The Rubberband Method.....
Have you heard of the Rubber Band Method (Aversion Therapy) before? Psychologists use this method to break bad habits and is proven to work quickly when applied correctly.
Google it if you wish to read a more in depth version - short, regurgitated, “my” version is down below.
If there is any habit or negative thought you want to change, this method can be used to help. Let’s say you want to stop reaching for junk food or you think negatively about yourself – You could use this technique to recondition yourself.
Essentially you are creating awareness to this unwanted behavior, inflicting a certain level of discomfort which is supposed to create a negative feeling towards the craving. Over time your mind stops wanting to do the thing you was doing before.
What to do:
Find a loose fitting rubber band and place around your wrist.
Every time you have a craving or negative thought, you simply pull the rubber band back and let it go a few times. Don’t do it so hard that you injure yourself, just enough to “shock” you.
Your brain will quickly learn to no longer desire the snack as it starts to associate the idea of a snack with ‘pain’ or associate that negative thought as 'shocking'.
There are also different versions of this method – after snapping you make a positive comment to yourself – for instance if you are trying to break your habit of reaching for junk food – if you were thinking about reaching for that candy, snap the band then say to yourself, “I have control of the foods I choose to eat”….. if you wanted to train yourself to stop telling yourself that you are fat – if you had a negative fat comment about yourself you would snap the band and say to yourself, “I am perfect just the way I am”.
Another method is to move the bands to the other wrist every day that you don’t do the bad habit or even having several bands and move them back and forth when you don’t perform the habit vs give in…..but that’s just too much thinking for me. :)
If you want to try it out, let me know - I'll make you a rinky dinky- 12 year old pink and black one like this :)