Last month we learned about memory, how memories are created, and the role of the hippocampus and the amygdala in memory creation. We also learned how important the memories are that we create, as our memories can draw us away from God or bring us to a closer relationship with Him.
This month we will learn about a very specific type of memory, and that is habit memory. Habit memories are very different than all other memories. Habits are not created via the hippocampus, as is the case with other long term memories. They are developed in a very specific part of the brain called the basal ganglia. We develop the memory for a habit by repeating a certain action or set of actions over and over, until we can finally perform the same action or set of actions without attention or conscious thought. This type of memory is very useful when we use it for things like taking the same route home from school or work every day. How many of you have arrived at work without any memory of how you got there? You started your trip, and you thought about the first few turns, but then somewhere your brain moved on to more interesting topics, and the next thing you know, you arrive at work and you cannot recall the actual trip. This is what habit memory does. Once you start on a familiar series of actions, you stop thinking about them, and you are able to complete them without conscious thought. Habit memory frees the brain up from having to focus on dull, uninteresting repetitive tasks so that we can use our brain power for more meaningful thoughts. Habits allow us to perform the mundane day-to-day tasks of our life, while being able to focus on what is more important. They allow us to walk around the block and talk to a companion at the same time, to eat while we are reading, to find our way home while thinking about the exam we just took, in our mind. However, the nature of habit formation also makes it difficult to stop a habit once it starts because habit memory happens automatically without deliberate effort on our part, and we perform the actions of a habit unconsciously.
Remember from last month, we learned that the more we repeat something, the better our learning and memorization. Our brain makes connections between cells when we learn. When you initially learn something the pathway or connection is weak. The more frequently you think a particular thought, or do a particular action, the stronger the connections between brain cells become. Doing something once does not create a habit. Habits are learned by repetition. Doing the same action over and over will eventually lead to the action becoming a habit. Habit memory is very organized and rigid. Very similar circumstances need to be re-created in order for someone to access the information that is stored in habit memory. Think about when you first learned to ride a bicycle. At first, you had to pay attention to staying balanced, keeping your eyes on the road, holding on to the handlebars and steering in the direction you wanted to go. The more you practiced, the stronger the pathways for bicycle riding were developed in your brain. Eventually, you were able to get on your bike and ride without thinking. You were operating on automatic. This is how habits are formed.
Once we have the memory for the set of actions that are involved in a habit, we don’t consciously need to think about what we are doing, we act automatically. And, if the habit involves a set of actions, our brain groups all the actions of a habit together, in a process called “chunking”, so that when we put ourselves in the same situation that triggers the habit, the whole sequence of actions that are part of the habit continues without us having to think about it. This process of chunking all the behaviours of a habit into one memory is what makes a habit so powerful and difficult to change once it has been established. We only need to perform the initial behaviour of a habit for our memory to then complete all the steps involved in the habit. For example, if you have the habit of brushing your teeth every morning when you get up, you will go into the bathroom, which is the first step. Then grabbing your toothbrush, putting toothpaste on it, brushing your teeth, then rinsing your teeth and finally cleaning your toothbrush all happens without you having to think of all the steps; it becomes automatic. With a habit like brushing your teeth, this chunking is helpful. At the same time as you are brushing your teeth, you can think about what you plan to do that day, you may have a prayer, you may be thinking about what you are going to wear. Habits allow us to focus our minds on other, more important issues.
WHY ARE HABITS SO HARD TO BREAK?
Important connections in our brain are established during habit formation. These connections create patterns of brain cell activity in a specific region of the brain called the basal ganglia. When habits are broken, these patterns reverse. However, these patterns recur easily when something triggers an old, supposedly extinguished habit to begin again. The brain is retaining a memory of the patterns that were established when a habit was learned, which is why it is so difficult to change a habit. What this implies is that, even if we overcome a bad habit, our brain will always remember those connections that were created, and we are never completely free from the possibility of starting the habit again, for the rest of our lives. So, for someone who is trying to lose weight or to control a well-engrained habit of indulging in appetite, just the sight of a piece of cake can reset all those good intentions because the brain once again establishes the old patterns that were created during habit-formation. This is the reason why it is so dangerous to indulge in bad habits. Once learned, never forgotten. We will never be completely free from the pull of a bad habit. On the other hand, if we develop good habits, the same principle applies. Once learned, they will always remain with us forever.
