Mindfulness and Behavioural Change

One of the ways that this classificatory system can be applied is towards behavior change often when we think about meditation. We think of it in terms of achieving certain pleasant subjective states or certain wisdom insights and definitely that is a side of the meditative Endeavour.

But I think that it is extremely important that behavior change object if behavior change be included in the stated goals of the meditative path. So what do I mean tangibly by objective behavior change? Well, I mean things like ones habit around food or substances if one is using?

Tobacco or other drugs or alcohol and one wishes to reduce that or eliminate that that would be a behavior change eating the right amounts of the right things, etc. That would be a behavior change.

One of my biggest issues behaviourally is a tendency to procrastinate and to avoid responsibilities so being more responsible. That's a behavior change. It turns out that.

There's a basic principle for applying meditation to behavior change and that principle is.

External behaviors are controlled by sensory events.

For example, let's say that you would like to stop smoking.

You decided I'm going to stop smoking.

Now, what happens well, you have the urge to smoke but what's the urge to smoke.

Well, Sensorially.

You are having withdrawal from nicotine that creates uncomfortable touch.

You feel nervous frightened irritated.

That's uncomfortable feel you have.

Images mental pictures of smoking.

And when you have that mental picture of smoking.

Again, you get a pleasant feel a smile comes on your face.

You have to talk about how how uncomfortable you are.

But you also have talk about well. Maybe I should start again. I really deserve it. Blah blah blah so some combination of touch feel image talk.

Either pleasant or unpleasant is creating the carrot and the stick sensory events that are your urge to smoke again. The carrot part is smoke again and you'll have these pleasant feel, and your talk is telling you that and the images reinforcing it the stick part is if you keep abstaining.

You're going to have these unpleasant touches and these unpleasant fields. So the urge is coming up tangibly in terms of 4 sensory events if you can.

Untangle those meaning keep track of them, then they won't crisscross and multiply into a force that you cannot resist In other words, if there's 10 units of.

Force in touch likewise feel image talk that is driving you to smoke again by what mathematical formula. Do we compute the aggregate force on that that is in that urge well. I would claim that if you can keep these elements distinct in awareness as they are rising in real-time moment by moment that you'll have exactly what's there 10 + 10 + 10.

Plus, there.

So that's 4 * 10 or 40 if you cannot do that. They will Criss Cross. Cross multiply, creating the impression of 10, * 10, * 10, * 10 or a force of 10,000 that you cannot resist.

Applying mindfulness to these will reduce the power of the urge and make it easier for you to not give into that. Urge also, if you have equanimity if you open to these things.

You'll discover that actually what you thought was 10 is actually just 2. Most of it. Most of the power in these things in the resistance to the things that's being multiplied saved by 5:00 in each case so really once you have equanimity so you reduce your grasping around the sensor event to 1/5 of it of what it was before now. You just got 2 + 2 + 2 + 2, so that's like.

8 and the urge is you can stay with it until it passes and you could do that over and over again until the urge doesn't come up again.

So that's the basic meditative principle behind behavior change as applied to a specific of resisting the urge to reuse tobacco, but you can substitute any behavior that you're trying to get over and the principle will be the same. It will either just involve the subjective system of feel image talk or it will involve in some way touch plus.

Image talk In other words, body plus mind.

Now there's another basic principle in applying?

Meditation in general in mindfulness in specific to behavior change.

What I just described the first basic principle?

Ah, which is to deconstruct the urge meditatively.

If you attempt to apply that principle.

It will either work or it won't meaning that you'll either achieve the behavior change. You want or you'll fail to achieve it.

It is not guaranteed that met at the mindfulness alone will achieve the behavior change. So if you attempt to apply the first principle, which is see that the behavior that the object of behavior is being controlled by sensor events and then you deconstruct those sensor events with concentration clarity equanimity skills. That's the first principle if you attempt to apply that first principle and it works.

Great you've done your job.

It is possible that it might not work. It's insufficient.

So the second principle says if that doesn't work. Then you have to go for an external accountability structure of some sort that means you have to go to a counselor.

A therapist at 12 step program a sponsor a friend. A something that's on the outside. That is giving you manageable assignments in changing your behavior so you combine that external accountability structure with the continuing of your meditative approach.

And that with time should get the job done for example, in my own case. One of my habits, which was a pretty deep 110 year marijuana abuse situation, literally evaporated without the tiniest structure. I'm sorry without the tiniest struggle.

Literally overnight as the result of applying a mindfulness technique on the other hand, another major behavioral structure struggle that I've had in my life, which is with procrastination and avoiding responsibility. Well, I ended up having to have 18 months of psychotherapy with psychiatrist a real doctor an MD and by the way this wasn't.

All that long ago, maybe I don't know 6 years ago, or so, so I needed to create for myself that accountability structure. Because the meditation alone wasn't doing it. However, the combined effect of the psychotherapy and my meditation practice was very strong stronger than they would be individually so they potentiated each other and I've been having.

A lot more success with that, than I ever thought possible.