Most of us are aware that our bad habits are bad. The front section of the brain that is responsible for awareness is the first part of the brain to go offline when we get stressed. When the brain center goes off, we start to feel dumb, and we end up reverting to negative habits.
You are trying to have that fourth slice of pizza. You have already experienced the idea that says, “Yes, this is a great idea, you will feel so good after”. What if we paused for a split second to think about what we were going to do? If we were to use curiosity to disrupt the cycle, what would it be like? Here is what it looks like.
One more time, let us return to the 3 pillars that form a habit. You experience a sensation. You respond with a behavior. A reward is given to you.
There are two possible routes from here, both of which are in the right direction. The first path is to keep giving in to your bad behavior, but with a heightened state of awareness. It feels less satisfying to cave in. You become aware that the reward is just a ruse to cover up the reality that you are in an endless loop.
You feel like you want to do something. You stop for a moment and get curious. What is going on? Why am I feeling this way?
When things get really exciting is the second route. You take a halt when you experience the Trigger, but you are aware that this is a poor choice. A subject involved with smoking admitted in one of Brewers studies that smoking smells like stinky cheese and tastes like chemicals. The paper shows that the benefits of training inMindfulness may be greater than those associated with current treatments for smoking cessation. Money, drugs, or therapy are not required.
Bad habits become less enchanting when you start using this technique. You start to realize that you don’t need to give in to every single thing that comes your way. The bonus to this mindset is that curiosity is rewarding. The prize that you were initially seeking from your drug of choice will be delivered if you are aware of your stressed-out state. Over time, your brain will realize that it is the one you need, even if it is not as powerful of a hit.
You move from knowledge to wisdom through this. Bad habits are not good for us. Even when we are stressed out or in the act, curiosity bridges the gap to allow us to be aware of this.
This is a rewarding, sustainable, and life-changing way to think about humans. Will it be able to solve your problems quickly? It’s absolutely not. There are many addictions and they are all related. Sometimes it is necessary to get professional help. This is a great way to start a conversation with yourself. You can ditch the dissociation and start attacking your bad habits.
