Changing a habit is
more about habitual behavior that requires a cognitive understanding of your
activities. This means clear perception of causes and consequences of your own
responses, reflecting on own behavior, and correct interpretation
of a situation and a context according to what it means for you and how it fits
into your reality. Changing a habit is more about knowing the psychology of
habits.
By Olena Denysyuk
OUR bodies TENDS TO
BE ENERGY-SAVING and our brains give
mostly a priority to what is perceived as usual, Therefore, very often, we are not totally aware of our actions, as
many of them are almost automatic. So, I will describe our CONSCIOUSNESS as
“lazy”.
And there is a good reason for it: by performing complex
behaviors without any consciousness, we save our brain energy for something
more important. That is one of the reasons why our brain likes what is already
familiar to us. Then, by knowing the patterns, our brains would know on which
inputs to pay attention to and which to ignore. In music, for example, our
brains crave familiarity, because familiarity is how we manage to hear without
becoming distracted by sounds or noises. In turn, the system of liking makes us
wanting it. Therefore, we are coming back again to something familiar to us,
instead of wanting/accepting something new. And we come back- and we create
habits. Again and again, because behavioral habits prevent us from becoming
overwhelmed by the endless decisions we would otherwise have to make each day.
That’s the rationale behind our lazy mind.
But at some point, for some individual reason, you might
want to change a habit, as the brain’s dependence on automatic routines at some
point can be dangerous. However, simply declaring
your reasons for changing a habit (I am too fat, I am too lazy, I am too
unhealthy, etc.) is not enough a
predisposition for any work with a habit. The supremacy of the power of habits is thus in the understanding of the psychology of habits. So if you want to
change a habit, you would need to comprehend the conditions (stimuli and clues) that lead you towards your habit. Also,
you would need to understand what reward
you achieve when executing your habit. Knowing exactly the powers of your
habits, the dark as they are, is essential for forming and changing your habit
behavior. Also, this way you can come to the source of “good” habits”. And, if
you are lucky, you can adjust the dark power of a “bad” habit into something
more enjoyable, powerful, and challenging.