look at this here one more time!
Identify It And Seek Support: I know that if I am unable to accomplish my day’s list of tasks, if my level of physical activity is less than my screen time, if I am unable to settle in to sleep at bedtime, I am probably stuck in the vise of it rather than the tool of it. Those are my personal identifiers. Yours will be unique to you. Getting support to keep my phone from becoming a vise is fairly easy because the people around me will call me out when they see me hunched in and tethered. About once a month I have to explicitly ask for help around this. Sometimes I just say:" hey take it away from me". And I have an arrangement with 4 people who have agreed to literally pry it from my hands when I ask them to. Even when I'm saying out loud I need to turn this off- my body actually clings, all fingers and thumb wrapped tightly hanging on for dear life. That's a seriously powerful vise.
Trade It For Something Better: As a Yoga Health Coach we learn the daily habits of Ayurveda-the science of Robust Healthy Living. So many of these habits are great options to trade in to pull me out the stuck on the screen vise. One habit I've slowly developed a taste for is self- massage. In many ways it's the opposite of screen time yet it has similarities. It’s oppositional because self-massage requires taking time to slowly carefully pay attention to my body. Different from Screen time because it requires effort. Both have some instant gratification. Self-massage benefits sneak up on you and build over time-subtly. With repetition you start to crave the reward of self-healing those bones and muscles with your own hands.
Guard. Gatekeep. Defend: I must face both the phone and the computer as formidable opponents. Always be on guard, aware of its power and might. Many times I fall short. If I’m strict with a time on and time off it helps me tremendously. I have to limit myself to what I can functionally accomplish within a time period. I set my guidelines ahead of time because once I’m in I have hard time gauging.
So best wishes to you in your dance / wrestling matches. You can weed out the ones that are infringing on the goals you are cultivating. It takes time, energy, and attention. Identify them, seek support (you deserve it), trade the vice or vises for something that is better for you, your body, and those around you. Guard, Gatekeep and Defend your goals, hopes, dreams from the habits and actions that sway you away from the paths you most want to tread.
Turn Down The Vice, Go Outside and Move Your body! I'll catch you later. Best wishes, sincerely, Danielle.
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