GOODBYES AND HELLOS

It's easy to start, harder to stop. Most people begin forming habits without thinking about it. What's a habit but a groove worn into your mind and body, conscious and unconscious? (Merriam-Webster says : a behavior pattern acquired by frequent repetition or physiologic exposure that shows itself in regularity or increased facility of performance b : an acquired mode of behavior that has become nearly or completely involuntary, as in 'I got up early from force of habit').
Goals guide habits most fundamentally by providing the initial outcome-oriented impetus for response repetition. In this sense, habits often are a vestige of past goal pursuit. Parkinson’s Disease (PD) appears to primarily affect the posterior putamen of the basal ganglia. This region is known to affect control of habitual behavior. Thus, PD patients, no longer able to rely on the vestiges of goal-directed behavior found in habits, need to focus on goal-directed behavior. A motor control example might be the learned habit of tying your shoes. PD has negatively affected the normal function of habit that allowed you to tie your shoes without thinking, by setting the goal of mindfully tying your shoes; you have recaptured the ability to tie your shoe. It is a goal-directed behavior now, and no longer relies on the habit mechanism.
It also implies to me that goals must be routinely adjusted to ensure the brain does not rely on habits for control of day-to-day activity. While this analysis originates in the examination of motor symptoms, might it not apply also to non-motor symptoms such as depression, loss of emotional control, cognitive deficiency, and more? Further, can the brain use goal-directed behavior to reassert control of those activities governed by habit? What is mindfulness if it is not goal-directed behavior? It is reasserting conscious control. How is that different from conscious pursuit of a goal, large or small? There is no indication of deficit in formation of goals in PD or the capacity for mindfulness, so once the habit of formulating and reformulating goals, then applying mindful attention to carrying them out is established, the process can allow for a productive and fully functioning life. So, with this motivation in mind, I will focus on developing a goal-directed approach, using higher goals and sub goals, and developing a higher level of mindfulness needed to act mindfully in pursuit of these goals. So today, I choose eleven habits to which I will say goodbye. Habits of:
TWENTY ELEVEN GOODBYES
Sitting in the same chair,
Walking to work the same way.
Eating meals quickly.
Eating left-handed.
Overeating
Evening sweet or salty snacks.

TWENTY TWELVE HELLOS
Practice of meditation daily,
Tracking mindful actions each day on calendar dedicated to that use.
Mindfully performing daily exercises.
Regularly learning new exercises.
Initiating conversations.
Smiling
Kissing my wife

Well, it's a work in progress, but so am I.