Our culture is starting to understand habits a little better. This is a good thing, because if we are going to change what we do – for example, what and how we eat, what and how we exercise and whether and how we nourish our bodies and minds – we need the tools to do it! We all know that willpower doesn’t work for ever. It’s like a muscle – and it fatigues.
There are three parts of a habit: Reminder (cue), Routine (habit), Reward. They create a feedback loop. REMINDER –> ROUTINE –> REWARD. If the reward is good (e.g. chocolate!) you’re more likely to do it again. The pre-frontal cortex looks for a good reward, then it remembers to look for the reminder. Soon the loop becomes automated.
The pre-frontal cortex is involved in the reminder (cue) and the reward. The basal ganglia is involved in automating the process – it’s not involved in the thinking about the loop. If we can get involved in the most evolved part of our brain – the pre-frontal cortex and diagnose the cues and the rewards, then we can change our habits. The key is to replace the bad habits with good habits, or create totally new habits, that are tied to current good habits.
What do I mean by that? If you tend to head out to your local coffee shop for a cookie or dessert after lunch, especially if it has been a bad morning, replace the dessert with something else. The Reminder or cue is – lunch is over. Instead, boil your kettle, find a nice teapot or mug. Peel a knob of ginger, snap off a piece of cinnamon, gather a couple of cardamon pods and squeeze some lemon juice. Place all these into your pot, or mug and add the boiling water. Let the smells soothe you. Enjoy the ritual of your new tea.
If you want to create a totally new habit, like meditating every morning, link it to something you do every day, without fail, for example: showering. Sit on your bathmat and meditate for 5 minutes while the heater warms your bathroom (it’s snowing here in Ohio right now!) Here the cue is seeing the bathmat, or the fact that it’s 630am, or that you left bed and entered the bathroom. There are 5 cues that generate action: time, place, presence of other people, emotion and certain preceding action. Look at these closely.
How do you diagnose your reward? Be a scientist! Go back to that example at the beginning – if you eat dessert after lunch, try some other options and notice how you feel. Go for a walk. Eat something else, e.g. a couple of dates. Call a friend. Go to the coffee shop and chat with the people there. Diagnose your reward – perhaps you are looking for social interaction. Perhaps you are looking for something sweet.
You have the power: focus attention and work to create the change. Try journaling about what is going on – research is showing the power of creating your own narrative:
“Attention, it seems, is an energy that works things to move. Further, attention and representation have reciprocity. The better a subject is attended to, the better it may be represented. The better the representation, the more deeply it can be seen.”
Rian & Hammer (2013).
In Peace,
Tamsin
©Tamsin Astor-Jack, Yoga Brained LLC