The complete idiot's guide to breaking bad habits
Saved in:
Author / Creator: | LeVert, Suzanne. |
---|---|
Imprint: | New York : Alpha Books, c1998. |
Description: | xxiv, 308 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. |
Language: | English |
Subject: | Compulsive behavior Vices Substance abuse Electronic books. |
Format: | E-Resource Book |
URL for this record: | http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/4421138 |
Table of Contents:
- Part 1. Over and Over Again
- 1. What Is a Bad Habit?
- Understanding the Habit: Good and Bad
- When a Habit Turns Bad
- Pick a Habit, Any Habit
- Top Ten Bad Habits
- But You Love Your Daily Rituals
- Is Your Life Interfering with Your Habit?
- It's Not Me, It's My Life
- Self-Test Challenge: What's Your Lifestyle?
- Part A
- Part B
- Part C
- Part D
- Answer Key
- Or, Is Your Habit Interfering with Your Life?
- Separating the Good from the Bad
- Walking the Fine Line
- Courage to Change
- 2. Why You Do the Things You Do
- Slowly but Surely, the Habit Formed
- The Devil Made Me Do It
- The Pleasure Principle
- Practice Makes Perfect
- When You Can't Give It Up
- Will the Real You Please Stand Up?
- 3. But I Like It Like That
- Go Figure
- What Kind of Idiot Are You?
- Constant Cravings
- Tempting Tendencies
- Compelling Compulsions
- Striving for Balance
- New Year's Resolutions
- Part 2. Just Say No!
- 4. Okay, So How Do You Stop?
- Rome Wasn't Built in a Day
- Learning to Live with or Without It: The Biology of Habit
- The Scarlett O'Hara Syndrome or "I'll Think About It Tomorrow"
- Facing Your Fears
- Erasing the Tape
- Writing It Down
- Take One Step Forward
- 5. Step 1: Identify the Behavior
- Who, Where, When, Why, How?
- Uprooting Your Bad Habit(s)
- Reruns with a New Cast
- Be Your Own Bad Habit Detective
- Your Daily Habit Log
- Read It and Weep
- Mirror, Mirror on the Wall
- 6. Step 2: Evaluate Risks and Benefits
- So What's Stopping You?
- What's Good About Your Bad Habit?
- In the Short Term
- In the Long Run
- What's Baaaad About Your Bad Habit?
- In the Short Term
- For the Long Run
- What's the Worst That Could Happen?
- What's the Best That Could Happen?
- 7. Step 3: Prepare for Change
- Holding On to That Last Cigarette
- Accentuate the Positive, Eliminate the Negative
- Creating a Conducive Environment
- Paving the Emotional Way
- With a Little Help from Your Friends
- Feeding Your Brain, Starving Your Bad Habit
- Picturing the New You
- Free, Free at Last!
- 8. Step 4: Just Do It!
- And You're Off!
- Baby Steps, Always Baby Steps
- Getting Through It While You Do It
- Finding a New Release
- Say a Little Prayer
- Rewards, Not Punishments
- "I Don't Recognize You Without Your Bad Habit"
- 9. Get Back on That Horse
- Like a Wave Crashing on the Shore
- Relapse Traps: Which One Did You Fall Into?
- Calling Back the Troops
- Purge the Urge
- Staying the Course
- Part 3. Resist Those Cravings
- 10. Identifying Your Cravings
- The Nature of a Craving
- When You've Just Got to Have It
- Is It All in Your Head?
- Or Is It a Chemical Thing?
- When Willpower Is Not Enough
- Up on the High Wire
- 11. Easing Up on Alcohol
- Drinking: An American Pastime
- Alcohol and the Body 101
- To Drink or Not To Drink, That Is the Question
- When Is Drinking a Problem?
- Too Much at the Holiday Party Again
- Drinking Alone
- Binge Drinking: A Dangerous Trend
- Hung Over and Hating It
- Sober Is Better
- Choosing Not to Drink
- Learning Moderation
- 12. Put That Cigarette Out!
- Why, Oh Why, Is Quitting Smoking So Hard?
- Nicotine: Is It Addictive?
- The Very Feel of It
- What Smoking Does to Your Body
- Smoking Stats and Your Health
- The Good News About Quitting
- "Sure I Can Quit Smoking; I Do It All the Time"
- Smoking as a Chronic Disease: Treatment Is Available
- Hair of the Dog, Smoking-Wise
- A Way to Even Out
- Take a Deep Breath
- 13. Calming the Caffeine Jitters
- Running on Empty: When Only a Jolt Will Do
- Caffeine and Your Body: Welcome to Central Perk
- How Less Caffeine Equals More Energy
- Caffeine Here, There, Everywhere
- Get That Mo-Jo Working
- "Don't Tell Me to Drink Tea ..."
- Bring on the Bubbly
- How Sweet It is
- Water? Caffeinated Water?
- Taking What's Good for You
- Just One Cup Won't Hurt, Will It?
- The Zen of a Stress-Free Body and Mind
- 14. Food, Not-So-Glorious Food
- You Gotta Eat, Don't You?
- The ABCs of Nutrition
- When the Refrigerator Wins
- When You Just Gotta Have It
- When You're Starving
- When Too Much Is Never Enough
- Reality Log: You Are What You Eat
- The Last Ten (or Thirty) Pounds
- The Fat-Free Trap
- Pills and Supplements
- "You Mean I Have to Exercise?"
- Exercise and Your Body
- What Kind of Shape Are You In?
- Working Out
- The Refrigerator, Unchained
- Balance
- Structure
- Satisfaction
- Part 4. Stop Driving Me (and Everyone Else) Crazy!
