Cover Image: Habit Swap

Habit Swap

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Member Reviews

I am happy to have received a free e-arc of this title in exchange for a review. I plan on implementing the tactics I learned into my everyday life and using it to help me pursue my goals.

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In its entirety, the book—just like what it wants to teach—is a completely meditative read. It shares to its readers ways to be mindful of life but at the same time, accepting the truths, realities, and all that comes with it. Denial can be such a difficult thing to overlook, but acceptance is the path to a healthier mind.

I enjoyed reading this book. It was something that really resonated with me at the time since I was really looking into doing more mindfulness activities.

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Good self help book . Was well written and I want to apply the science from this book to my daily living .

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I was expecting this book to be more of a practical guide to changing your habits rather than a mindfulness based approach. I enjoyed this book but I was looking for support in changing my behaviours on a practical rather than spiritual level.

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I think the title is a bit misleading. Habit Swap didn't offer much in the way of providing strategies for replacing unhealthy habits but rather focused a lot on mindfulness. While mindfulness can bring you to a place of being able to swap negative behavior patterns for healthier ones, the book doesn't deliver the bridge that is necessary to make that leap.

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Definitely one of the worst books I've read about creating new habits. This was just a book that judged you on your bad habits. It didn't teach you anything about how to change them.
I highly recommend reading The Power of Habit instead.

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The author focuses a lot on mindfulness, which is typically practiced by people that are open minded. However, this book was written in a very judgmental point of view. Instead of feeling like I was being helped with my issues, I felt worse about myself as I read.

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Kind of confused on what I just read. Not very helpful. I felt the advice was coming from a very Judgy point of view, making it very hard to relate. Perhaps it was just the way that I read it. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

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Thanks to NetGalley and New Harbinger Publications, Inc. for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

"Habit Swap" by Hugh G. Byrne is all about trading in your unhealthy habits through mindfulness. Byrne goes through all kinds of different life situations and provides techniques for how to mindfully power through or replace your initial habit for a better option.

This book was interesting because I don't often connect the idea of mindfulness with habits. Mindfulness feels like a separate practice, not something you can often do in the moment. It makes a lot of sense when placed together, but before now I usually felt like to break a habit I needed to replace the trigger. This book shows how we can tune into what we are feeling to change habits and it's unique to me.

I liked the length of this book for the topic. Byrne kept things short and concise with lots of tips. The short length allowed me to read this book in a couple sittings so as to fully put together all the points. This is the kind of reading I prefer, but sometimes it's not possible with self-help books. 

Overall, I gave this book 4 stars for giving me two things that I already know and connecting them in a practical way.

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I can't think of a more fitting book to read as we, as individuals and community, work to endure the Coronavirus pandemic and have to adapt to new norms and evaluate, and change some of our existing habits. With his kind wisdom and guidance, Hugh does a remarkable job to help us self-reflect on our existing behaviors and habits through a process of introspection. Many people, including myself, may find it hard to change habits that are counterproductive, and often times we don't even know our habits are harmful. One of the things, I appreciated about reading Habit Swap is that Hugh begins by helping us identify and naming harmful habits potentially outside of our radar and being able to tune to emotions driving some habits and behaviors. Weaving in mindfulness, Hugh's provides simple and easy to follow steps to help us get towards our desired goals of change with an opportunity for practicing and continued self-reflection as we read along. Many people I talk to have found integrating mindfulness to every day life difficult. Habit Swap provides an opportunity to not only learn how to practice mindfulness for habit change but how to incorporate mindfulness in our lives. There was so much joy in understanding that habit change does not have to be complicated and that with a mindfulness nonjudgmental and awareness approach our goals for change are better supported.

Cheryl Aguilar

if you would like a professional title, feel free to add psychotherapist

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Wnen reading this book i discovered a well thought out and reasoned introduction and toolkit to mindfulness practices for anyone who are willing to try it. Easy in its discription for beginners like myself that i feel when done i hsve found moments of great joy in my day. A must read.

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Habit Swap is an easy to read, fabulous and upbeat book about positive and mindful change to our human suffering. I found it extremely user friendly especially given so many of the rich examples are beliefs, thoughts, and judgements that are self-inflicted and thus can be self healed! Hugh Byrne gives us an exact roadmap to transform deeply entrenched habits such as self criticism, judging ourselves and others, aversion and avoiding, busyness, anxiety, and negative thinking.

