Radical Changes To Lifestyle

[Arman]

The topic Identifying Threats To Productivity inspired me to make this thread. I was thinking of all of the unproductive habits I have and I thought, jeeze, where do I start? I think it can be very effective to pick a few habits and eliminate them, replacing them with habits that are more in alignment with your goals. Then over time keep eliminating more bad habits. However has anyone considered or tried creating more revolutionary change in their life - like identifying and eliminating all bad habits in one fell swoop? Completely change your lifestyle from the start to end of your day. I suspect this probably wouldn't work for most. Going cold turkey on an intense life change is probably really challenging since all of your programming, your emotional safety nets, and the activities that were sedating you from your discomfort would be calling you back. I'm wondering if it's feasible or if anyone has done it. It's certainly happened in certain isolated or extreme cases like if we look at Eckhart Tolle. What about for the laymen? 

Would anyone care to share their ideas, insight or experiences with creating more radical change in ones life?

[bazera]

I will tell you what I am doing..

I try to change my habits month by month, so what do I mean. For example, I say that I will read at least 1 hour a day for the next 30 days, and I do that, nothing else (to make the activity into a habit needs something like 30 days or a bit more, from my experience). After 30 days, I say that I will exercise for like 30 minutes a day, and I do that for the next 30 days, but I don't stop reading, I read for 1h/day and exercise 30m/day for the next 30 days. After that period of time, I say that I won't eat sugar for example, for the next 30 days, and I do that, with reading and exercising. The idea here is to let the activity become a habit, and focus only on that process. When you try and force yourself to change your lifestyle and get all sorts of new habits in 1 week, you will get frustrated and you'll probably fail. The more natural process would be the one I described, that will require some time as you suspect, but trust me, it's worthy

[Guest]

I will tell you about some of my past experiences that radicly changed my life but only for a month or two each.

When i was 14-15 (23 now) i discovered a book called the way of the peaceful warrior by Dan Millman after i watched the movie and it was great so later i bought a book called wisdom of the peaceful warrior and it blew my mind at the time, It was like a map for life. Anyway i found the core of the teaching in two sentences: '' here and now i accept my thoughts and emotions instead of fighting to change them and i act responsibly, constructively and kindly either I FEEL LIKE IT OR NOT''. This was my mantra and i kept repeating it in my head every second, more so when i went to sleep. It was like hell at first confronting my thoughts and emotions and fighting inertia. I don't know why i stopped but i remember that in that month i have done more things than in a year. I think it's also important to know when to rest and have some time for fun to prevent this mantra make you a workaholic (better than lazy but still bad imo).

When i was 18 it was a very difficult period of my life because of my family's financial problems and a lot of other stuff. At that time i discovered Eckhart Tolle and i read the Power Of Now and A New Earth. These books shattered my ego to pieces really. I still remember that moment at my balcony that i realized that all i have to do is to stay in that moment and not drift away. It was like commiting suicide inside my head. The world changed everything changed i knew what everybody felt or even thinking at some times, people were fighting and in my presense  they were calming down, music  was stupid at most cases i felt energy bursting inside me and it was like nothing could touch me or bother me. I believe that everyone that is a little crazy to try and kill his ego and read both of these books can reach that state. Eckhart Tolle tells you exactly how to do it. I did it while i was trying to be aware of the ''space'' inside everything. For example between breaths there is a space as you become aware of it the longer it becomes. I don't know if that was enlightment but it was pretty close i think. Well that was a radical change. It's not that i changed my habits i was still smoking for example but it changed my whole worldview so i suppose it counts. The think is that after two months or so i got stoned. The experience was great at first but then i lost control. The next three years i was ''high'' almost everyday. One of two things happened, either i lost that "egoless" feeling that i had and tried to relive it with weed or i felt something like "what's the point? Everything is a joke anyway". In these 3-4 years i managed to find the love of my life, ruin my life and lose her, get fckd by society etc. So another radical way to change your life while lowering your awereness: abuse weed every day! (after a 2 year break i smoke once per month and it's ok)

I was always passionate about fitness. When i was 12 all of a sudden i had this urge to become ripped. Without reading anything about habits i chose an exercise (something really difficult) and i did it every day for 30 days (it was above painful). After 30 days everytime i was adding a new exersice. Anyway after something less than a year i was a monster for a 13 year old and i kept exercising until some years ago What i'm trying to say is that i wanted something badly enough to exercise very hard every day, i had a vision and i realized it by having habits and do them everyday no matter how difficult it was and how many excuses i had. From that i learned how important patience is. After 8 months or so i stopped those exercises but the habit remained. I was exercising almost every day until i was 20 (i still do but not really). So this was the method that was most successful. Slow and steady. I tried to change many habits the last years but i didn't put the effort, i wanted immediate results but that rarely works. Many times i'm thinking what would happen if i changed only one habit every two months the last 5 years.. I would be superhuman by now.

So to recap, from my experience: you can change your life right now by repeating that phrase i told you every moment until it get easier but that takes some balls and it is difficulty:  ultimate. You can try to do some spiritual work but that doesn't necessarily mean that will make you successful in the real world (because we all need an ego in this world). Drugs are bad. The best way to change your life is one habit at a time slow and steady because the habits add up over time.

I know that i got carried away but this was the best answer i could give, good luck!  

 

Edited February 24, 2016 by traveler