Willpower

Willpower alone won’t work.

So how does mindfulness help us create new habits and achieve our goals?

So, you’ve set a goal, and have been working towards this goal with optimism and energy, but within a few weeks you find yourself slipping back into your old habits and ways of being. Why is this? Well, making changes is hard, and contrary to popular belief, willpower alone doesn’t work, (cue sigh of relief, you are not weak and lacking in willpower…you are human!)

Not only do habits create strong neural pathways in the brain, like water that continually flows down a certain path over time will create a river, and the longer you’ve had that habit the deeper the river. But habits are also formed around a reward-based learning system which involves both positive and negative reinforcement. Basically, we’ve evolved to want to do more of the things that feel good and less of things that feel bad.

So, habits have created strong neural pathways and become ingrained, but why doesn’t willpower alone help us to break those pathways and create new one instead? Well, willpower is a function of the newer, rationale, decision-making parts of the brain. Whereas, habits are rooted in the older, survival parts of the brain. As much as we like to think we’re highly evolved intellectual beings, the older parts of the brain are often running the show. This is particularly true when we’re having a strong emotional reaction, have you ever noticed how you slip back into those old habits when you’re emotional?

So, then the question is what is the role of mindfulness in all of this?

As Jud Brewer, psychiatrist and expert in clinical mindfulness training, points out, mindfulness helps us to:

1. Notice the behaviour in the first place.

2. Investigate why you’re engaging in it.

3. Substitute it with a bigger, better option.

If you’re doing something habitually, you’re probably not really noticing what you’re doing. Bringing your mindful attention to what you’re doing helps you to recognise a habit loop when it’s happening.

The quality of our attention when we’re mindful is key, with mindfulness we employ a kind and curious quality that allows us to investigate why we’re doing what we’re doing and be curious about what triggered the behaviour.

The very act of bringing your mindful attention to the present moment and to the behaviour that is playing out helps to quieten down the emotional parts of the brain and get the rational, decision-making Pre Frontal Cortex back online so you are more empowered to engage willpower and make more skilful decisions.

Couple willpower with mindfulness and you’re ready to tackle those big goals and dreams!