I especially enjoyed Hugh's five-step process for swapping out of these habituated patterns by (deepening awareness of the habits, establishing strong intention to change, recognizing the trigger, allow experience to be there and to come and go with kindness and acceptance, and changing the channel). After reading Habit Swap, I am ready to "change my channel" when I ruminate or judge myself harshly by bringing in more gratitude and more self compassion. I will use much of what I learned in this amazing book with my patients in therapy and with myself. Thank you for a wonderful book that is so explicit in nature but grounded in science, Buddhism, and just general feel-goodness!

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Habit Swap was not what I was expecting, but I loved it. If you're looking for concrete steps to take to become more active, sleep better, or change other habits, this book is not for you. Instead, Hugh G. Byrne outlines how the practice of mindfulness can help you identify urges and desires as they arise, and slow down so you can choose whether you want to engage in your old behavior or choose something new. He lists three steps to accomplish this: understanding why and how we get stuck in old habits, recognizing the possibility of training our mind, and engaging in a mindfulness practice. I especially appreciate Byrne's focus on non-judgment: rather than suggesting that habit change comes when we stop being lazy and access our "will power," he acknowledges that habits are difficult to change for evolutionary reasons we all fall prey to. I would recommend this book for anyone who is looking for a different take on habit change or wants to learn about mindfulness in general.

I was given the free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

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3.5 stars
I enjoyed this book. I have a lot of unhealthy habits; that's what drew me to this one. Hugh talks about changing your mindset to be more positive, talking to yourself more positively (as most of us talk negatively about ourselves in our head), and how it can change your life for the better. I am naturally a negative person so I really tried following the advice he was giving in the book. I have to say that it worked on a number of items (self-esteem, my confidence at work to name a few) It is a work in progress however; it won't change your habits overnight - you have to work through it and eventually you will get there. Swapping out negative talk to positive was the jist of the book. A solid self-help book.

Thanks #netgalley for the ARC.
#habitswap

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Habit Swap is a very comprehensive and detailed guide to using mindfulness, awareness, and meditation techniques to change behaviors that are not beneficial but have become automatic. There are several useful books about habit change. However, Habit Swap is the only one that addresses the critical role of nonjudgmental awareness in "interrupting" habits and setting the stage for changing them. Highly recommended.

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Hugh Byrne’s new book, Habit Swap: Mindfulness Skills to Change Habits for Good, is a gem. Building on his earlier book, The Here-and-Now Habit, senior meditation teacher Hugh Byrne offers a practical roadmap for using mindfulness to transform unwholesome habits and cultivate wholesome ones. The book identifies a wide range of habits that can interfere with our well-being—from addiction of all kinds to harmful speech, procrastination, worry, anger, and more.

But Habit Swap doesn’t stop there. It outlines clear and straightforward steps for changing our patterns of behavior and thinking: understanding how and why we get stuck in certain habits; recognizing the possibility of training our mind; and engaging in a path of meditation practice. For those new to meditation and seasoned meditators alike, Habit Swap offers valuable insights and practical guidance for creating more joy and ease in our lives.

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Uses information from journals and articles, others and own stories. Tips and information to help you change your habits. Some nice ideas brought into the book.

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Mindfullnsss and meditation practitioners, novice or experienced, will find benefit in Hugh Byrnes' latest book, Habit Swap. In clear and accessible language, Byrnes outlines the science and rationale for this centuries’ old practice. As well, while reminding us how important a spirit acceptance, compassion and nonjudgement is these practices, his words depict this spirit throughout the book giving us the precise language we can adopt as we swap unhelpful narratives for new, kinder that support the positive changes we want to make.

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Thank you to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book could not have come to me at a better time as I'm focusing on trying to change some habits (particularly, overeating). I've read many books on habits and had practiced mindfulness and gratitude in the past, but "Habit Swap" but it all together in a new and interesting way. The book was easy to digest, offered great real-life examples and steps to take to put recommendations into practice.

In our day-to-day busy lives, it's important to follow some of the tips from this book to reconnect to center. Also, understanding that "bad" habits change our neural pathways and those pathways need to be changed again in order to counteract the habits previously formed was very important to learn. I now have a path forward to get myself back on the right track.

Highly recommend this book to those wanting to understand habits or wanting to delve deeper into mindfulness, meditation, awareness, and gratitude.

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This was a really interesting read and I had hoped that I would have learnt how to swap my habits. Alas, it didn't! It was based more on mindfulness than how to really address the issues and change. Shame really, as it sounded like it has such potential.

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