Nail Biting History

Nail Biting History -Nail Biting History

Quick Tip
From Julyne Derrick,Your Guide to Beauty. There are lots of ways to discourage nail biting. Here are some of the most interesting tricks that I have come across. They range from the most obvious, to the most unusual.

*The Bribe:
In the early sixties, it was quite common for parents to bribe their children to stop. A lowly sum of 25 cents a week was quite popular.

*A Little Pain:
Keeping a elastic band around the wrist was another trick that was popular. Every time you find you find yourself nibbling... you snap it. As an recovered nail biter, I don't think I like this one.

*A Tennis Ball:
Keeping the hands occupied was another trick that often worked. It seems that if the hands had something to do, the nails were left alone.

*Paint Them Nasty:
There are products still on the market that you paint onto the nails and the nasty taste is supposed to make you quit. I do remember... it did taste horrible, but it still didn't stop me. Once you managed to get rid of the taste, you tended to forget until the next time. Hopefully it will work for others.

*Chew Gum:
This actually makes sense. If you are busy chewing gum, you are less likely to nibble.
*Keeping Them Polished:
It seems that nails that have been groomed will slow down the urge to bite. It might have something to do with the sudden improvement in the appearance of the nails.

Probable Reasons For Nail Biting

-Nervousness
This is a common cause especially in teens. The stress if school and the statis of their social life can usually be blamed.

-Boredom
This can affect any age group. You find yourself with nothing to do and before you know it, you start nibbling.

-Comfort
This reason is the likely cause for young children. TheThey have gone through the pacifier stage or thumb sucking stage and have progressed to the nails.



Taken from about.com

MIT explains why bad habits are hard to break | CNET News.com

Why bad habits ar hard to break. Here is an article from MIT explaining why our habits are so ingrained in our brains. Read below and share your hard to break habit with us!

MIT explains why bad habits are hard to break | CNET News.com: "MIT explains why bad habits are hard to break
By Michael Kanellos
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

Old habits don't die. They hibernate.
Habitual activity--smoking, eating fatty foods, gambling--changes neural activity patterns in a specific region of the brain when habits are formed. These neural patterns created by habit can be changed or altered. But when a stimulus from the old days returns, the dormant pattern can reassert itself, according to a new study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, putting an individual in a neural state akin to being on autopilot.

'It is as though, somehow, the brain retains a memory of the habit context, and this pattern can be triggered if the right habit cues come back,' Ann Graybiel, the Walter A. Rosenblith professor of neuroscience in MIT's Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, said in a statement. 'This situation is familiar to anyone who is trying to lose weight or to control a well-engrained habit. Just the sight of a piece of chocolate can reset all those good intentions,' Graybiel said.

The neural patterns get established in the basal ganglia, a brain region critical to habits, addiction and procedural learning. In Graybiel's experiments, rats learned via specific cues that there was chocolate at one end of a T-shaped maze. While the rats were still learning, their basal ganglia neurons chattered throughout the maze run. That's because in the early stages, the brain seeks out and soaks in information that could prove important.

As the rats learned to focus in on guiding cues (in the experiment, an audible tone that guided them toward the chocolate), the behavior of the neurons changed. They fired intensely at the beginning and the end, but remained relatively quiet while the rats scurried through the maze.


Subsequently, the reward was removed. While the audible cue became meaningless, everything in the maze from beginning to end became relevant again. The neurons fired throughout the run. But when the reward reappeared, the pattern of beginning and ending spikes separated by downtime reappeared.

Sound familiar?

Graybiel speculated that the beginning and ending spike patterns reflect the nature of a routine behavior. Once initiated, individuals essentially know what to do next. Excitement returns when the reward appears. While the neural patterns can be created through voluntary activity, this sort of pattern also appears in certain disorders. Parkinson's patients, for instance, have difficulty starting to walk, and obsessive-compulsive people have trouble stopping incessant behavior.

Ideally, the research will help scientists come up with new techniques for more firmly changing habitual or addictive behavior.




Getting to the root of your habit is the key to successfully changing your behavior. so don't be afraid to get some help!

Habit Busting Secrets Revealed. Change your life today! Change those Bad Habits!

