The chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken. We have some self-destructive behaviour patterns in our life that we feel powerless about. In short, we have some bad habits.
A habit by itself is a beautiful thing. It is something that you have been doing for so long, that your body seems to do it on auto-pilot, no intervention required. Your mental resources are freed up and the mind and muscle memory simply just makes it happen. It is like a spreadsheet’s macro.
James Clear has very succinctly defined it as Cue, Craving, Response and Reward. The more this repeats, the more it gets strengthened.
We are the creators of our habits, and as such we hold admin rights over them, don’t we?
The Cue is external and is out of our control, so to say. It may appear even if one is alone on a deserted island. In everyday life, we have an avalanche of Cues. Best to let Cues be.
The Craving is internal. It is our conditioned response to the Cue. Can we control Craving? Maybe, but our energy is better utilized elsewhere.
The Reaction is the part of the Bad Habit that one doesn’t like. This Reaction is what one wants to change. Every person who has broken a bad habit and stayed clean of it afterwards has been mindful of what happened between the Craving and the Reaction.
Mindfulness added at that specific point of transition on the road between Craving and Reaction gives you power to create a fork on the road. Simply by being mindful you can now brake at that juncture. Et Voilà! You are in edit mode.
Edit your reaction. Create new roads.
Being mindful gives you the control to create a new road at that junction. Start taking the road less traveled. Go where you want to go. Your inner compass is a good guide.