Aristotle
What is a habit?
A habit is any behavior that we do on a frequent and consistent basis.
The only way to build new habits is through conscious repetition and practice. As we repeat behaviors more and more, they become more ingrained into our brain and muscle memory, and thus begin to become second-nature to us. Once a habit is fully learned, a lot of it becomes unconscious to us and therefore takes up a lot less physical and mental energy.
Take “tying your shoes” as a simple example. When you were a kid, you probably needed to really concentrate and practice before you could get it right. You probably struggled at first. You probably made a lot of mistakes. You may have even gotten frustrated and upset a couple of times. Today, however, you have a whole of practice and experience with tying your shoes – so now you can do it without thinking about it at all.
Most habits work the same way. When we first learn them, we have to devote a lot of our attention and energy until we get them right. This is why it is often advised that you focus on building one new habit at a time.
Visualization for habit change.
The only real way to successfully build new habits is to start doing them more often, but we can also mentally rehearse these habits through visualization to build the habit stronger and faster.
Recent neuroscience has revealed that when we imagine ourselves doing a particular habit it activates many of the same regions in our brain as when we are physically doing that same habit. This is strong evidence that mental visualization can be a useful way to condition ourselves toward new and more desirable behaviors.
The more we visualize ourselves doing an activity, the stronger the neural connections are which are associated with that habit. This is because the more certain neural firings occur, the more likely they are to undergo long-term potentiation, a cellular process that underlies all learning and memory.
After the neural associations are successfully built, they become a more natural reaction in the brain. In return, when we are presented with a situation similar to the one we imagined, we become more likely to act out the habits we trained ourselves to act out during the visualization exercise.
How to visualize and actually see real-world results.
Now that you know exactly how visualization is supposed to work, you’re probably wondering how to actually do it. The truth is a lot of people practice visualization – but they do it absolutely wrong. Here are some tips to help you cultivate a visualization exercise that actually works and gets you results:
- Begin your visualization with a relaxation exercise.
- Picture yourself in environments that are similar to your everyday life.
- Visualize process, not end goals.
- Evoke as many senses as possible.
- Practice 15-20 minutes a day.
Do something short and simple – like the 100 Breaths Meditation – just to get your mind in a more clear, focused, and relaxed state before starting the visualization.
If you are trying to improve school work, imagine yourself actually sitting in the classroom you go to. If you are trying to improve sports performance, imagine yourself on the fields you play at. The more your visualization relates to the real world, the more effective it will be.
Research has shown that visualizing process is much more effective than visualizing end goals. You need to actually see yourself going step-by-step in achieving your habit. For example, if you want to go to the gym every morning, start your visualization from the moment you wake up. Imagine yourself going through your morning routine, driving to the gym, walking inside, lifting weights, and then eventually leaving. The more thoroughly you go through each step of the habit, the less likely you are to hit a snag along the way. Some people imagine themselves fit and healthy but they never actually see themselves doing the habits that it takes to actually becoming fit and healthy.
In truth, effective visualization is about more than just vision. When you mentally rehearse a habit, try to evoke as many senses as possible, like hearing, touch, smell, and taste. The better you can replicate the actual experience of a new habit, the better prepared you will be to duplicate that habit in the real world.
Mental rehearsing is practice, by definition. That means it is very unlikely that you will get it right after just one try. Instead, I recommend trying to do about 15-20 minutes of visualization a day when first starting your new habit. And you should start seeing improvements by the end of the week. Also, please don’t forget to only practice one new habit at a time- any more than that and you will probably get overwhelmed.
Visualization is but one tool in habit change, not a cure-all.
Although it should be commonsense, I just want to reiterate that visualization is a supplement toward habit change, not a cure-all. No amount of visualization alone will ingrain new habits. That being said, visualization can still be a very valuable tool in guiding your habit change and making it easier.
What you need to do is take the lessons you learn from your visualization and apply those directly to the real world.
Remember, visualization isn’t about living in your head, but using your mind as a tool to prepare you for outside reality. This is how successful businessmen, athletes, and performers use visualization.
