Major life-style changes are required after an acute coronary event, although the vast majority of patients are unsuccessful in maintaining these changes. This study examines factors clients view as enabling or disabling their life-style changes for health promotion. Ten patients in a cardiac rehabilitation program were interviewed using grounded theory methodology. Both health protection and health promotion stimulated life-style change, as did instructions from the physician and life enjoyment. Enabling and disabling factors affecting the process of repatterning were individually defined, but changes in beliefs, attitudes, and plans facilitated repatterning. Specific precipitants to change, forces influencing change, and methods of repatterning life style are discussed, as are nursing implications.