My Own Worst Enemy?

I've decided that most of the frustration in my life is self-generated.  When I am having a tough day or find myself in a struggle, if I trace the steps backwards I can usually find my smiling face staring back at me.  So, in this quest for a simpler life that radiates light, I've decided I need to do a little house-cleaning...figuratively speaking. 

What do I do (or not do) that results in my own misery?  This is the question I'm going to start asking myself on a daily basis.  I can tell you that I've already identified certain things I need to run away from: 

• Criminal Minds.  Though a crazily gripping show, it puts images in my mind I can't get rid of.  When that show comes on immediately after one of my favorite shows (Survivor...don't judge), I grab that remote as fast as I can and kill the TV.  If I don't, I'm sucked in, and then regret it for days. 
• Sleeping in past 8:30 a.m.  I'm definitely not judging people who sleep in late.  I LOVE sleep.  It's one of my favorite hobbies.  I love my soft pillow, the down comforter that muffles out the world.  I love waking up with my cat snoozing on my pillow.  But I feel yucky if I sleep past 8:30.  I feel guilty because I have wasted the day.  I can, however, loll around in bed after 8:30 guilt-free if I'm awake, especially if my hubby is willing to watch home improvement shows or Sea Rescue with me, or we're just hanging out reading.  That's totally cool with me. 
• Not returning phone calls promptly or writing thank you letters in a reasonable timeframe.  This is a big problem for me, and I'm horrible at both.  But when I've made the effort, I find that all the time I wasted feeling bad because I hadn't written the letter or returned the call was far more taxing than just picking up the phone or the pen and doing it. 

By happenstance (or perhaps a little missive from God), I received an email in my inbox a few days ago that discussed how to break habits.  It was a great little article by Craig Ballantyne called "How to Fix Bad Habits."  I've shared the link below if you'd like to check it out (scroll down just a bit to find this particular article).  Ballantyne has given me some inspiration for seeking out bad habits in my own life and finding ways to extricate them.  Breaking bad habits or patterns in life can be painful, but I suspect that the payoff is well worth it.

http://www.earlytorise.com/ten-of-these-cure-a-bad-habit/