Welcome to Wonder Ball.
How are you doing?
This is day 27 of our mindfulness in isolation course.
Today we're going to look at habits,
Particularly bad habits,
Which may have been exasperated in recent weeks by stress.
Have you been snacking a bit more?
Binging on junk food?
Having an extra wine or two?
Checking the news 15 times per day?
Me too.
This is totally normal.
Dr.
Judson Brewer is an addiction psychologist from Yale.
He says that we're all addicted to something.
He defines addiction as continued use despite adverse consequences.
Dr.
Brewer has studied how habits work in the brain and how mindfulness can help.
Here's what he's discovered.
The modern world is designed for addiction.
From video games to snack food,
Things are designed to release feel-good chemicals in our brain.
We begin to crave these chemical releases and that drives addiction.
A habit has three parts,
A trigger,
The habit itself and the reward.
Mindfulness can help by giving us the tools to be more aware of our habits and the triggers that set the habit wheel in motion.
The trick,
Dr.
Brewer says,
Is being curious instead of judgmental.
Asking ourselves questions about what triggers our behavior,
What reward we are really getting and asking ourselves,
Do I want to keep doing this?
This way we can hack our habits.
We free up the brain to make better decisions.
Dr.
Brewer's lab has mapped the brain regions associated with craving and addictive behaviors and he's shown mindfulness techniques work twice as well as anything else for quitting smoking.
He says our brains are wired to be hooked but we can find the same kind of rewards in kindness and curiosity with no adverse consequences.
So with smokers they encourage them to keep smoking but to do it with curiosity.
Smokers would ask themselves what it really felt like or tasted like to smoke and most found it was actually quite unpleasant.
When they took close note they found the feeling afterwards was also unpleasant.
By stepping outside the habit they were able to make changes.
So with all that let's do a mindfulness exercise to help us become more aware of our habits and triggers.
Find a comfortable place to sit or lie down.
And now start by focusing your attention on your breath or on anything physical in your body that is grabbing your attention.
This is your anchor,
Your awareness of your body and your breath.
Okay now we're gonna get curious about our thoughts.
What's popping up?
What kind of thoughts are coming?
Look out for any triggers.
Worry about the future.
I regret about the past and notice what comes next.
Maybe a desire to check your phone but get something to eat or drink.
Make a note and then go back to the breath.
This is a chance to really investigate our streams of thought.
Okay now we're gonna purposefully bring to mind a habit that we'd like to have more control of.
Take a moment to imagine all the sensations associated with this habit.
The taste,
The smell,
The feeling.
What else is there?
Now let's be really curious about what kind of physical effect this exercise has had on our body.
What does it feel like in your mind and your body?
Is there tightness or a feeling of heat?
What happens when you focus on that feeling?
Does it get stronger or does it ease?
We're getting really familiar with what our craving feels like and that puts us in a powerful position.
We are an observer now instead of a helpless passenger.
Over time that will give us much more control of our habit chips.
Now just bring your attention back to the breath.
Great work.
One day at a time.
Thanks for being here.
There
