Good question, indeed !
Today I want to write about a fascinating subject : how habits work.
Because, you know...
If You Always Do What You’ve Always Done, You Always Get What You’ve Always Gotten.
I've read a shit ton of books on the subect, and now I can talk about it for hours. The root cause of why we, humans, do the things we do, is just incredible and it's called neuroplasticity. And it's also a good thing to understand if you struggle with a bad habit or an addiction you want to get rid of.
But what is neuroplasticity ?
It is the brain’s ability to adapt to change across the lifespan and to rewire itself after damage. With every new experience, the brain changes in some way. As we experience an event or learn a new skill, new connections are formed between neurons, and connections that aren’t needed anymore are eliminated.
This reorganization of the pathways in our brain takes place at an astounding rate when we are young and rapidly acquiring new information, but the brains of adults are also “plastic” to a degree. There is evidence that, in patients with brain damage, healthy brain areas can take over for injured areas and adopt new functions.
If you want to understand better, watch this please:
The more you do the things you do, the more you "reinforce" your brain pathways. The easiest way to break any habit, then, is to replace the action with another to create new pathways and "rewire" your brain. Give it some time, and then the old habit is a thing of the past : the new one has taken its place.
I've decided to study neuropsychology because this subject is just facinating to me. I truly believe this concept is the answer to most of the psychological issues in our society : anxiety, PTSD, eating disorders, addictions, even OCD (and on this subject, I suggest you read the book "You are not your brain" by Jeffrey Schwartz, this one is a killer).
To sum up, if I could give you one advice to break a bad habit using neuroplasticity it would be this one:
The best place to start is by learning to recognize the trigger for your habit, then begin to override and rewire neuro pathways of that habit by consciously and mindfully replacing the bad habit with a healthy one instead.
Have you already heard about neuroplasticity in the past? What do you think about it?
