Mindful Mastery – Cultivating Better Habits

I was reading the 1% rule post by Suba Lakshminarasimhan and started to reflect on it. This is my attempt to add to the discussion on Habit formation.

An active nonagenarian young man was finding it difficult to get up in the morning on some days and go for a walk. He would later tell his son that, he manages to make himself leave the comforts of the bed. To coax himself out of his comfort zone, He says to himself that his mind is playing tricks on his body. Once he gets up and breaks the inertia, he takes a brisk walk around the house.

His son also recounted one incident wherein he felt something snap in his feet while playing a game of tennis. He ignored it and continued playing till his feet swelled and he could not walk. At the hospital, it was found that he had suffered a minor fracture in his leg. The son mused that maybe an earlier intervention could have reduced some amount of discomfort.

Now both these incidents represent how we manage our awareness.

When we start a habit, like a fitness routine, the first day seems exciting or manageable. When we start experiencing pain, discomfort, or sometimes no visible changes, our lazy mind conjures all kinds of reasons to quit.

I find that delayed gratification is usually a culprit while forming new habits. Habits with immediate rewards are easier to pick up and condition, whereas, habits with delayed rewards are difficult to commit to and maintain. Also, the familiarity and comfort in an old routine assure us of getting results that are as expected.

So, what is the role of awareness in habit formation?

It helps the individual become self-aware of their current behaviors and the desired habits they wish to inculcate.

Cognitive control and response inhibition play important roles in new habit formation and their maintenance. Many of our ingrained habits are in response to specific cues. Response inhibition is important to consciously avoid getting back into the undesirable habits we are trying to change.

Research has shown that meditation and mindfulness help improve concentration and sustain attention. Along with these aspects, awareness encompasses self-introspection, reflection, etc. Broadly speaking, awareness is understanding our internal and external environment through our senses and emotions.

This awareness must be developed carefully. It must be nurtured with reinforcements, self-acknowledgments, and mindfulness. The awareness I speak is not the mind but that which minds the mind and the body.

This awareness helps the wise voice within us to be heard more loudly and helps us ignore the reactive or lazy voice to quieten a bit.

My previous example of the nonagenarian and his son are two constructs of our awareness. It can be wielded consciously to accomplish benefitting deeds or it can sometimes make us ignore the true happenings around and within us.

Awareness is the most essential weapon to develop while starting a new habit. I call it a weapon because, with awareness, we sometimes tend to completely ignore the most obvious happenings in the pursuit of the exotic.

I wish you all a powerful awareness, that can bring the transformation required and still caution you when required.

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