Was watching a video yesterday about Appalachia and drug addiction and as a part of the video, one of the participants said this first line:
Old behavior is not going to produce new mentality.
That line really struck me in that moment, and I jotted some more notes down on the card:
You have to change your way of thinking. If you don’t have a system to support you, you will fall back into old habits and behaviors.
I would probably reorder the words on this card, but I wanted to honor the experience that triggered thought. I would probably now say it as:
You have to change your way of thinking, and old behavior is not going to produce new mentality. You need to take new actions to support that new way of thinking. If you don’t have a system to support you in those new behaviors, you will fall back into old habits and behaviors.
Thought is supported by action. Our actions support and reinforce our thinking. If we do not take the time to take new actions, and pay attention to how we take those new actions, we will slip back into what is known, what is comfortable to our minds, rather than the discomfort of change.
We cannot do the same actions that we have done previously and get something aligned with our intentions and outcomes if they weren’t previously aligned. If we know that they weren’t aligned, we know that we need to be taking different action.
Questions that might help:
What actions are you taking to support your new way of thinking?
What actions are you taking intentionally and consistently to support the outcomes you want to get to into the way you want to get there?
What system are you putting in place to support you when things get tough?
In case you’re interested, here’s the video clip: