This article explores the neuroscience of habits: what habits are, how they form, and how to build good habits (and break bad ones).
Neuroscience
Strategies for Creating (or Destroying) Habits
In a previous article, we defined habits, looked at how they are formed (through the lens of Duhigg’s and Clear’s models), and then outlined the science behind them. According to James Clear’s Four Laws of Behaviour Change (2018), there are four steps to establishing a habit: cue, craving, routine, reward (Clear, 2018). This article is about how we turn the above steps into practical actions/advice that can help clients not only alter the way they do things, but also make the changes stick.
- May 24, 2021
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- Neuroscience, Personal Effectiveness, Wellness
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The Science Behind Habit Formation
Oh, here we go again! You’ve got a wonderful new smart phone – or maybe a computer – with all the bells and whistles, but how do you make it work? How do you get from one screen or one app to the next? Chances are, the first day will involve a bit of brainwork; you’ll notice what happens when you push this button or come to that screen and you may feel slightly clumsy working it, but after a day or two, you will be so used to the new device that you will forget how the old one operated. So, from the brain’s perspective, what just happened?
- January 7, 2021
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- Neuroscience, Personal Effectiveness
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Dreams and Counselling
How do you respond when your client asks in distress: “Why am I having all these wild dreams?”? Do you know what purpose the client’s dreams may be serving? If your honest answer is “no”, you are not alone. While theories on why we dream abound, it’s hard to get at dreams directly. The main […]
- November 7, 2018
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- Counselling Theory & Process, Neuroscience, Spirituality & Religion
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Hard-wired to Connect: Mirror Neurons and Empathy
Many people have suspected for a long time that we human beings are designed to be able to experience things happening for another person: in good times or in bad. So we see a stranger clumsily bump their head on a low-hanging branch at the park, and we flinch, too. We hear that a friend […]
- September 29, 2014
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- Clinical Mental Health, Neuroscience
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How the Mind Works
Over the past two decades scientists have devoted much time to the human brain: how it works, why it works, and how it impacts human and animal behaviour. As a result, it is hard to keep up with the latest research! To help you out, we looked around for websites that publish regular, free, and […]
- April 18, 2012
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- Counselling Theory & Process
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