René Magritte’s fanciful painting here illustrates this feature of habit cues (Les valuers personnelles/Personal Values, 1952). The cues that activate our habits have outsize influence. Morning in your bedroom? The shaving brush, soap, glass, and comb loom large. The bed dwindles in comparison. Today, this would perhaps depict your phone on your bedside table, blaring out the alarm. Time to wake up. Your mind registers nothing else (at least until coffee).
