Thursday, February 16, 2017

How to Break a Bad Habit

1 Corinthians 4:2 says that it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. I have one area where I've been struggling with good stewardship. Here is my story and how I got victory.

Do you feel as guilty as I do when you waste food? I opened my fridge the other day and a foul odor assaulted my nose. Each week I go to the grocery store with good intentions, but I often end up not making good on a promise I made to myself to prepare a marvelous meal. I end up eating a simplified version of what I planned. Sometimes I just forget what I have in there until the molded version reminds me.  So, I sigh a prayer of apology to the Lord like I've done too many before; however, this time I did something more than just say I was sorry. I decided to change. Isn't that the first step if we want to do and be better?

What do you want to change in your life? Your weight? Your negative thought patterns? Letting fear win? Being on time for work or church? Overcome an addiction? It doesn't matter what the habit is, desire to change is not enough, is it? We must decide we don't want to live like this anymore. It's got to be strong enough to move us from desiring to deciding to doing.

Ask yourself some questions: How do I keep falling into this habit? Is there a constant that accompanies this habit? What can I do to be proactive in arriving at a better outcome?

Take my food decay dilemma for example.
I asked how I kept falling into the habit of throwing out spoiled food?

Answer: I don't pay close enough attention to what's in the fridge. I lose track of how long certain items have been there.

Question: Is there a constant that accompanies this habit?

Answer: Yes. I am too tired to cook what I planned so I put it off until the food spoils.

Question: What can I do to be proactive in arriving at a better outcome?

I can be realistic about the amount of cooking I will do during the week and buy accordingly. I read an article years ago that said we need to grocery shop according to who we really are and not how we think we should be. So no more planning three course meals unless I have days off to actually prepare them.
One more proactive thing I did was buy freezer bags to put prepared food on ice before it was too late. Freezer bags was one of those things I didn't think I needed so I never had them on hand when I did need them. I needed to change my thinking, didn't I?

As the mind goes the body follows. My body and mind are much happier now that they are are not engaging in the unlawful neglect of food and the consequent guilt that followed.

Will you join me in the dance of desiring, deciding and doing? Please share, if you are so inclined, how you answered those questions I shared today.

Know of a friend who would benefit from this post? Please feel free to share.

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