Change your habits with Mindfulness;

Check out this TEDMED talk by Judson Brewer. If you don’t have ten minutes to watch the video, I summarized down below.

Our brains evolved to learn by following patterns. The simplest of these is with food. You feel hungry, which makes you look for food (trigger). You find food in some location or by shaking a tree a certain way (behavior). You eat that food and your brain releases neurotransmitters which make you feel better (reward). The next time you are hungry, try chocolate cake. Eat food, especially sugar, and you will feel an intense rush. That’s your brain learning you can find sugar in that location again if you need to.

Trigger-> Behavior -> Reward. That’s the habit loop.

As our brains advanced, we also learn to paper over negative feelings like anxiety with the pleasure that we feel when consuming sugary foods like chocolate cake. Instead of responding to hunger with cake, we respond to many uncomfortable situations with cake.

Unfortunately, there are many things in the world that can help us address temporary bad feelings. Almost all of them are seemingly bad for you. Smoking and excessive consumption of sugary foods are two that spring to mind; smoking was studied extensively by Mr. Brewer.

Being more mindful of this habit loop (trigger->behavior->reward) can help you change your behavior. It’s not that you will immediately find the will to change a behavior, but you can change a bad behavior by altering triggers and rewards. Be curious about what makes you reach for that cigarette, and be present as you go through the behavior. You may find that a habit you thought was vital to your life, is just your brain going through the motions.

Be curious about what makes you reach for that cigarette, and be present as you go through the behavior. You may find that a habit you thought was vital to your life, is just your brain going through the motions. Learn to address your triggers before they pop up, and you will be on your way towards changing a habit. Find ways to reward yourself for good behaviors, and you will find yourself changing behaviors without trouble.

All it takes is a bit of mindfulness, the time to learn about yourself, and the drive to change.