Another reason that a habit becomes so ingrained in us is that our brain contains a chemical called dopamine. Dopamine is one of the chemicals that is necessary for us to feel pleasure. People who are depressed lack adequate levels of dopamine in their brains. Once a pleasurable habit is stored in our brain, when we take the first action that is involved in the habit, dopamine is released. Then dopamine is again released at the end of the series of actions involved in a habit. This is another reason why a habit is so difficult to break. We like the feeling of pleasure that is released by the dopamine when we start the habit. But, we get a second rush of pleasure when dopamine gets released at the end of the habit behaviour, which gives us incentive to continue with the habit once we start.
Often there is something that triggers the habit to begin, being in a certain place, the smell of something familiar, the sight of something that is craved. For example, let us look at someone who indulges in appetite. Eventually, that person only needs the smell of food to trigger the dopamine release, and the habitual behaviour begins without conscious thought. If conscious thought was present, that person would be able to reason that perhaps eating a chocolate-filled donut is not healthy, and they would stop themselves from eating. But, because the action is unconscious, it is beyond their control to stop.
The release of dopamine and the chunking of all the steps in a habit makes it especially difficult to break a habit once it has been formed.
We can apply the same principle of habit creation to good habits also. If we create a good habit, the actions involved in a good habit also release dopamine. And we will then want to do the good habit also. If we develop the habit of being kind, and people respond favourably to our kindness, and we derive enjoyment from their kindness, this develops a good habit.
“What we venture to do once, we are more apt to do again. Habits of sobriety, of self-control, of economy, of close application, of sound, sensible conversation, of patience and true courtesy, are not gained without diligent, close watching over self. It is much easier to become demoralized and depraved than to conquer defects, keeping self in control and cherishing true virtues. Persevering efforts will be required if the Christian graces are ever perfected in our lives.” –Child Guidance, p. 200
HABITS FORMED IN CHILDHOOD
It doesn’t matter what age we are in habit development; we develop habits even as young children. Therefore, even children need to be careful as to what habits they develop. Parents need to be mindful to guide their children into good habits, as the influence of either good or bad habits will continue for the rest of their lives. Many parents indulge their children, giving them whatever they ask for, thinking that they are being loving in providing the child with all its wants and needs. What child wouldn’t quickly learn that if they are insistent, their parents will give in? But, if a parent gives into a child, especially if what they are asking for is not good for them, this teaches the child that if they demand enough, they will get what they want. But, think of what this does for a child’s character; they never learn the lesson of sacrifice, or of the blessing that comes from working to provide for one’s needs.
“Some parents have suffered their children to form wrong habits, the marks of which may be seen all through life. Upon the parents lies this sin. These children may profess to be Christians; yet without a special work of grace upon the heart and a thorough reform in life, their past habits will be seen in all their experience, and they will exhibit just the character which their parents allowed them to form.
