More on this book
Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Amy Johnson
Read between
February 4 - December 16, 2019
We know better, yet we don’t do better, and we can’t figure out why. Habits not only take us away from the life we want but also become ammunition we use against ourselves—proof that we should be better than we are.
You aren’t going to read about setting goals to be habit-free, using willpower to overcome your habit, or being more disciplined as a way to outsmart yourself.
This book is based on the premise that your habit is an impersonal, thought-based experience that can be addressed without rehashing your past or analyzing your life.
In very
simplistic terms, nearly all habits start as a way to not feel what you’re feeling, a way to leave the present moment—often by numbing out in some way—and return to a more peaceful, calm home base. Your habits are misguided attempts to feel more comfortable in your own skin.
Urges are simply thoughts or feelings that encourage you to act on your habit. Urges can be anything, from a fleeting thought that says, It’s okay; just check your e-mail one last time, to all-out warfare—something you feel throughout your body that hijacks your emotions, drives action, and feels near impossible to ignore, like a smoker’s craving for a cigarette or an alcoholic’s craving for
of the neurological state of your brain. Habit is broadly defined in this book as a repetitive thought or behavior that one wishes one did not experience.
Can it not be positive?
In this book, however, persistent thoughts and mental habits are treated the same as behavioral habits, because the basis for all habits is thought.
despite this focus on behavior, it’s thought that underlies the problem. The reason you do everything you do is because of how you relate to the thoughts that run through your head.
Without conscious and unconscious thought, we wouldn’t have human experience as we know it.
Three Principles,
principle of Universal Mind describes the creative energy that is the source of all life.
The principle of Thought is how we come to know or experience life.
the principle of Consciousness is what allows us to experience what thought creates. Consciousness is like a movie projector in our minds—it brings thinking to life, delivering a vivid, sensory experience of what’s actually taking place internally.
Spiritual traditions throughout the ages, as well as modern physics, point to the fact that what we experience of the world around us is a reflection of our own personal thinking, not the other way around.
There is a part of you that is totally and completely habit-free. When you are in the deeper emotions of peace, love, and gratitude, you are connected with your true self, and your habit is a nonissue. It
When you are caught up in the human weather of your life—thinking about life rather than simply being in it—your habit crops up. It is associated with that part of you. Your habit is of the mind, not of the soul or spirit. It is not even of “you”; it is a creation of temporary, fleeting thought that comes and goes when left alone.
In scientific terms, a specific thought—or the action we often refer to as thinking—is the manifestation of spiritual energy that shows up in our physical body (in the brain).
When you see your urges and drives for what they are—fleeting messages that do not represent “you” or signify your real needs or desires—they are stripped of their perceived power, and they become much easier to dismiss.
You are not a fixed entity with a fixed habit—you are fresh in each moment, with infinite possibilities available to you.
This book points toward thought as the underlying source of all habits (and the source of everything we experience in life, actually).
They viewed my habit as a disorder or a mental illness, which naturally led them to view me as sick or lacking; their job was to try to solve or fix my problem.
I now understand that external events do not trigger or cause binges—internal events (thoughts) are the sole cause of acting out a habit.
Rational Recovery differs from Alcoholics Anonymous in many ways, but primarily because it does not view addictions as diseases. Rather, it is based on an understanding of neuroscience and how habits and addictions are formed and sustained
The lower brain is not rational, thoughtful, or
In contrast to the lower brain, the higher brain is the conscious, decision-making part of your brain; it is the part of your brain that makes the decision to listen to the thoughts that tell you to act on your urges. The lower brain cannot control action alone, which means that the wiser part of you is actually in charge. It certainly doesn’t feel that way, but when you see the truth of this, everything changes.
This book is divided into three main parts: “Understanding Your Habit,” “Ending Your Habit,” and “Lifelong Change.”
That moving, changing, vaporous thought can’t touch your health and clarity. It only appears to obscure it at times, just as clouds can mask the sun, but they can’t affect the sun.
What often looks like self-sabotage is a misguided attempt at self-love.
It’s you doing the best you can in the moment to feel better, driven by love for yourself and a deep desire for wellness.
Your attempts at feeling good might look like staying in bed when you’re depressed, using substances when you’re addicted, or being unkind to others when you feel insecure.
Your habit is a useful indicator that you are in a low state of mind, using your amazing power of thought to your detriment rather than to your benefit.
Think of your mind as a snow globe. The snow globe is self-correcting. When it’s shaken, and snow is flying everywhere, if you want the snow to settle, all you do is stop shaking it. When you leave it alone, the snow settles on its own. Your mind is the same.
You find yourself waiting for your mind to settle down when it is shaken up rather than jumping in to fix it and unwittingly creating even more confusion.
The more you begin to follow your own inner nudges and common sense, the further away from your chaotic, thought-based, surface-only habit you’ll find yourself.
3: Why You Feel Hijacked
The lower brain therefore produces strong urges for the behavior, thought, or substance involved in your habit.
There is little room for common sense when we are consumed with the lower brain’s messages.
The higher brain is more sophisticated and more advanced than the lower brain. It is intelligent, logical, and rational. It is the part where conscious decision making and voluntary motor behavior take place.
Universal mind or wisdom—working through your higher brain (which controls your voluntary decisions and movements)—is where your actions ultimately originate.
Habitual, lower-brain thought is the backseat screamer.
Habits are thoughts that feel compelling and often uncomfortable, but they are actually quite impersonal.
The feeling you get when you experience an urge is actually a helpful early warning sign; it’s telling you to slow down and become suspicious of the way you are using your power of thought.
5: You Need Insight, Not Information
6: Urges Are Your Inner Alarm Clock
A More Accurate View of Urges In the most basic sense, an urge is nothing more than a thought.
Most of her Internet time was spent reading about other people’s lives, either on celebrity gossip blogs or on Facebook. She noticed that immersing herself in all of that gossip not only consumed huge quantities of time and took her away from her own job and hobbies but also left her feeling sad, lonely, and self-critical.
The urges you experience are only the routine signals your lower brain was taught to emit. They are no more personal than your alarm clock. If anything, they are your opportunity to step back and away from your habit rather than forward toward acting on it.
7: That Voice Is Not “You”
Addictive Voice
