"Bad Habits"

How often have you kicked yourself for, yet again, succumbing to bad habits? Maybe you eat late at night, or smoke cigarettes, drink too much, or loose your temper with your children. Whatever they may be, those bugaboos haunt you like a all too familiar ghost because they cause you pain, suffering and regret. This article is all about how to change yourself and rewrite your life’s story to be more aligned with your dreams of happiness, joy, and freedom.


There is a long standing myth that your brain is "hardwired" at an early age and then very difficult to change. The good news is that this myth is not true; your brain retains its ability to learn, to be trained, throughout your life. I'll explain how you can take full advantage of this in a moment...

Dr. Michael Merzenich, a professor at the University of California at San Francisco, has studied a phenomena that has long puzzled us. If we can change, why don't we? Just like a rat who has maneuvered a maze 100 times, you have bad habits that have driven changes into your brain. Even when habits are not fulfilling, it is still very difficult for the average person to change bad habits.

What is a Habit?

Make no mistake, when you learn a new skill it really does change, or distort, your brain. Dr. Merzenich says that a highly skilled specialist, such as a surgeon or musician, has pathways in their brain that show up on an MRI while they are performing. A trumpet player, for example, has enlarged representations in their brains for the areas that control their lips, breathing, and fingers.

You, too, have thousands of pathways you've carved into your brain to accommodate the tasks you've formed into habits. These can range from good habits, such as exercising daily, to bad habits, such as smoking. Can you guess what bad habit of yours, however, about which I am most concerned?

I'll give you three guesses. And the first two don't count.

The Root Cause of all Your Bad Habits

Of course, I am most concerned about the pathways you've created for your seriousness. You can easily identify them. Any time you feel stressed and unhappy you're following an ingrained bad habit of seriousness that you created in your brain through years of repetition.

Don't feel bad; you're not alone. Your brain's pathways to seriousness were forged, just like mine, by well-intentioned parents, teachers, and other authority figures. These authority figures were only passing along what they had been taught - that becoming an adult means learning to get serious.

Your authority figures were only half-correct; becoming an adult means learning to take your responsibilities seriously. But not yourself! Taking yourself seriously leads to high levels of stress. And stress is not only responsible for 80% of your doctor's visits, but it is also the foundation for almost every physical ailment or condition that bothers you.

You already know that seriousness causes stress and that stress is killing you. So how can you change that? How can you escape your unending quest for happiness that you never quite achieve? How can you return to the life of resiliency, vitality, health, and energy that you knew so well as a child?

How to Break a Bad Habit

Dr. Merzenich offers a solution for us that I endorse wholeheartedly: we must continue learning. As children, we are constantly involved in behavior-based learning, but somewhere as an adult we begin to trade being active for learning. This universal tendency to stop active learning is what creates the myth that our brains are hardwired as a child and then difficult to change later.

It's not difficult to change our behaviors and habits as we're older, we just don't do it! Dr. Merzenich recommends studying a new foreign language or learning to play a new musical instrument each year, just to continue building the neural pathways as you did in your childhood.

I don't disagree, but first I want you to immerse yourself in The Fun Factor and build new pathways of fun, happiness, health, and vitality to replace your pathways of seriousness. Like musicians, you'll soon have new enlarged and distorted areas of your brain. Except the areas will be those associated with happiness, joy, and freedom - even under your toughest circumstances!

But what if you were told to change or die? If you had a heart attack, for example, would you be able to change your dietary and exercise habits? Before you answer, you should know that over 90% of all bypass patients are right back to their bad habits within a year of surgery. In today's Fun Times, however, I will tell you about some amazing research that reveals how to make your lifesaving changes lasting ones.

You already know how strongly I feel about a deadly problem/bad habit you share with all other human beings. Seriousness.

Seriousness is all about taking yourself too seriously and this bad habit is the foundation from which all your stress is created.

Stress, of course, is the modern plague. Stress is the root cause of almost every major ailment and malady from which you suffer. Stress is the reason behind 80% of your doctor visits. Stress is the reason why your increase in age seems synonymous with lower energy, poorer health, and less resilience.

Why You Need to Change (Whether You Know it or Not)

In short, it is not hyperbole when I tell you that you are in a position to change or die. Although your seriousness might not present a threat as dramatic as a blocked blood vessel, it is just as dangerous. In fact it is more dangerous because your seriousness flies insidiously under your radar, sincethis bad habit is taught and condoned by the vast majority of our society.

But you are fortunate to have a resource for combating seriousness right in front of you. The whole reason for The Fun Times newsletter's existence is based upon some amazing research from the last decade. I'll tell you about that research and explain how to use The Fun Times to make your commitment to fun a lasting one.

How to Change Yourself in Any Way You Desire

Dr. Dean Ornish, a professor of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco and the founder of the Preventative Medicine Research Institute, made a discovery in 1993 that has had lasting impact on the way we treat people with life- threatening diseases. Dr. Ornish worked with 333 patients with severely clogged arteries and lots of bad habits, having them follow a treatment regimen centered on a vegetarian diet. The changes Dr. Ornish introduced to his patients were capable of reversing their heart disease, but only if the patients made the changes permanent.

The changes implemented by Dr. Ornish were exactly the type of lifestyle changes that 90% of all bypass patients have discarded within a year. Yet Dr. Ornish patient's stuck with their lifestyle changes; a whopping 77% of them were still enjoying their new, healthy (and heart disease-free) lifestyle after three years!

What is the secret Dr. Ornish found? He discovered the necessity to go beyond the facts; he discovered that health information is vital, but not sufficient to support permanent change. That's why Dr. Ornish had his patients attend twice weekly support sessions led by a psychologist and receive instruction on meditation, relaxation, yoga, and exercise. With this type of emotional support to reinforce the clinical health information, Dr. Ornish's patients achieved a phenomenally high rate of success in beating their bad habits.

How to Use Your Ready-Made and FREE Support Group

Thus I reveal the true purpose of my free newsletter, The Fun Times . I hope you've already availed yourself of my unique Fun Factor prescription. With The Fun Times, you get a psychiatrist leading your weekly support group and receive instruction on how to incorporate fun into almost every imaginable activity. With The Fun Times as your emotional support, you will be a part of that 77% who make lasting, life-changing improvements in their lifestyle. You will remain free from the bad habit of seriousness and the accompanying stress for good.

Of course, you need to do your part and read The Fun Times each week. Let the emotionally compelling content remind you of your commitment to fun and your rejection of your seriousness which stunts your energy, health, vitality, and creativity. Let The Fun Times teach you about new evidence of the need for fun and about new applications for fun in every area of your life.

In short, with The Fun Times ,you're receiving a first-rate support group in your email inbox each week – for free! And your bad habits can melt into the sunset as you incorporate the amazing natural medicine of humor deeper and deeper into your life.

Important Stuff That You Ought To Know All information on this site is copyrighted by Clifford Kuhn, M.D. and Laugh Doctor Enterprises. Nothing here may be used or reprinted without permission of Dr. Kuhn or Natural-Humor-Medicine.com. Natural-Humor-Medicine.com is an organization dedicated to teaching people about the natural medicine of humor. All revenues generated by this site are reinvested in growing the reach of the organization and educating the public about this powerful medicine.