How to change your thinking

One study found that it takes an average of 66 days for a new habit to become ingrained and automatic. Clearly, it takes some pretty heavy lifting!

The technique: The researchers wondered what would happen if people were encouraged to change bad habits for good ones AFTER they spent a few minutes thinking about something beyond or outside themselves.

So, according to their study published in the journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers divided 202 participants who were sedentary and overweight or obese into three groups:

— The first group reflected on things, such as friends and family or spirituality, that mattered a great deal to them. They were asked to imagine times in the future when they would feel close to those people or might feel connected to God or another source of higher power.

— The second group was directed to think of good wishes for folks they knew and for strangers, such as hoping that they would be happy and well.

— The control group had to think about whatever values were least important to them.

They then gave all participants direct health tips about how to lose weight and protect their heart health. Turns out, those folks who thought about others and wished them well or contemplated spiritual realms actually adopted the suggested changes and were significantly more active the following month. And by monitoring participants’ brain activity, researchers confirmed that those who thought about people and realms outside themselves had greater activity in brain regions involved in reward and positive-valuation.

Start every day with a 10-minute session of meditation and think about your best wishes for those near and dear and those around the world who you know are struggling. Being altruistic to others seems to actually change the way you think.