Stages of Change
Everybody I know makes New Year’s Resolutions. I don’t. I used to. It’s kind of like, for me, having a religious experience and then slipping back into your old ways . . . If I’m gonna change something, it’s gonna be for good! As they say . . . GET REAL! Change is difficult for us due to our brains, that’s right OUR BRAINS! We get into “grooves” in our behavior and it is hard to break out. We can change, but it isn’t easy. I did a search on blogs of resolutions and there were a phenomenal number of posts in the past week on that Tag. Like I said, I don’t usually make them so it seemed foolish to write on them. Nonetheless, I have been wanting to start a category for psychology posts so I figured this would be a good time to comment on the brain and change. They say if you do something 10 times its a habit. That’s a brain/behavior thing. Just like working our muscles at the gym, change is like flexing our brain. We shouldn’t expect to change overnight, it takes time and persistence. I’ve always thought that our identity is not part of our nature but rather what we decide to do again and again. Our choices eventually, through a process, make us who we are. In essence, all of our life is change. They say our bodies are changing so much that every 12 years you have completely replaced every cell in your body. Like a fountain holds its form but constantly replaces water molecules. Nothing really stays the same. Why do we have such a hard time changing?
For me, change is possible but it should come as a calm cool decision made over time. Once you make that decision, there are steps you take. I got a helpful list of them at the about.com website. They are called the classic “Stages of Change:”
- Stage 1 - Precontemplation
- Stage 2 - Contemplation
- Stage 3 - Preparation
- Stage 4 - Action
- Stage 5 - Maintenance
- Stage 6 - Relapse
I haven’t thought much about what my New Year’s resolutions would be this year. Maybe you have yours. It would be great to hear some out there so I can get some ideas. I have started a lot of “change” in the positive direction this past year, so I hope to just keep them going. I think this time of year is good for resoluitions as long as we realize that we should be changing all throughout the year when it is warranted to improve our life. There is a psychology about moving forward always refining, trying to be better as time marches by. I think change can be healthy when we respect the process, and most of all take care to gradually change our brains.
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