Thanks for checking out this article. I definitely plan on elaborating a lot more on visualization and habit change in the future. To stay updated on this new content, I highly recommend checking out my free psychology newsletter, or following me on Facebook or Twitter.
Summary
Psychologists use a procedure called “The Rubber Hand Illusion” to challenge an individual’s sense of body ownership. A recently published study showed that schizophrenics – who already exhibit a weak sense of self – experienced the illusion to a greater degree than healthy controls.
Other research suggests that focused physical exercise can help improve body ownership and thereby alleviate some symptoms of schizophrenia.
Body Ownership and “The Rubber Hand Illusion”
In the “The Rubber Hand Illusion,” participants begin to perceive a rubber hand as if it was a part of their own body. The experiment is fairly simple, but it can have some wild effects.
Researchers hide one of your hands behind a small sheet and then put a rubber hand into view. They then stroke a paintbrush along both your real hand (the one that’s hidden), and the rubber one.
What happens among two thirds of healthy participants is that they begin to perceive that the sensations of the paintbrush are actually coming from the rubber hand, not their real one. When participants are then asked to close their eyes and point toward their real hand, many will point closer toward the rubber one instead.
The “Rubber Hand Illusion” is a play on vision, touch, and body posture (proprioception). Often the stronger the effect, the less someone has a true sense of “body ownership.” To get a better idea on how the experiment works, you can check out a video of the illusion below:
Schizophrenia and “The Rubber Hand Illusion”
Those with schizophrenia are already known to have a poor concept of self, a big part of which includes their sense of “body ownership.”
In a recently reported study, schizophrenics were shown to have a much more heightened effect when undergoing this “Rubber Hand Illusion.” When asked to point toward their real hand, schizophrenics pointed significantly closer to the rubber one than their real one when compared to healthy controls. One participant in the study even reported floating completely above their body for about 15 minutes – a very rare case of an “out of body experience” (OBE) being spontaneously produced in the laboratory.
These findings fit perfectly with the already existing theory that those with schizophrenia have a weaker sense of self and body ownership.
The Importance of Physical Exercise for Schizophrenics
Previous research has shown that physical exercise can help reduce symptoms of schizophrenia (see here and here).
This is because physical exercise, especially focused activities like yoga and dance, can help improve an individual’s body awareness and body ownership.
Of course, this doesn’t mean exercise is a cure-all for schizophrenia, but there is some strong evidence that it is a supplementary treatment worth trying out. Even just 20 minutes a day for 3 weeks can lead to some noticeable improvements.
Optimists are said to be those who see the glass as half full, while pessimists see the glass as half empty.
An optimist often tries to find the good in everything. This perspective can cause less stress, less anxiety, and a more empowering and motivating attitude.
Positive psychologist Martin Seligman coined the term learned optimism to explain that people can cultivate more optimism by challenging their negative self-talk. Seligman believes that learning an optimistic attitude is crucial to finding happiness and living healthier.
However, despite these benefits, some research is showing that too much optimism in certain situations can actually be harmful.
According to some psychologists, excessive optimism can cause us to ignore information that goes against our rose-tinted perspective (a kind of “confirmation bias“). This leads some optimistic people to only focus on benefits, but at the same time ignore risks and costs.
In one study, experimenters had participants estimate the risk of a negative event happening to them in the future, such as car theft or getting cancer. After the participant predicted a probability, they were told the actual statistical likelihood it would happen to them.
After a short break, participants were then asked again what the probability of a certain negative event was. What researchers found was that optimistic people only changed their estimates when the information they were given was better than expected, but tended to ignore information that went against their optimism:
- “For example if they had predicted that their likelihood of suffering from cancer was 40%, but the average likelihood was 30%, they might adjust their estimate to 32%. If the information was worse than expected – for example, if they had estimated 10% – then they tended to adjust their estimate much less, as if ignoring the data.”
These findings were consistent with some brain research that was also conducted. Researchers found that when people were presented information better than expected, there was high activity in the frontal lobes (suggesting that the participant was re-calculating their estimate). But when the information was worse than expected, there was much less activity in the frontal lobes, almost as if participants were disregarding the new information.
