How Habits Hold Us – The very wonderful Jona Lehrer’s latest WSJ piece (via @JonahLehrer):
“Ninety-nine hundredths of our activity is purely automatic,” the psychologist and philosopher William James famously wrote. “All of our life is nothing but a mass of habits.”
James was pointing out that, though we give habits little thought, they define our lives: how much we eat, save or spend, how often we trek to the gym and what we say to our kids each night.
But these compulsions aren’t inscribed in our genes or hard-wired into the brain at birth. Scientists are discovering that habits are simply an extreme form of learning, a behavior that’s so familiar we no longer need to think about it.
The malleability of habits isn’t news to Madison Avenue: Effective commercials show how people can be quickly trained to do something new and then keep on doing it. The secret, it turns out, is the quick combination of a memorable cue and a rewarding experience.
Consider Febreze, a product designed by Procter & Gamble in the 1990s to remove bad odors. As Charles Duhigg recounts in his fascinating new book, “The Power of Habit,” Febreze underperformed in early tests and was in danger of being canceled. Consumers couldn’t fathom what the product was for.
Continue Reading HERE at Wall Street Journal Online
Are you on Facebook? If you enjoy the articles and posts here on Rewire Your Brain For Love, you’ll probably enjoy my Facebook page, with even more tips to support your mindfulness meditation practice.
