Automatic behaviours - how to take notice of them

Last week I noticed that clients were telling me about many of the automatic habits they were doing every day.  Some were noticing that their automatic behaviours were getting in the way of the changes they were trying to make and some of them talked about how toxic some of their automatic behaviours were.  They were surprised to discover they had these habits!

Automatic behaviours are those that occur without awareness, are initiated without intention, tend to continue without control, and operate efficiently or with little effort (Cohen and Farley, 2008).  Some of my clients were surprised that they have been having these habits happen without their full awareness.   Clients noticed no exercise or healthy movement, over eating, over drinking and many other issues that were getting in the way of their success towards the personal Vision goals they had for themselves.

So how did they notice these automatic behaviours????

They tracked them.  They sat back and became observers of their daily activities of living (their lives).  They watched themselves and they took notes of what was happening and reflected and asked why they were doing what they were doing. This investment in themselves, to track to take time, time to reflect was great for their learning about themselves and will support them make change. 

It is inspiring to see their hard work support them to grow the way they want on their terms.

Read more about "Eating as automatic behaviour from Cohen and Farley (2008) at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2248777/