Steps to break unhealthy repeating pattern
Unhealthy patterns or habits develop over a considerable period of time. Some of them are impacted by the childhood beliefs that we hold and carry to adulthood, while some start as a defense mechanism and then become a part of life. “Core beliefs determine how you perceive and interpret the world. It starts from when you are a child, the attachments that you have, the experiences that you go through etc. As we develop self-awareness we can break through these patterns. Often it can help if we work with a mental health professional who can help us identify patterns and to offer a safe space to explore ways of moving forward,” wrote Therapist Lalitaa Suglani.
The Therapist further stated a few steps by which we can break unhealthy patterns in life:
Keep a record: We need to consciously observe the behavior patterns we have and make a record of the same to understand the origin, triggers and the ways to combat them.
Establish the triggers: knowing the triggers will further help us in understanding the way we can change how we respond to them. This will further help us to change the reactions and the responses to the triggers.
Respond to triggers: Understanding and tracking the ways we respond to triggers will help us to change them slowly. How the response originated and what made us feel like this helps in knowing the past experiences that impacted them.
Deep dive: Diving deep into the memory lane to pull our past trauma, past experiences and events that made us develop behavioral patterns can help us to become more aware.
Honest conversation: We need to sit with ourselves and have an honest conversation to find out if the recent behavioral patterns are serving us or helping us in any way. If not, we need to change the way we react and respond.