Dr. Sharot who led the study added:
- “Our study suggests that we pick and choose the information that we listen to. The more optimistic we are, the less likely we are to be influenced by negative information about the future. This can have benefits for our mental health, but there are obvious downsides. Many experts believe the financial crisis in 2008 was precipitated by analysts overestimating the performance of their assets even in the face of clear evidence to the contrary.”
I don’t wish to deride optimism, I think it’s incredibly important to being a flourishing human being. At the same time, I think it needs to be balanced and realistic. Ignoring reality might bring us some temporary pleasure, but it can also hurt us badly in the long-run. We need to learn how to acknowledge the obstacles, risks, and costs that come with life, while still being confident and hopeful about our future.
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For those who have been following this blog for a long time, you know that I usually like to take a very holistic approach to happiness and mental health.
And one big part of that puzzle, to me, is creativity.
Often times, creativity can provide us with many benefits. It helps keep our brains sharp, it give us a greater sense of self-awareness, and it helps us deal with personal issues more effectively.
There are many different reasons why I find having a creative activity can be valuable to our happiness and mental health. I’m going to explain most of these key reasons throughout the rest of this article.
Increased self-awareness
It’s difficult to express some emotions and thoughts using just words, but things like art, music, and photography provide us with the ability to express these emotions and thoughts through other mediums.
This allows us to discover many emotions and thoughts, perhaps some hidden in our subconscious, that we can’t access through ordinary consciousness and rational thinking.
Art and creativity gives us a way to formulate these hidden and abstract emotions into something more tangible and accessible. This often helps us develop a deeper and more intimate understanding of ourselves, and our internal world.
Learning a new skill
Creativity often requires that we learn a new skill: how to play a guitar, how to paint, or how to sculpt. And when we learn new skills, this often improves our psychology in a number of ways.
First, it exercises our brains. Learning new things keeps our brains active, sharp, and flexible. When we stop learning new things, often times our brain’s power will begin to diminish, like when you stop working out a muscle.
Also, learning a new skill boosts our self-esteem. When we finally learn how to play our first song on guitar, we think “Wow, I learned to do something pretty damn cool.” Learning one new skill can often improve our confidence to learn other new skills in the future. It can start a positive cycle of continual learning and development.
A state of engagement or flow
When we get really immersed in a creative activity, psychologists say that we enter a state known as flow.
Flow is a state of high engagement or sharp focus on one particular activity.
It’s a very trance-inducing state, similar to many forms of meditation and prayer.
If you’ve ever gotten so lost in an activity that you lost all sense of time, then you’ve probably experience a state of flow. In many ways, creative activities can produce this same meditative state.
Flow is associated with intense feelings of enjoyment, and it is one of the five factors of happiness according to Martin Seligman’s PERMA theory.
Power and control.
When we start becoming proficient in something creative, there is a new sense of empowerment. It gives us a feelig of control, and it becomes an example of the ways our ideas and intentions can have a real effect on the physical world.
Perhaps this is why so many people with mental illness show interest in creativity. For many, it may be the one area of life where they feel they have some power over their situation.
This might also be why art therapy can be an effective supplement in a lot of mental health treatment. When we engage in activities where we feel in control, these activities can often become a source of stress relief.
Creativity can be a source of empowerment for people with and without mental illness.
Conclusion
These are some of the key ways that creativity can benefit our happiness and well-being. And the best part is, most of this holds true for any kind of creative act whether it be painting, music, photography, sculpting, cooking, dancing, or whatever.
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In this article, I stress the importance of self-esteem in personal development. I also share some commonsense tips that are absolutely crucial to increasing your self-esteem in all areas of your life.
I happen to think that healthy self-esteem is one of the most important attributes of a happy and productive person.
My reasoning is simple: those who don’t believe in themselves automatically inhibit their potential by not thinking they are capable or deserving of achieving their values and goals in life.
But those who do believe in themselves are willing to do their very best in whatever situation they find themselves in. And even when they fail, they believe they can learn from it and overcome it.
