We function throughout the day thanks to habits that are nearly automatic: wake up, brush teeth, make coffee. Transforming behaviors into habits saves our brains from having to exert extra effort to make decisions, and this can work to our benefit: Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps broke world records by fine-tuning his habits, for example.
But what about those other habits—like smoking cigarettes, stress-eating, or constantly checking our social media—that may be holding us back?
In his new book, The Craving Mind, psychiatrist and Yale School of Medicine psychology professor Judson Brewer makes a case that mindfulness and meditation can help you identify and counter everyday cravings that lead to recalcitrant bad habits, and even addictions. Brewer, also director of research at the Center for Mindfulness in the University of Massachusetts Medical School, guides us through various addictions (to cigarettes, technology, distraction, and even love) and explains how we can hack our brains to break them.
[For more of this story, written by Deborah Yip, go to http://greatergood.berkeley.ed...ngs_with_mindfulness]
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