Habit Busting Secrets Revealed. Change your life today! Change those Bad Habits!:

"Bad habits are impulses... so instead of controlling them, you often end up repeating them.
Even though you recognize the stress they cause in your life... and even though you make promises to change your ways... again and again, you repeat the same tired patterns!
That's because a habit, by definition, is an acquired pattern of behavior that has become almost involuntary as a result of frequent repetition.
For those of you who prefer a more visual definition, read this story:
A teacher takes a bit of lightweight thread and wraps it one time around a student's wrists.
He tells the class, 'This string represents the power of doing something one time. Can you break the string?'
The student easily breaks the thread with a small flick of his wrists. The teacher then wraps the string around the student's wrists many times and repeats the challenge to break it.
Despite repeated efforts, the lightweight thread is too strong to break.
His teacher says, 'Now you see the power of repeated actions… habits. It takes more than mere willpower and personal strength to break them. It takes a change in the way you think about the problem.'
BAD habits prevent you from reaching your potential. They are self-inflicted punishments that drain you of motivation, time, and money. And they hold you back from living the great life you know you can achieve. "

Learn to control your life and habits.

Your Worst Habits Just Need To Be Reprogrammed!

Your Worst Habits Just Need To Be Reprogrammed!

You have the power to train your mind to choose what you think, instead of allowing random thoughts to hold you hostage. Your goal is to become inner-directed and focused, so that you decide what you want to think, rather than have your thoughts and emotions determined by the world around you. The untrained mind has more emotional ups and downs because it is reacting to random thoughts. Focus on what you want with joy and enthusiasm.

Remember, just like the Earth, your brain does not discern what you plant. It will work just as hard to grow weeds as it will to grow beautiful flowers. You determine the seeds that are planted by what you say to yourself over and over.

Quite simply, you are a self-fulfilling prophecy because your subconscious mind does not know the difference between factual reality and imagined reality. If you focus on what you say you don’t want, then you will create that as the dominate request in your experience.

So, keep focused on what you do want. Define yourself as the new person you chose to be. (Example: I am a perfect weight for my body and lifestyle.) If you are still looking to lose weight, you may want to say something like: I am allowing my body to obtain its perfect balance for health and vitality. Many of your beliefs have no foundation of truth, so instead of promoting your purpose, they hold you back from success.

If you think you are destined to be overweight, below average, poor, unlucky in love, clumsy, or even “not good at something,” you will take actions that make these thoughts become reality. None of these thoughts are actually true, but thinking them creates beliefs and images in your mind that reinforce these negative statements until they actually become true for you.

Be aware of the directions you give your brain. Your internal dialogue, along with what you believe about situations, is how you create your emotions. Negative self-talk messages will cause you to give up before you even try something new. Always be aware that your words can make ominous predictions. If you say about your habit, “I’ll never be able to stop this; I’ve been doing it so long.”

You are programming yourself to believe that you are too weak and powerless to overcome the habit. These negative permissions clutter up your ability to change your behaviors. Pay attention to yourself when you hear yourself uttering negative permissions and negative reinforcements.

Avoid negative self-talk: “I can’t do this. I don’t understand. I’ll look stupid. I’m too old to learn new skills. They make me feel stupid. That’s just the way I am. There’s nothing I can do. No one in my family can do it, so I know I cannot.”

Change your self-talk to positive reinforcement for changing old behaviors (habits). A positive outlook creates more options for creative solutions. Remember, focus on what you want. Keep it simple and sure.




About the Author:

Seth Francis is the owner of http://www.breakyourhabits.com. Learn the true steps needed to Break any Habit in only 21 days. With the help of Personal coach Lee Milteer, Seth is able to bring you a comprehensive program to help you dig deep into your inner self and release your habits from with in, while reprogramming your mind. Copyright 2006 SPF Enterprises

Break you habits - Fear of Criticism!

Break your habits -- Fear of Criticism!

So many times in life we would like to try something new. Like a new sport, different style haircut, changing clothing or loosing weight. But are afraid to try because of the criticism we might receive from others because of our change. Over time we have been brainwashed into believing other people's opinions and think they hold more weight then our own feelings. We don not want to be judged. If you want to break old habits you must not be controlled by outside people. You must have inner control.

This is your life!

There is nothing wrong with a little criticism. You just have to be able to decipher between the truths. Listen for it. Ask yourself if there is any truth to what someone is saying. Do they know what they are talking about? If you feel they are after careful consideration then use their feedback to improve. If your intuition tells you they are full of it then disregard it! Be true to your self and only accept opinions that hold truths!

