A SIMPLE WAY TO BREAK THE BAD HABIT

The way I was taught to meditate was to keep my attention on my breathing, and at any point at which I realized my mind had strayed, to return its focus gently. It seemed easy enough, but when put into practice, it was quite difficult. I would soak my clothes during winters at silent retreats and grab forty winks whenever possible because I was exhausted. What happened was that despite the seeming simplicity of the task, I was soon to learn that I had missed something important.

Why is it so difficult to maintain focus? Studies show that even when we make a conscious effort to pay attention—for example, during a lecture— after a while, 50% of us will start daydreaming or feel the itch to look at their social media. So what’s happening? It turns out we’re fighting something known as learning — because that's how deeply seated this mechanism runs and how far back into our evolution it goes since the earliest organisms with nervous systems.— which is built on positive and negative reinforcement responding to feedback. I.e., rewards drive a learning process.

This is how it works: When we see food that looks appetizing and we decide we want to eat it, our brain has recognized that the food would be valuable for our survival. After we eat and enjoy it, especially if it's sweet, our body sends the signal to the brain— ”Remember this food and where you found it." This is how memory is formed, to make a person seek the same food. The cycle is simple: trigger, behavior, reward, and you go through it again.

Over time, the brain applies this model to all sorts of other pleasures. Like when we feel bad mentally, we may consume comfort food, e.g. chocolates, to feel better. As teenagers, we start smoking because we link it with being 'cool.' The loop goes on–trigger, behavior, reward.

These learned behaviors can have harmful effects—smoking and overeating, for instance, both involve the same brain systems in their reinforcement but come to produce health problems such as obesity and lung disease. How do we break these patterns? How can we work with this rather than fighting against our natural impulses or forcing ourselves to focus elsewhere to harness this reward-based learning process?

n my research, we examined whether mindfulness training could help people quit smoking. Instead of encouraging them to force a change, we asked participants to become curious about their smoking habits. We even told them to continue smoking, but to do so mindfully, paying attention to how it felt. One participant described her experience as “smoking smelled like stinky cheese and tasted like chemicals.” Though she already knew smoking was bad for her, this curious awareness helped her recognize just how unpleasant the habit was. This shift from intellectual knowledge to bodily understanding helped her break the cycle.

This process engages the prefrontal cortex, the brain region responsible for cognitive control. It helps us recognize that smoking is harmful or that we shouldn’t overeat. But when we’re stressed, this part of the brain often becomes inactive, and we fall back into old habits, such as yelling at loved ones or giving in to cravings.

This is where mindfulness comes into play. By becoming aware of the outcomes of our actions, we can start to see our habits differently. Instead of forcing ourselves to stop smoking or avoid unhealthy foods, we gradually lose interest in them. Mindfulness is not about forcing change; it’s about seeing things as they are. The more clearly we understand the consequences of our actions, the more likely we are to form healthier habits.

The key is curiosity. By getting curious about our cravings or urges, we can begin to understand them on a deeper level. When we become curious, we notice that cravings are made up of physical sensations—tightness, restlessness, or tension—that come and go. By focusing on these sensations, we can step away from our old, fear-driven habits and be present in the moment.

While this approach may seem simple, research shows it can be highly effective. One study found that mindfulness training helped people quit smoking at twice the rate of traditional therapy. When we examined the brains of experienced meditators, we saw that a region called the posterior cingulate cortex became less active when they let go of cravings mindfully.

Now, with online mindfulness programs, we can help people tap into this process right when the urge to smoke, eat, or engage in other unhealthy behaviors arises. Using the same technology that often fuels distractions, we can help people step out of their habit loops and into a more mindful way of living.

Even if you don’t smoke or struggle with stress eating, the next time you feel the urge to check your email out of boredom or respond to a text while driving, try being curiously aware of what’s happening in your body and mind. Instead of reacting impulsively, you might find yourself stepping out of old patterns and into a new, more mindful way of being.