Think of our habits of thought and behavior like carts on a path.
Eventually a brand new path gets established and the old one gets overgrown, So in case we decide to turn off the path and cross the neighboring field.
Every time the cart passes over the path, the tracks get deeper and deeper. Of course, so it is exactly what happens with the neural pathways that make our habits, well habits. With all that said… Whatever tactic we use, among the most important elements involved in changing mental habits is rehearsal. You should take it into account. In essence this means making a habit out of unmaking our habits. So, in taking up this invitation, the first thing we need to decide is if we actually seek for to change. Change comes when the consequences of our choices begin to outweigh the reward, that is something I often refer to as the balance of consequences. Simply put, I’d say if what we’re getting out of a situation good, bad or indifferent continues to be perceived as more beneficial than any negative outcome, it’s quite likely we’re planning to continue making that choice.
While taking us off the beaten path and into that neighboring field, therefore this essentially involves making a plan that interrupts our conventional thought process and ensuing patterns of behavior.
Another tactic for maintaining our shift in focus is something I call scripting.
While providing us with the opportunity to redirect our thinking from I will can not I shall not fail, that transparency is transformative.
We can take a perfect, hard, honest look at what’s going on, rather than falling into the reflexive defensiveness that keeps us stuck, with the ego out of play. Whenever engaging what neuroscientists call neuroplasticity, with that said, this shift in focus is central to rewiring the pathways in the brain. Witness consciousness is a means for getting us out of our own way. Of course, the witness allows us to see that I’m bad with deadlines is really a dodge for I procrastinate since I’m afraid I will fail. At times we can find these patterns to be somewhat unproductive and, at others, wholly destructive.
When human beings become human doings our thinking and behavior is informed more by structure and ritual than randomness, that sort of statement ain’t intended to minimize our complexity. We are essentially a collection of habits.