- 15. Tame Those Tendencies
- "Me? I Don't Have Tendencies"
- When the Rest of the World Has the Real Problem
- Looking Inward: A Self-Test Challenge
- You Can't Change Your Relationships Until You Change Yourself
- 16. Be Straightforward
- Little White Lies and Big Whoppers
- Deceptions and Subterfuges
- The Grand Gesture
- Make It Go Away
- Catching Yourself in the Act
- Keeping Track of the Truth
- Forgetting About It
- Losing Your Cool
- What We Have Here Is a Failure to Communicate
- Overcoming Stress
- Your Itchy Trigger Finger
- Talking About It
- 17. Starting Right Now
- When You Can't Get There on Time
- Yes, You! A Procrastination Self-Test
- What's Stopping You
- Fear of Failure
- Fear of Success
- Feeling Overwhelmed
- Time Management Missteps
- Plain Old Laziness
- Stop Procrastinating!
- Breaking Big Tasks into Little Ones
- Making Lists
- Rewarding Yourself
- The Motivation Factor
- Tomorrow Is Another Day
- 18. Establishing Emotional Integrity
- Did I Do That?
- The Top Ten Things You Need from People in Your Life
- The Fine Art of Sharing
- All in the Family
- But They Still Treat Me Like I'm Twelve!"
- Transforming Family Relationships
- Love, Ah, Love
- Inability to Commit
- Pushing It
- Sex: Feast or Famine?
- People in General
- Stalkers Anonymous
- The Guru Syndrome
- Knowing Who's Good for You
- Part 5. Calming Those Compulsions
- 19. Identify Your Compulsions
- When You Just, Just, Just Can't Help It
- A Compelling Self-Test You Won't Be Able to Resist
- One More Time
- Your First Time, Redux
- A Hard Look at Your Compulsion
- Learning to Stop
- Physical Substitutes
- Positive Reinforcement
- Meditation
- Channeling Your Energy in a New Direction
- 20. Your Very Personal, Personal Space
- A Close Call
- Those Quirks Really Are Annoying
- "It Wasn't Me": Owning Your Farts
- "I Gotta Be Me": A Matter of Public Expression
- Head-to-Toe Habits
- Hair Twirling, Nose Picking, Teeth Grinding/Clenching, Gum Snapping, Knuckle Cracking, Nail Biting, Knee Shaking, Toe Tapping, Belching, Farting, and All Those Other Things You Do
- Stop It! Right Now!
- You Can't Be Too Clean
- Can't We All Just Get Along?
- 21. Taming the Organizational Devil
- You Are What You Own
- Everything in Its Place
- Too Much Order
- What's Really Out of Place
- Finding Your Inner Slob and Loving It!
- The Chaos Theory ... at Home
- Damaging Disorder
- The Terrors of Tossing
- Creating Order in the Home
- The Chaos Theory at the Office
- Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle
- 22. Finally, Fiscal Fidelity
- Your Money Style
- Spending Too Much?
- Financial Records in Disarray?
- Tax Nightmares?
- Experiencing Budget Phobia?
- The Thrill of a Gamble
- From the Casino to the Stock Market
- "I Know When to Stop ..."
- Playing It Safe
- Ralph Kramdenitis: Another Get-Rich-Quick Scheme
- Putting Your Financial House in Order
- 23. Loving an Electronic High
- Tuning In, Tuning Out
- The Boob Tube Personified
- What a Tangled Web You Weave
- The Pretender: Anonymous Chatting Personified
- The Lover: Online Relationships
- The Media Awed: Endless Surfing
- The Gamester: Playing It Unsafe
- Here a Phone, There a Pager
- Breaking Free from the Airwaves
- Part 6. Bad Habits and the Big Picture
- 24. When Someone You Love Has a Bad Habit
- Should Love Be Blind?
- Denial Is More Than Just a River in Egypt: Identifying Your Coping Skills
- Codependence: In the Bad Habit Together
- Stepping In, Gingerly
- Moving Forward Together
- 25. Kids Do the Darnedest Things
- It's a Family Affair
- Communication, Communication, Communication
- The Family Meeting
- Discipline Is Not a Dirty Word
- Presenting Alternatives and Consequences
- The Fine Art of Follow Through
- Calming Constant Cravings
- Avoiding Mealtime Hassles
- Establishing Healthful Consumption Habits
- Avoiding Annoying Tendencies
- Stubbornness
- No Such Thing as a White Lie
- Pouting, Complaining, and Fighting
- Cornering Those Compulsions
- Nail-Biting, Hair-Twirling, and Other Personal "Issues"
- Chores, Chores, Chores
- The Mighty Lure of TVs and Computers
- And So It Begins
- 26. Sit, Stay, Behavel
- Git Along, Little Doggie
- Dog Basic Training
- The Top Ten Doggie Bad Habits
- Here, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty
- Cat Basic Training
- Top Ten Bad Cat Habits and What to Do
- Living Happily and Habit-Free with Your Pet
- 27. Knowing When You Need More Help
- The Fine Line Revisited
- To Be in Therapy or Not To Be in Therapy: When a Therapist Can Help
- Choosing the Right Kind of Therapy for You
- Finding a Therapist and Dealing with Insurance
- How Therapy Can Help You Break Your Bad Habit
- Just What the Doctor Ordered
- Twelve Steps and Beyond
- Finding the Courage Within You
- 28. Changing the World
- Congratulations!
- Bad Habit Time Bombs
- Creating Change: One Habit at a Time
- The Urge to Proselytize
- Good Community Habits
- Appendixes
- A. More Bad Habit Busters
- B. Glossary
- Index