The Craving Mind Quotes

“In his book In This Very Life, the Burmese meditation teacher Sayadaw U Pandita, wrote, "In their quest for happiness, people mistake excitement of the mind for real happiness." We get excited when we hear good news, start a new relationship, or ride a roller coaster. Somewhere in human history, we were conditioned to think that the feeling we get when dopamine fires in our brain equals happiness. Don't forget, this was probably set up so that we would remember where food could be found, not to give us the feeling "you are now fulfilled." To be sure, defining happiness is a tricky business, and very subjective. Scientific definitions of happiness continue to be controversial and hotly debated. The emotion doesn't seem to be something that fits into a survival-of-the-fittest learning algorithm. But we can be reasonably sure that the anticipation of a reward isn't happiness.”
― Judson Brewer, The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love – Why We Get Hooked and How We Can Break Bad Habits

“Until we define happiness for ourselves, clearly seeing the difference between excitement and joy, for example, our habits will likely not change. We will keep returning to the fruits of our desires.”
― Judson Brewer, The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love – Why We Get Hooked and How We Can Break Bad Habits

“The self itself isn't a problem, since remembering who we are when we wake up each morning is very helpful. Instead, the problem is the extent to which we get caught up in the drama of our lives and take it personally when something happens to us (good or bad).”
― Judson Brewer, The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love – Why We Get Hooked and How We Can Break Bad Habits

“How we relate to our thoughts and feelings makes all the difference.”
― Judson Brewer, The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love – Why We Get Hooked and How We Can Break Bad Habits

“Rule number one is that a map is useless if we don’t know how to orient it correctly. In other words, we can use a map only if we pair it with a compass to tell us where north is. When our map is oriented, the landmarks fall into place and begin to make sense. Only then can we navigate through the wild. Similarly, if we have been carrying around a this-isn’t-quite-right feeling of dis-ease, and we lack a compass to help us orient to where it is coming from, the disconnection can lead to quite a bit of stress. Sometimes the dis-ease and a lack of awareness of its root cause are so maddening that they lead to a quarter-life or midlife crisis.”
― Judson Brewer, The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love--Why We Get Hooked and How We Can Break Bad Habits

“RAIN. RECOGNIZE/RELAX into what is arising (for example, your craving) ACCEPT/ALLOW it to be there INVESTIGATE bodily sensations, emotions, and thoughts (for example, ask, “What is happening in my body or mind right now?”) NOTE what is happening from moment to moment”
― Judson Brewer, The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love--Why We Get Hooked and How We Can Break Bad Habits

“When we scratch the wound and give into our addictions we do not allow the wound to heal. But when we instead experience the raw quality of the itch or pain of the wound and do not scratch it, we actually allow the wound to heal. So not giving in to our addictions is about healing at a very basic level. —Pema Chödrön”
― Judson Brewer, The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love--Why We Get Hooked and How We Can Break Bad Habits

“Souvent, notre esprit cree des simulations pour optimiser une situation. Ces simulations se laissent facilement influencer par le biais subjectif : nous voyons le monde tel que nous le voulons et non tel qu'il est.”
― Judson Brewer, The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love – Why We Get Hooked and How We Can Break Bad Habits

“En examinant mes propres processus de pensee addictifs, j'ai vu que je m'inventais des habitudes qui ne servaient qu'a m'inspirer plus de desirs encore.”
― Judson Brewer, The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love – Why We Get Hooked and How We Can Break Bad Habits

“Quand nous comprenons que nous n'allons nulle part, nous pouvons nous arreter, renoncer aux bagages superflus et nous reorienter”
― Judson Brewer, The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love – Why We Get Hooked and How We Can Break Bad Habits

“We read stories and see YouTube videos about people who, distracted by their smartphones, walk into traffic and off piers into the ocean. Perhaps not surprisingly, a report in 2013 found that pedestrian injuries related to cell phone use more than tripled between 2007 and 2010. And in the first six months of 2015, pedestrian fatalities increased 10 percent, the largest spike in four decades, according to the report. A few years ago, the city of New Haven spray-painted 'LOOK UP' in big yellow letters at crosswalks around the Yale University campus (New York City has taken similar measures). Are admission standards lower these days (probably not), or are these young adults forgetting simple survival skills, overpowered by the pull of their phones?”
― Judson Brewer, The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love – Why We Get Hooked and How We Can Break Bad Habits

“R.A.I.N.
Recognize/Relax into what is arising. For example, your craving.
Accept/Allow it to be there.
Investigate bodily sensations, emotions, and thoughts.
Note what is happening from moment to moment.”
― Judson Brewer, The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love – Why We Get Hooked and How We Can Break Bad Habits

“As part of this, rumination may be a mode of thinking that depressed people have reinforced. To the point that it, in some ways authenticates who they are.
Yes, this is me. I am that depressed guy.
As Milgram and colleagues put it, 'they may be motivated to experience sadness, to verify their emotional selves.”
― Judson Brewer, The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love – Why We Get Hooked and How We Can Break Bad Habits

“In an attempt to capture the unconditional or selfless nature of the word, Latin writers translated agape as caritas which is the origin of the English word charity.”
― Judson Brewer, The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love – Why We Get Hooked and How We Can Break Bad Habits

“The more people indulge in sensual pleasures, the more their craving for sensual pleasures increases, and the more they are burned by sensual pleasures. Yet they find a certain measure of satisfaction and dependance on sensual pleasure.”
― Judson Brewer, The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love – Why We Get Hooked and How We Can Break Bad Habits

“Reward-based learning. Copyright © Judson Brewer, 2014.”
― Judson Brewer, The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love--Why We Get Hooked and How We Can Break Bad Habits