The Financial Philosopher: Mind vs. Brain Part III: Habits of the Reflective Mind

"Not choice, but habit rules the unreflecting herd." ~William Wordsworth

Think about your daily activities. Do you describe them as routine? How many of those activities could you describe as a conscious choice rather than a habit?

If you are a normal person, then it is likely you've never asked yourself these questions before. Therein lies the primary symptom of a human disease called lack of self-awareness. This disease inhibits our ability to find meaning and purpose in our lives -- to know and become our ideal self.

Why is it so difficult to break bad habits and seemingly more difficult to form good ones? As one might guess, the answer is the same for both questions: The mind has submitted to the brain -- we mindlessly walk the path of least resistance as we drift farther from the path to a meaningful existence.

"The shortcut is the longest distance between two points." ~ Unknown Author

As we addressed in Mind vs. Brain Part II: Priorities, Pursuits & Productivity, our brains are "hard-wired" to seek shortcuts that link patterns to potential rewards, much like a lab rat working through a maze to find a block of cheese. The problem with this rat brain mentality is that we work increasingly harder for a reward that is either quickly consumed or is never really obtained. The reward is a self-created illusion -- the proverbial carrot that is perpetually just beyond our reach that we continue to chase.

"As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives." ~ Henry David Thoreau

Until recent years, it was generally accepted that the brain's hard-wiring was permanent or unchangeable. But recent research has overthrown this belief. In its place has come the realization that the adult brain retains impressive powers of neuroplasticity -- the ability to change its structure and function in response to experience.

With the help and encouragement of the Dalai Lama, neuroscientists measured the brain activity of Buddhist monks, who are well-known for their extreme mental training through meditation. The study revealed that the conscious act of thinking about their thoughts in a particular way rearranged the brain (Begley). Of course, philosophers have known this for thousands of years, but it is interesting that modern science has proven that the brain can be rewired!

Rewiring the brain for those of us who are not Buddhist monks may not be the same but it is not that different either. We simply take time to reflect on our thoughts and behavior while slowly but surely forming good habits and minimizing or even reducing the bad ones.

The neural connections made in the brain, as a result of forming good habits, become increasingly stronger. Cognitive scientists call such strengthening of a habit implicit learning as opposed to the explicit variety provided in school courses (Goleman, et Al). If we maintain mindfulness, we may consciously take control of our life by choice. We then replace the wrong kind of autopilot with the ideal kind of autopilot -- the one that leads to a meaningful life.

"Brain: an apparatus with which we think we think." ~ Ambrose Bierce

If we do not form the mindful actions of reflective thought, or thinking about thinking, it is quite easy for life to evolve into a set of lazy and potentially self-destructive habits. Once you begin reflective habits, this reflection becomes a habit in itself. For starters, simply ask yourself questions about your behavior and make a conscious effort to correct them over time:

What happened to me today that was positive? Why?
What happened to me today that was negative? Why?
Do I make a distinction between rewards and goals?
What factors lead to making my daily decisions?
Did I make a conscious choice or did something or someone influence my behavior?

"Happiness is a quality of mind. It is something we possess within... If we do not have it within, nothing outside can give it to us." ~ Paramananda

As the sages of the ages have consistently said, true happiness is an inner-production, not one from the physical world. Here are some physical world inhibitors that tend to keep your inner world dark and get in the way of finding and becoming your ideal self:

Social Convention: This is what tells you to to climb the corporate ladder; how to choose a field of study in school; and that more money and more things make more happiness.
False Rewards: Similar to social convention, this is the thinking that rewards and goals are the same; it is the tendency toward superficiality; and confusing heroes with celebrities (DePree). False rewards are not produced by our mind but rather accepted and adopted by our brain.
Language: This is what tells you the meaning of words, such as success, rich, retirement, strength, and weakness. You must be master of language, rather than slave, by defining these words for yourself.
Media Noise: This is what delivers the message of Social Convention, False Rewards, and Language to us. The mediums of television, print media and the Internet are competing for, and quite often capturing, your attention. They are studying your habits. Are you studying theirs?
Inertia: This is the end result and most powerful of all other inhibitors. Inertia suggests there is comfort in routine and that keeping sight of land is favorable to discovering new shores.

"All know the way, few actually walk it." ~ Bodhidharma

We form bad habits mindlessly but form good habits with mindfulness. To generalize and simplify, the battle of mind vs. brain can be won by awakening to our behavior and replacing bad habits with good ones. This is achieved through self-awareness, which will have us align who we are with what we do.

While this post marks the end of my Mind vs. Brain series of posts, I am convinced that this tension is, and always will be, a common theme that links all other posts on this blog and any real observation of human behavior.

The path to self-awareness is, essentially, winning the battle of mind vs. brain and the steps along that path are made by habits of the reflective mind...

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Mind vs. Brain Part I: We are only Human

Mind vs. Brain Part II: Pursuits, Priorities & Productivity

Sources:

Begley, Sharon. "How Thinking Can Change the Brain." The Wall Street Journal 19 Jan. 2007, natl. ed.: B1+

De Pree, Max. Leadership is an Art. (New York: Dell, 1989)

Goleman, Daniel, Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee, Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead With Emotional Intelligence. Boston: Harvard, 2002.