Science of the SpiritS


Butterfly

How to shake your bad habits - for good!

Dr. Travis Bradberry
LinkedIn
Sun, 10 Jul 2016 00:00 UTC
coffee, bad habits
Have you ever tried to break a bad habit, only to give up in frustration? The problem isn't that you're weak or that the bad habit is too ingrained; in all likelihood, you just gave up too soon.

Researchers at University College, London, found that it takes 66 days for a new habit to form. Likewise, as long as there is no physical addiction involved, it takes 66 days for you to shake a bad habit. But before you can develop the motivation to stick it out for that long, you need to understand how bad habits form in the first place.

Bad habits are formed and reinforced via the habit loop. First, something triggers you to initiate an undesired behavior. Maybe you're feeling stressed, so you decide to numb out on Facebook for an hour or eat a whole bag of Flamin' Cheetos. The trigger event is whatever puts this idea in your head. The second step is the behavior itself. Your brain says, "Sure, you deserve some Flamin' Cheetos," so you dig in.

The third step—and this part is crucial—is the reward. The behavior has to reward you in some way. That doesn't mean it's good for you or that it's smart, just that it does something that your brain likes. Numbing out on Facebook might help you forget your problems for a while or to put off something that you don't want to do, and we all know, all too well, the reward that comes from eating a bag of junk food. For better or worse, these rewards increase the likelihood that you'll repeat the behavior.

Comment: Further reading:

Read More...
Info

Direction you walk when blindfolded reveals whether you are inhibited or approach oriented

Jeremy Dean
Psyblog
Sun, 10 Jul 2016 00:00 UTC
blindfolded woman
People experiencing anxiety walk in this direction.

People experiencing anxiety tend to walk to the left, new research finds.

It results from more activity in the right-hand-side of the brain.

The conclusions come from a study in which people were blindfolded and asked to walk in a straight line.

The more inhibited and anxious people tended to veer to the left.

In comparison, people who experience more positive emotions tended to veer off to the right.

The more inhibited and anxious they were, the more people accidentally wandered to the left.

Comment:


Read More...
Fire

Earth and Fire: Anasazi style pottery done in the backcountry


Solpin Films
Mon, 11 Jan 2016 13:23 UTC
Anasazi pottery
"Earth and Fire" is a documentary poem about artist and primitive potter Kelly Magleby. Kelly went into the backcountry of Southern Utah with a knife and a buckskin for 10 days to try to learn about Anasazi pottery by doing it the way the Anasazi did it. Funded by Primitive Found (.org), music by Jason Shaw @ audionautix.com, check out Kelly's art at anasazipottery.net

Comment: Read more about the Anasazi people: Ruins Hint at the Benefits of Volcanic Catastrophe

Read More...
Gem

Your environment is the hidden hand that shapes your behavior

James Clear
JamesClear.com
Fri, 08 Jul 2016 00:00 UTC
motivation, environment, wise decisions
It can be tempting to blame failure on a lack of willpower or a scarcity of talent, and to attribute success to hard work, effort, and grit.

To be sure, those things matter. What is interesting, however, is that if you examine how human behavior has been shaped over time, you discover that motivation (and even talent) is often overvalued. In many cases, the environment matters more.

Let me share an example that surprised me when I first learned of it.

The Shape of Human Behavior

In his award-winning book, Guns, Germs, and Steel, scientist Jared Diamond points out an obvious fact: different continents have different shapes. At first glance, this seems rather unimportant, but it turns out to have a profound impact on human behavior.

For example, the general shape of the Americas is north-south. That is, the land mass of North and South America tends to be tall and thin in shape rather than wide and fat. The same is true for Africa. The primary axis runs from north to south.

Meanwhile, the land mass that makes up Europe, Asia, and the Middle East is the opposite. This massive stretch of land tends to be more east-west in shape. Interestingly, the shape of each region has played a significant role in driving human behavior throughout the centuries.
Read More...
2 + 2 = 4

How shame can mask as depression

Hilary Jacobs Hendel
The New York Times
Tue, 10 Mar 2015 13:19 UTC
shame/depression
How can it be that a seemingly depressed person, one who shows clinical symptoms, doesn't respond to antidepressants or psychotherapy? Perhaps because the root of his anguish is something else.

Several years ago a patient named Brian was referred to me. He had suffered for years from an intractable depression for which he had been hospitalized. He had been through cognitive behavioral therapy, psychoanalytic psychotherapy, supportive therapy and dialectical behavioral therapy. He had tried several medication "cocktails," each with a litany of side effects that made them virtually intolerable. They had been ineffective anyway. The next step was electroshock therapy, which Brian did not want.

