{"id":1007,"date":"2014-05-29T00:33:53","date_gmt":"2014-05-29T00:33:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/?p=1007"},"modified":"2014-05-29T00:33:53","modified_gmt":"2014-05-29T00:33:53","slug":"a-few-bad-habits-to-break-to-make-more-room-for-happiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2014\/05\/a-few-bad-habits-to-break-to-make-more-room-for-happiness.html","title":{"rendered":"A Few Bad Habits to Break to Make More Room for Happiness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Time<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cA change in bad habits leads to a change in life.” – Jenny Craig<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Someone once said, “Breaking bad habits is like getting into a comfortable bed. It’s easy to get into but harder to get out.” <\/p>\n

With that being said, your bad habits may be the thing that is limiting your happiness<\/a>. Here are a few bad habits to break to make room for happiness.<\/p>\n

Making excuses<\/strong>.
\nIt was Benjamin Franklin who said, “He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.\u201d The thing is if something is really important to you, you will move heaven and earth to make it happen. If it is not, then you will find an excuse. Instead of finding excuses:
\n–\tFind solutions
\n–\tOwn up to your mistakes
\n–\tTry repeatedly before giving up. (The makers of WD 40 tried 39 times before coming up with a successful product.)<\/p>\n

Practicing procrastination<\/strong>.
\nIt is often said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. It is not enough to have a plan. You have to activate that plan to see the real results. You can break your procrastinating habits by:
\n–\tHaving a friend hold you accountable
\n–\tPutting a time line on your plans
\n–\tOffer yourself small rewards for resisting the urge to procrastinate.<\/p>\n

Avoiding exercise<\/strong>.
\nIf you are avoiding exercise like the plague, it may be one of the reasons why you are so cranky. Exercise is known to release endorphins which are also called the “natural good mood drug. Implement physical activity into your lifestyle will not only make you look good on the outside, but also make you feel good on the inside. Kick this bad habit to the curb by:
\n–\tStart out by doing a brisk walks for five minutes. As you get into the habit, increase the time span to 10, then 20 minutes.
\n–\tIf running is too hard for you, why not cycle?
\n–\tJump on the trampoline with your kids. It increases your heart beats and helps burn calories<\/p>\n

Being controlled by your smartphone<\/strong>.
\nMany people are being controlled by their smartphone and that’s not very smart. If you can’t resist the urge to check your smartphone every other minute that’s a definite tell-tale sign that your smartphone is the boss of you. Yes, there are thousands of apps available for download on this gadget, which seemingly occupies your time. Here’s how you can be the boss of your smartphone:
\n–\tPlay games with your friends or family instead of on your smartphone.
\n–\tResist the urge to check your messages every other minute. <\/p>\n

Breaking bad habits is not as hard as you may think. Once you start, you are well on your way to developing a good habit \u2013 and to making more room for happiness.<\/p>\n

About Alex Blackwell<\/a><\/strong>
\nAlex Blackwell is a father, husband and writer<\/a>. He writes about inspiring things at The BridgeMaker<\/a>.
\nWeb<\/a> | Simple Paths to an Amazing Life<\/a> | Free eBook: How to Love Consciously<\/a><\/p>\n

Image Source<\/strong>: Google Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cA change in bad habits leads to a change in life.” – Jenny Craig Someone once said, “Breaking bad habits is like getting into a comfortable bed. It’s easy to get into but harder to get out.” With that being said, your bad habits may be the thing that is limiting your happiness. Here are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":554,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nA Few Bad Habits to Break to Make More Room for Happiness - Everyday Inspiration<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2014\/05\/a-few-bad-habits-to-break-to-make-more-room-for-happiness.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Few Bad Habits to Break to Make More Room for Happiness - Everyday Inspiration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cA change in bad habits leads to a change in life.” – Jenny Craig Someone once said, “Breaking bad habits is like getting into a comfortable bed. It’s easy to get into but harder to get out.” With that being said, your bad habits may be the thing that is limiting your happiness. Here are…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2014\/05\/a-few-bad-habits-to-break-to-make-more-room-for-happiness.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Everyday Inspiration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-05-29T00:33:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/files\/2014\/05\/time_for_change.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alex Blackwell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Few Bad Habits to Break to Make More Room for Happiness - Everyday Inspiration","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2014\/05\/a-few-bad-habits-to-break-to-make-more-room-for-happiness.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Few Bad Habits to Break to Make More Room for Happiness - Everyday Inspiration","og_description":"\u201cA change in bad habits leads to a change in life.” – Jenny Craig Someone once said, “Breaking bad habits is like getting into a comfortable bed. It’s easy to get into but harder to get out.” With that being said, your bad habits may be the thing that is limiting your happiness. Here are…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2014\/05\/a-few-bad-habits-to-break-to-make-more-room-for-happiness.html","og_site_name":"Everyday Inspiration","article_published_time":"2014-05-29T00:33:53+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/files\/2014\/05\/time_for_change.jpg"}],"author":"Alex Blackwell","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2014\/05\/a-few-bad-habits-to-break-to-make-more-room-for-happiness.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2014\/05\/a-few-bad-habits-to-break-to-make-more-room-for-happiness.html","name":"A Few Bad Habits to Break to Make More Room for Happiness - Everyday Inspiration","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2014\/05\/a-few-bad-habits-to-break-to-make-more-room-for-happiness.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2014\/05\/a-few-bad-habits-to-break-to-make-more-room-for-happiness.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/files\/2014\/05\/time_for_change.jpg","datePublished":"2014-05-29T00:33:53+00:00","dateModified":"2014-05-29T00:33:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/#\/schema\/person\/71d89f4271da87423b5582b35093074f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2014\/05\/a-few-bad-habits-to-break-to-make-more-room-for-happiness.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2014\/05\/a-few-bad-habits-to-break-to-make-more-room-for-happiness.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2014\/05\/a-few-bad-habits-to-break-to-make-more-room-for-happiness.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/files\/2014\/05\/time_for_change.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/files\/2014\/05\/time_for_change.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/2014\/05\/a-few-bad-habits-to-break-to-make-more-room-for-happiness.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Few Bad Habits to Break to Make More Room for Happiness"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/","name":"Everyday Inspiration","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Alex Blackwell","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/#\/schema\/person\/71d89f4271da87423b5582b35093074f","name":"Alex Blackwell","description":"Alex Blackwell is the author of Letting Go: 25 True Stories of Peace, Hope and Surrender and the founding editor of The BridgeMaker - a blog about letting go, faith and inspiration. Be sure to download Alex's free eBook How to Love Consciously and connect with him on Facebook.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/author\/cblackwell"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/554"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1007"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1010,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007\/revisions\/1010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayinspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}