Don't be afraid to have criticisms of your self. But make sure they are your own opinions and not someone else’s. If you don not like something about yourself then change it. Always look to improve.

Sometimes our own criticisms are tainted. This goes back to being brainwashed. Others have fed us information that might be tainted and altered our thoughts over the years. Since we were not trying to decipher between the truth, our thoughts have turned into a messy desk where you can not find the paper you want. It is time to clean up the mess of criticism and restructure. This is the only way you will be able to change you habits and better your life.


break your habits today!

breaking the smoking habit

Break the smoking habit

Imagine yourself in the future, say six months time from now. How good is it going to be when someone offers you a cigarette and you find yourself saying 'no thanks'? Well,to break free from the smoking habit, you need to break free from nicotine."Just like that" I hear you say!I wouldn't insult your intelligence by saying it is easy.....in fact it is a well-known that withdrawal from nicotine is very unpleasant. In fact, it is the single thing that causes even the most committed quitters to go back to smoking. However consider the benefits of quitting smoking,after all aren’t you tired of being a slave to cigarettes and your smoking habit?

Having a expert mentor like lee Milteer is a great way to chnage your mind set to a positive one. This will help not only the mental aspect of the smoking habit but help you cope with the nicotine withdrawls. Placing you mental attitude ahead of the physical is extremely important in and smoking cessation program.

Don't be afraid to have someone help you! It is very important to have support in order to effectively succeed in you habit breaking program.

Habit busting - A review

Habit Busting- A review

How many of you deal with behaviors that control your life everyday?I for one am one of them. So is 99% of the human race. Humans by nature are prone to habits such as nail biting, smoking, procrastination, lying and many many more habits that control us subconsciously every minute of everyday.

Ask a smoker if they would be willing to stop smoking for 1 day or not eat.Most likely they will tell you. "I won't eat as long as I have my cigarettes". A smoker actually plans their day around smoking. When are they going to be able to have a cigarette.

This is the same with many habits. Nail biting is often done subconsciously. The persondoesn't even realize they are doing it. It just happens. Fortunately there is help. I founda program that guarantees that you can break any habit in 21 days or less. It is written by professional personal coach Lee Milteer. Called "Habit Busting - A 21 Day program".Lee is world renown for her work with many top CEO's from mega companies suchas Disney, AT&T, IBM and Ford. These CEO's have learned to break their bad habitsand replace them with good productive habits.

With me I would chew my nails to the point where they would hurt and bleed. It was trerrible!It hurt to even pick up something. I was embarrass to shake someone's hand. Afraid of what they would think. After many attempts to stop. Using nasty tasting creams, wearing gloves and what ever else you can imagine to try to stop biting my nails. Nothing worked!! Until I foundLee's habit busting program. Her program included several audio cd's that you can listento almost anywhere. Along with the audio is included a workbook which helps you comprehend and remember what she tells you in the audio. The cd's are very well done. Nice and clear and easy to understand. She goes though every step needed to break your habits including a detailed Action Plan, containing information on things like:

The #1 most critical step to success

• How many times your subconscious mind must hear new material to learn and integrate it into your existing belief system
• How and when to reward yourself for more effective results
• Why mistakes are natural, inevitable and critical to the process
• How to leave the past in the past; the past doen't equal the future
• The difference between life giving and life removing habits
• How to take inventory of your life giving and life removing habits
• What is the root of procrastination and how to overcome it
• Why you and almost everyone you know is programmed to fail and what to do about it
• How to use your mental, physical, emotional and spiritual energy most effectively to achieve your goals
• How the law of inertia has prevented you from breaking bad habits in the past
• The foundation of all bad habits and how to overcome it
• Why will-power isn't enough to break bad habits
• What is the right support system and how to create it
• How to engage in a healthy catharsis of your negative thoughts and feelings
• How to take advantage of being a self-fulfilling prophecy
• Why visualization isn't just fru-fru hullabaloo
  
  ... plus much more!
  
  The great thing is if you miss a point or feel that you need more reinforcement you can listen to the cd's has much as needed.
  
  If you really want to break your habits I really recommend "Habit Busting - A 21 Day Program"by lee Milteer. Give it a shot you will not be disappointed. You can get your copy at http://www.breakyourhabits.com