Mental Health: Learning how to Change Negative Behavior

A classical violinist, guitarist, or pianist is not able to play their instrument perfectly when they first pick it up. It takes hard work and dedication to develop a good habit and to nurture a talent. The same thing is true of bad habits. The bad habits that people have that impede them from succeeding in life, cause them to poison relationships, and drive them to engage in self-destructive behavior are learned. However, there are steps that people can take to change this kind of negative behavior. Taking the time to practice positive behaviors can make all the difference.

Avoid Dwelling on Bad Behavior
An individual who is trying to quit smoking and constantly daydreams about smoking is going to have a hard time staying away from their negative habit. Additionally, focusing on negative, depressing, angry thoughts may be a trigger to engage in negative behavior. Negative behavior can be changed by using triggers to encourage positive thoughts and behavior. For example, a person who is fighting against smoking may put a picture of a lung that has been damaged by tobacco use somewhere in clear sight. The picture is gruesome, yet it reminds them of the negative consequences of giving in to the destructive behavior and how it impacts health. We are free to choose our actions but we cannot control the consequences of them.

Control Negative Behaviors by Understanding Them
When a person is battling negative behaviors, they may feel like the situation is outside of their control. However, when they learn more about human behavior by taking a course about how to become a board certified behavior analyst, for example, they learn that they have more control over their behavior than they may think. As they go through their continuing education and learn what triggers certain behaviors in humans, they can use that information to make the necessary changes.

Change Your Environment, Change Your Behavior
A person’s environment plays a large role in their learning and developing negative behaviors. As humans, our reaction to stimuli is almost automatic. A person can drive on the road, stop at stop lights, change lanes, and change speeds in response to other vehicles almost as if they were on autopilot. Their behavior is controlled not by conscious thought but instead by the stimuli in their environment.

Recognizing a Bad Environment
One example would be a person who is overweight and trying to stick to a diet. They may find themselves inadvertently eating food even though they are not hungry. Why do they do this? They are responding to the site or smell of food or other stimuli in their environment that indicates it is time to eat. So the best way to avoid overeating is to avoid being in an environment that stimulates negative behavior.

Negative behaviors can destroy a person’s sense of self-worth. Some contributing factors are things like: their financial situation, their relationships with others, and their future happiness. Learning to identify and to change negative behaviors can set a person on the road to a happier, more successful life. Making constant course corrections is needed to create the life that you want to live. Being happy is something that we can all achieve if we but have the fortitude to think before we act.