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Newsletter Excerpt Seize the Moment How many times have you started to make positive changes in your lifestyle and then find yourself pulled back into your old habits? What is your response when you find yourself doing the same old thing? I often hear from my clients that they feel bad about themselves or guilty when they fall back to old (less healthy) habits and then use those negative feelings as justification to continue to fall back to the old way of doing things. Psychologists call this the "abstinence violation effect" which means that when we do something that we have been trying NOT to do (or "abstaining" from) we experience negative emotion (e.g. guilt, remorse, frustration) and use the negative emotion as justification to resume the old habits. Knowing about the abstinence violation effect means that you can now acknowledge the negative emotion AND choose to do something to get you back on track. When you notice that you have moved back to old habits, seize the moment, and right then (not later that day or tomorrow or next week) take a small step in a new direction and continue on your path to a healthier lifestyle. |
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