Comment:

Read More...
Boat

Fear: A multi-dimensional creature that requires a multi-dimensional response

Heather Plett
upliftconnect.com
Tue, 05 Jul 2016 19:16 UTC
fear
This is what the self-help books might be missing

Fear. It shows up in nearly every coaching conversation I have. Sometimes it's bold and in-your-face and can't be denied, and sometimes it's sneaky and disguised as anger or laziness and has to be coaxed out into the light.

Fear fills a lot of pages in self-help books. Everyone's trying to master it. Some tell you to befriend it, others tell you ignore it, and still others tell you to stare it in the face. Do an image search of fear quotes and you'll find endless memes about how you can conquer, befriend, embrace, or ignore fear. Or, if you'd rather, you can dance with it, kick it to the curb, or pray it out of existence.
The problem with much of what is written about fear in self-help books is that it is oversimplified. Diminish fear into only one dimension and it's easier to give you a meme-worthy quote about it.
Read More...
Hearts

What is the root cause of addiction, and how do you heal it?


Uplift
Sun, 10 Jul 2016 14:34 UTC


How Emotional Pain causes Addiction

Addiction has become so widespread, it's nearly an epidemic in our modern world. Around 240 million people around the world are dependent on alcohol, more than a billion people smoke, and about 15 million people use injection drugs, such as heroin.

From sex addiction, technology, food, shopping, drugs and alcohol, to work addiction, nearly every person has their personal habit. And for each addiction, there is a human in pain, trying to escape from the torment inside of them.

Dr Gabor Mate says the root cause of addiction is pain, and the attempt to escape pain actually creates more pain. But we can heal addiction. Watch to learn how.

Comment: See also:

Read More...
People

Why people use the status quo as a moral compass

Christina Tworek
The Conversation
Fri, 08 Jul 2016 17:04 UTC
goldfish black swan
© hidesy / Shutterstock.comPeople often mistake normality as a criterion for morality, scientists say.
The Binewskis are no ordinary family. Arty has flippers instead of limbs; Iphy and Elly are Siamese twins; Chick has telekinetic powers. These traveling circus performers see their differences as talents, but others consider them freaks with "no values or morals." However, appearances can be misleading: The true villain of the Binewski tale is arguably Miss Lick, a physically "normal" woman with nefarious intentions.

Much like the fictional characters of Katherine Dunn's "Geek Love," everyday people often mistake normality as a criterion for morality. Yet, freaks and norms alike may find themselves anywhere along the good/bad continuum. Still, people use what's typical as a benchmark for what's good, and are often averse to behavior that goes against the norm. Why?

In a series of studies, psychologist Andrei Cimpian and I investigated why people use the status quo as a moral codebook - a way to decipher right from wrong and good from bad. Our inspiration for the project was philosopher David Hume, who pointed out that people tend to allow the status quo ("what is") to guide their moral judgments ("what ought to be"). Just because a behavior or practice exists, that doesn't mean it's good - but that's exactly how people often reason. Slavery and child labor, for example, were and still are popular in some parts of the world, but their existence doesn't make them right or OK. We wanted to understand the psychology behind the reasoning that prevalence is grounds for moral goodness.

Comment: Further reading:

Read More...
Light Saber

Emotions like fear & anxiety can trap you - clinical psychologist says facing them helps


PSYblog
Tue, 16 Feb 2016 21:28 UTC
fear and anxiety
Fear and anxiety are emotions that can trap you, but facing them can help, explains a clinical psychologist.

Phobias and anxieties, such as social anxiety, are best dealt with by facing them.

It is not easy, but if done step-by-step most people can learn to deal with anxieties and fears — even overcome them.

Comment: Additional helpful information when facing fear and anxiety:

Read More...
Bulb

Suck at meditation? You may just be doing it right

David Ferguson
The Guardian
Sun, 03 Jul 2016 19:32 UTC
meditation
© Jim WilemanTo really empty your mind, you’d have to be sedated or dead and neither of those states is particularly conducive to spiritual growth.’
I suck at meditating. I'm one of those perennially distracted people who knows they need to meditate, has meditated in the past with some success and who knows they should meditate more, but who finds it so much easier to do things like dishes, laundry and exercising than to schedule time to do nothing.

When I read this Forbes article touting mindfulness meditation as the "next big business opportunity", my initial impulse is to grind my teeth in frustration. Co-opting a centuries-old spiritual practice as the engine of your hip new startup strikes me as kind of like trying to repurpose an astrolabe as a controller for your Xbox, but whatever, Silicon Valley kids. You do you.

Comment: Is Meditation really worth it? Totally!

Read More...