“The young should not be suffered to learn good and evil indiscriminately, with the idea that at some future time the good will predominate and the evil lose its influence. The evil will increase faster than the good. It is possible that after many years the evil they have learned may be eradicated; but who will venture this? Time is short. It is easier and much safer to sow clean, good seed in the hearts of your children than to pluck up the weeds afterward. Impressions made upon the minds of the young are hard to efface. How important, then, that these impressions be of the right sort, that the elastic faculties of youth be bent in the right direction.” –The Adventist Home, p. 201
We have many examples in the Bible of men and women who strayed from God, whose lives were destroyed because of bad habits learned in their youth. “The history of Israel’s first king presents a sad example of the power of early wrong habits. In his youth, Saul did not love and fear God; and that impetuous spirit, not early trained to submission, was ever ready to rebel against divine authority. . . . A child may receive sound religious instruction; but if parents, teachers, or guardians permit his character to be biased by a wrong habit, that habit, if not overcome, will become a predominant power, and the child is lost.” –Child Guidance, p. 201
Even from a very early age we can destroy our lives with wrong habits. Sister White gives us an example of this. “When Voltaire was five years old, he committed to memory an infidel poem, and the pernicious influence was never effaced from his mind. He became one of Satan’s most successful agents to lead men away from God.” –Child Guidance, p. 196. How many parents actually realize that already at the age of five, habits are formed that will influence a child for the rest of his life, and decide his or her eternal fate?
Regardless of the intellect we were born with, the talents that God gave us, the education we obtained, all this is not as significant in determining our destiny as the habits that we develop. “More than any natural endowment, the habits established in early years decide whether a man will be victorious or vanquished in the battle of life.” –Child Guidance, p. 202
“Once formed, habits become more and more firmly impressed upon the character. The intellect is continually receiving its mold from opportunities and advantages, ill or well improved. Day by day we form characters which place the students as well-disciplined soldiers under the banner of Prince Emmanuel, or rebels under the banner of the prince of darkness. Which shall it be?” –Child Guidance, p. 200
“The lessons learned, the habits formed, during the years of infancy and childhood have more to do with the formation of the character and the direction of the life than have all the instruction and training of after years.” –Child Guidance, p. 184
The example that the parents provide for their children is also of utmost importance. Our children look to us for guidance, and they will mirror our behaviours and actions. If we ourselves indulge in harmful habits, is it little wonder that our children grow up with those same vices? “What the child sees and hears is drawing deep lines upon the tender mind, which no after circumstances in life can entirely efface. The intellect is now taking shape, and the affections receiving direction and strength. Repeated acts in a given course become habits. These may be modified by severe training, in afterlife, but are seldom changed.” –The Health Reformer, January 1, 1880
What can parents do to establish good habits in their children? “One of the surest safeguards of the young is useful occupation. Children who are trained to industrious habits, so that all their hours are usefully and pleasantly employed, have no inclination to repine at their lot and no time for idle daydreaming. They are in little danger of forming vicious habits or associations.” –Child Guidance, p. 122
CHRIST AS OUR PERFECT EXAMPLE
We have the example of Christ while He was on this earth. Even as a child, He spent His days working with His father in his carpentry shop. He developed the habit of useful occupation. He did not spend His days in idleness, which leads many a child to turn away from things of God, and indulge in seemingly innocent play which can be detrimental to their character development. “At a very early age, Jesus had begun to act for Himself in the formation of His character, and not even respect and love for His parents could turn Him from obedience to God’s word. . . . His brothers. . . sided with the rabbis. They insisted that the traditions must be heeded. . . . Young companions urged Him to do as they did. He was bright and cheerful; they enjoyed His presence. . . . but they were impatient at His scruples, and pronounced Him narrow and strait-laced. . . . His hours of happiness were found when alone with nature and with God. . . . Mary often remonstrated with Jesus, and urged Him to conform to the usages of the rabbis. But He could not be persuaded to change His habits of contemplating the works of God and seeking to alleviate the suffering of men or even of dumb animals.” –A Call to Stand Apart, p. 9
“The earlier in life one contracts hurtful habits, the more firmly will they hold their victim in slavery, and the more certainly will they lower his standard of spirituality. On the other hand, if correct and virtuous habits are formed in youth, they will generally mark the course of the possessor through life. In most cases, it will be found that those who in later life reverence God and honor the right, learned that lesson before there was time for the world to stamp its images of sin upon the soul. Those of mature age are generally as insensible to new impressions as is the hardened rock, but youth is impressible.” –Child Guidance, p. 199
HOW DO WE BREAK A BAD HABIT?
