Dr. Jud Brewer, thought leader in habit change, talks about breaking anxiety habit loops by understanding the Habit Loop, the correlation between formal meditation practice and mindfulness skills, and the importance of extending mindfulness beyond specific situations in this episode.
Read more
AI Summary
AI Chapters
Episode notes
auto_awesome
Podcast summary created with Snipd AI
Quick takeaways
Understanding habit loops and the rewards they provide can help us break unhelpful behaviors and open the door to positive change.
Mindfulness practices such as curiosity and kindness help reshape our relationship with habits and navigate and learn from our emotions.
By paying attention to the rewards and consequences of our habits, we can update our brain's reward value and change our behaviors.
Deep dives
Understanding Habit Loops
Habit loops play a significant role in our behaviors, including anxiety, smoking, and overeating. The loop consists of a trigger, behavior, and reward. For example, smoking is triggered by stress, the behavior is smoking a cigarette, and the reward is temporary relief. By mapping out habit loops and understanding the rewards they provide, we can become disenchanted with unhelpful behaviors and open the door to change. Mindfulness practices such as curiosity and kindness can help us reshape our relationship with our habits and navigate and learn from our emotions.
The Power of Mindfulness in Habit Change
Mindfulness plays a crucial role in understanding and transforming habits. By bringing curious awareness to our thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations, we gain insight into our habit loops. Mindfulness helps break the automaticity of habits and allows us to see their unsatisfying rewards. Through formal meditation practices and informal mindfulness moments, we cultivate mindfulness muscle memory, making it easier to apply mindfulness in our daily lives. The key is to bring awareness to our habits, approach them with curiosity, and navigate our emotions with kindness.
The Role of Reward-Based Learning in Habit Formation
Reward-based learning, an evolutionarily conserved mechanism, drives habit formation. Our brains associate certain behaviors with rewards to facilitate learning. For example, when foraging, finding food triggers the behavior of eating, and the reward is a dopamine signal that reinforces the memory of the food source. Similarly, habits like smoking or emotional eating are learned through associating triggers, behaviors, and rewards. By paying attention to the rewards and consequences of our habits, we can update our brain's reward value and change our behaviors.
Applying Mindfulness to Anxiety
Anxiety can be reinforced by habit loops. Triggers, like negative emotions, lead to the behavior of worrying. Worrying provides rewards such as a sense of control or distraction from negative emotions. By bringing curiosity and awareness to our anxious thoughts and physical sensations, we can change our relationship with anxiety. Mindfulness helps us realize that anxiety is a natural response that constantly changes, allowing us to be more accepting and less reactive. Mindfulness practices coupled with understanding habit loops can help reduce anxiety and its impact.
Using Mindfulness to Overcome Addiction
Mindfulness is a powerful tool for overcoming addiction and habit-based behaviors. By mapping out habit loops and examining the rewards we derive from these behaviors, we can cultivate a greater awareness of our actions and their impact. Mindfulness practice, both formal and informal, helps us develop a growth mindset and change our relationship with our habits and cravings. By bringing curiosity, non-judgment, and self-compassion to our experiences, we can weaken the grip of addiction and foster healthier habits. Mindfulness also helps us navigate cravings, recognize the impermanence of emotions, and make choices aligned with our well-being.
Dr. Jud Brewer is a thought leader in the field of habit change and the science of self-mastery. He is the Director of Research and Innovation at the Mindfulness Center and associate professor in psychiatry at the School of Medicine at Brown University.
If you’d like to start out this new year restoring some balance and putting some healthy habits in place, or if you’re tired of waiting for the right circumstances to make progress towards your goals, Eric, as a behavior coach, can help you.
To book a free, no-pressure 30-minute call with Eric to see if working with him in The One You Feed Personal Transformation Program is right for you, click here.
But wait – there’s more! The episode is not quite over!! We continue the conversation and you can access this exclusive content right in your podcast player feed. Head over to our Patreon page and pledge to donate just $10 a month. It’s that simple and we’ll give you good stuff as a thank you!
In This Interview, Dr. Jud Brewer and I discuss Habits for Healing Anxiety and…
Green Chef: The first USDA Certified Organic Meal Kit Company that makes eating well easy and affordable. Go to www.greenchef.com/wolf90 and use code WOLF90 to get $90 off including free shipping.
Peloton: Of course the bike is an incredible workout, but did you know that on the Peloton app, you can also take yoga, strength training, stretching classes, and so much more? If you download the Peloton App today through January 30, 2021 you get 2 free months free!
Kettle & Fire: Bone Broth and soups carefully crafted by world-class chefs, made with the best whole ingredients and the bones of humanely raised animals delivered right to your door. Go to www.kettleandfire.com/wolf and use promo code WOLF for 20% off.
If you enjoyed this conversation with Dr. Jud Brewer on Habits for Healing Anxiety, you might also enjoy these other episodes: