“First we make our habits, then our habits make us.” (John Dryden)
If we want to improve our lives and reach our goals, we need to dedicate some attention to our daily habits. We all have automatic daily habits – the question is whether these are taking us toward positive outcomes.
Rituals and habits are the basic building blocks that determine how we transform and what direction we take in life. We transform with each action, thought and emotion.
Daily practices for changing your life can lead to tremendous self-improvement and lasting transformation when done with mindfulness, especially meditation.
The Science Behind Habits
A habit is an automatic behavior triggered by a cue followed by a reward. In his book “The Power of Habit,” Charles Duhigg describes this cycle as consisting of three parts: cues, routines, and rewards.
Over time, this loop gets ingrained into neural pathways in the brain which makes it nearly effortless to perform these behaviors. Neuroscientists have found that once something becomes habitual, the brain stops fully participating in decision-making processes which allows it to concentrate on other tasks.
Our brains are wired to use as little energy as possible so once something turns into a habit it requires less cognitive power. And this efficiency is exactly why they’re so powerful! William James famously said: “All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits.”
The Downside of Brain’s Efficiency
Being designed to conserve energy, this means that once something is learned, it becomes an automatic process; unless something causes it to be redirected, it won’t veer onto a different track. Hence we find ourselves doing and re-creating things the same way, without even realizing it.
When we have learned to set the table a certain way, the brain streamlines the process. Automatically we put the forks and spoons where we have learned to put them — and if someone else comes along and does it in a different way, only then will our brain take notice (and possibly offense).
This is really why we might do a mundane task like locking the car door or turning off the stove and not remember it. This means that automatic habits are very powerful, especially as they can become invisible to our awareness.
The Upside of Brain’s Efficiency
But this efficiency also means that we can use this in our favor – we can decide to implement habits that are helpful to us, that help us grow and reach our positive goals. And it means that what today can seem uncomfortable and difficult to accomplish – maybe even impossible – with some consistency and time can become something that feels easy to us.
Science confirms that our brains are malleable and, with the proper attention, can be altered. New neural pathways can be created, with corresponding chemical, functional, and structural changes following. This is really good news and shows that each of us can transform old patterns and bring new energy and experiences forward.
The key question is — how? Well, it takes attention (i.e., conscious awareness) and desire. Without exerting some kind of influence over how we want our thoughts and messages to be transmitted, they will simply revert to the same old, same old. We have to get involved consciously to start changing our neural pathways, and create a different set point for ourselves.
The Importance of Mindfulness in Elevating Your Habits
When we are present mindfully in the moment we can observe what we are doing and we can make a choice. Being mindful allows us to identify thoughts, feelings, and actions while increasing our consciousness of patterns that need change.
While the many health and wellness benefits of meditation are common knowledge (everything from lowering stress levels to improving brain health, sleep, relationships, etc.), it is also a multi-dimensional tool of empowerment and transformation.
Whether you want to eat better, quit smoking or improve your work discipline, the ability to be mindfully present will help you make better choices – to the point where you will want to make better choices.
For example, a study found that mindful practices helped promote weight loss and improve eating behaviors because the participants felt increased awareness of their hunger and satiety cues. A study found that regularly practicing mindfulness improves our ability to make better decisions making it easier to resist temptation for junk foods.
If you want to consciously elevate your mastery of life, meditation is simply a must-have part of daily life. Not only does it automatically lead to greater conscious control over your physical and emotional well-being, it also gives you direct access to higher wisdom, creativity and expansive awareness.
A meditation practice will empower habit formation in more than one way:
- It helps you become aware of how you feel. With more awareness, you can become more aware of the impact of your current habits and the impact of new practices. Understanding that something is helping you and seeing its benefits will motivate you more
- It helps you become more aware of your inner emotional and mental landscape, so you can see the real root of unhealthy habits.
- Meditation helps you experience less stress and anxiety, calming down your nervous system, which makes is easier to make good decisions and feel clear headed
- Improved concentration is one of the benefits of meditation – when we are able to focus and choose our point of focus, it is easier to stick with our choices and complete
The Process of Habit Formation
New habits take time to form. But you will experience a tipping point where it becomes easier and even enjoyable. Studies have shown that on average, it takes about 66 days for someone to develop a new habit; however, this varies widely depending on the individual and complexity of the behavior being adopted.
A paper in the European Journal of Social Psychology reported habit formation can take between 18 – 254 days. The first stage of forming a routine can be tough because it requires conscious effort and commitment, which often leads to resistance or need for constant motivation.
But as you get used to doing something regularly, less mental energy is needed to keep up with it—this marks the shift when your new practice becomes part of daily life without thinking about it.
The idea that there’s a tipping point when establishing habits is backed by neuroplasticity research: repeated actions build different pathways within our brains over time so they become automatic. As these connections grow stronger through consistent repetition, we no longer have to think actively about engaging in those behaviors—they simply happen.
To reach this crucial moment sooner rather than later consider adding mindfulness exercises into your routine like mindful breathing techniques which help improve focus while also reducing stressors distracting from successfully building new patterns into one’s lifestyle better yet faster.