Because a bad habit takes place without conscious thought, it is easy for Satan to control us through our bad habits. By creating a bad habit in our character, our free will is taken away from us. We no longer are rational beings, able to decide between good and bad actions. And Satan knows that once we take that first step in a bad habit, we are allowing him to take over.
So how do we get rid of a bad habit? Since a habit is a series of behaviours, bound together, and initiated by a single factor, avoiding the initial step of the habit is one way to break it. In order to do this, we need to identify the factors which trigger our habits, and avoid those triggers. For example, a smoker, on waking up in the morning, will automatically reach for his cigarettes on his night table, will light the cigarette and have his first smoke of the day. To break that habit, the circumstances of the habit must be changed. If the cigarettes were no longer on the night table, the full sequence of the habit could not take place. Now we have changed the scenario enough that the brain no longer continues the sequence of actions to continue the habit. If we have the habit to eat a certain type of unhealthy food, first of all we have to make sure that we don’t have that particular food in the house. Then we need to avoid even walking past places that may sell that type of food. This will stop the habit before it starts.
Because the chunking of tasks allows for the automatic nature of habits, another way to break a habit is to pay attention to the tasks involved in a habit; in this way we can actually disrupt the sequence of actions that take place. If we are aware of the trigger that initiates a habit, if we consciously think of the next steps that we take, now we have control because our conscious mind is aware of what is happening. If you are aware of a bad habit that you want to get rid of, focus your mind on every step of the habit, and you will be able to stop yourself from performing the next action that continues the habit.
Because the nerve connections in our brain that store the behaviours in a habit are so easily triggered once the habit begins, often the breaking of a bad habit involves starting a good habit in its place. In this way we prevent activating the patterns that have been created in our brains by the bad habit, and develop new patterns in our brains. Like a bad habit, a new habit has to be learned by repetition. If we have the habit of coming home after a long day at work and turning on the television, we need to place a Bible in the same spot where the television remote once sat, and then our hands will pick the Bible up instead of the television remote, creating a new, good habit. Certain habits, we know, can only be overcome through prayer and fasting. Many people go through their lives, wishing that they could rid themselves of bad habits, and they fail at every attempt. The lifelong smoker often tries to quit his habit many times, only to start up again. The person who indulges in appetite will always be drawn back to the foods he likes. But, we have a power stronger than our own will. And that is to place our will in God’s hands.
“He who determines to enter the spiritual kingdom will find that all the powers and passions of an unregenerate nature, backed by the forces of the kingdom of darkness, are arrayed against him. Selfishness and pride will make a stand against anything that would show them to be sinful. We can not, of ourselves, conquer the evil desires and habits that struggle for the mastery. We can not overcome the mighty foe who holds us in his thrall. God alone can give us the victory. He desires us to have the mastery over ourselves, our own will and ways. But He can not work in us without our consent and co-operation. The divine Spirit works through the faculties and powers given to man. Our energies are required to co-operate with God. . . .
“The victory is not won without much earnest prayer, without the humbling of self at every step. Our will is not to be forced into co-operation with divine agencies, but it must be voluntarily submitted. Were it possible to force upon you with a hundredfold greater intensity the influence of the Spirit of God, it would not make you a Christian, a fit subject for heaven. The stronghold of Satan-would not be broken. The will must be placed on the side of God’s will. You are not able, of yourself, to bring your purposes and desires and inclinations into submission to the will of God; but if you are ‘willing to be made willing,’ God will accomplish the work for you, even ‘casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.’ Then you will ‘work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.’”–Signs of the Times, May 18, 1904
Bad habits are easily established if we don’t have our will placed in the will of God. Our sinful nature craves those things that satisfy the flesh. And, once established, it is a life-long battle to overcome them. These habits, formed by indulging our carnal appetites can destroy our chance of eternal life. It is only through the creation of good habits, starting from our earliest childhood, that will determine our success in this life, and our fitness for heaven and eternal life. AMEN.