Habits. Cycles. We do the same things over and over, day after day, year after year, for better or (oftentimes) for worse.  

About eight years ago, my well-meaning mother-in-law sent me one of those inflammatory, scare-tactic emails about the dangers of aspartame for people with autoimmune diseases (I have MS). I appreciated her efforts (sigh), but was in no way interested in quitting my daily Diet Coke habit, and ignored the warning as hogwash.

But my nosy then-twelve-year-old caught sight of the message, and that was that. "Of course, you won't be having Diet Coke anymore. It's bad for you." He punctuated the edict with a loving look.

Ugh. I decided to humor him and still indulge on the sly -- until he caught on and used one of my own strategies against me. "Try going without for just one week and see if your symptoms are better. If not, you can go back to drinking it, but what if this really helps?! You can't NOT try!" 

Begrudgingly, I agreed (really and truly this time) to quit Diet Coke for one week. Agonizing! But -- argh, those meddling kids! -- the change significantly helped my symptoms. I haven't cracked one open since. 

This is a goofy example, I'll admit, but it kind of matters. 

Maybe you have a long history of yo-yo dieting, of choosing the wrong romantic partners, of amassing unmanageable debt, of being the first one drunk at every party. Maybe your family has a cycle of hotheadedness, verbal abuse, violence. It's so easy to fall into comfortable, familiar patterns, even when we know they're bad for us. 

What cycle should you at least TRY to break -- even just for one week? Or maybe more importantly, what healthy new habit do you want to START?

• Spending time with more positive people?
• Becoming a frequent exceriser?
• Creating a peaceful environment at home?
• Reading for pleasure?
• Paying in cash?

At my next free coaching session (see sidebar), you'll have an opportunity to think through the cycles you want to leave behind, and the space to privately plan for some fresher, wisdom-inspired life patterns. It's a quiet time for introspection, note-taking and new beginnings. 

I hope to see you there. We always have fun.