The big difference? One person feels capable, the other doesn’t. One tries their best, the other gives up after the tiniest bit of struggle.
Healthy self-esteem can make all the difference between a person who achieves their dreams and goals, and a person who never even gives themselves a fair chance. Without it, it doesn’t matter how many strengths or talents you have, because in all likelihood you’ll never have the courage to use them.
So how we think about ourselves and treat ourselves is incredibly important, and it’s not something to be taken lightly.
Here are some commonsense tips and suggestions I have for anyone who is working on building their self-esteem:
1. Reflect on your strengths and accomplishments.
Deep down, I really believe that everyone offers some kind of value to this world. We all have our own particular strengths and talents, and when we focus on these good aspects of ourselves, we are more likely to build off of them and accomplish some pretty remarkable things in the process.
A lot of people have strengths that they don’t acknowledge for whatever reason. Maybe they are bashful. Maybe they don’t want to show off.
But I say when we make our strengths shine we make the world a better place. We create something valuable, and we inspire others to purse their strengths as well. Believing in yourself doesn’t have to just be about you, it can be about how you can improve society as a whole. Feeling good about yourself doesn’t need to be perceived as a “selfish” or “narcissistic” thing.
2. Exercise and stay healthy.
An important thing to remember about mental health is that our mind and bodies are one and the same. If you treat your body like crap, then you’re probably going to psychologically feel like crap too.
Recent research has made it crystal clear that those who take care of their bodies and exercise frequently show less signs of depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem.
In general, people who take care of their bodies have more respect for themselves. No one feels good after munching on a full bag of Doritos or a whole night of heavy drinking. Learn how to minimize your bad habits and start investing more time eating healthier and trying to stay fit.
Start simple by cutting out all soda or going for morning walks every other day. Once you start building healthy habits they will begin to come second-nature. I guarantee you will start feeling better about yourself almost right away.
3. Accept things you can’t change.
Everyone has some things about their life that aren’t perfect. Some of those things we have control over, but a lot of those things we don’t have control over (like certain physical attributes, genetic limitations, and other environmental factors).
Despite these shortcomings, we have to learn to accept them – without feeling bitter, assigning blame, or fostering negativity toward ourselves.
Accept the fact that everyone is dealt a different hand in this game of life, and some people have to face more obstacles than others.
It wasn’t Viktor Frankl’s fault that he was a Jew during the Holocaust and thus got locked up in a concentration camp for most of his life. However, he learned to find satisfaction in his life despite these external circumstances – by accepting them and instead focusing on the aspects of life he did have control over.
4. Learn how to reframe.
Reframing is learning how to change your perspective about a certain situation or experience.
For example, successful people (in any domain of life) often view “failures” as learning experiences – and by looking at their failures from this perspective they become more motivated to improve themselves.
On the other hand, people who don’t have this perspective often view “failures” as evidence of their incompetence. Instead of being educated and motivated by them, they think of them as proof that they should quit.
If you sign up for my newsletter then you’ll get a free short guide on “How to Reframe,” which shares several types of reframes we can apply to different areas of our life.
5. Have a passion.
A passion is any activity that we find intrinsically satisfying. Often when we talk about it, people notice a fire in our souls. And when we actually engage in the activity, we get lost in a state of flow – hours go by, but we don’t notice because we are so indulged in what we are doing.
Everyone needs a passion. Everyone needs that something that resonates deeply and makes them tick.
Maybe your passion is music, or baseball, or computer programming, or photography, or parenting? Maybe it is all of the above.
Most people don’t just have one single passion, but multiple ones. The important thing is that we have something to get excited about. Because without a passion our lives can quickly become very dull.
6. Be social.
No matter how introverted or extroverted you may be, I believe everyone needs to have some kind of social life. Even if your social circle is only 2-3 close friends, it’s important that you have people who support you and are on your side.
For many reasons, humans have evolved to be social creatures. By working together, we have constructed many institutions (marriage, technology, science, government) that have enhanced our ability to survive and adapt to our environment.
Individuals that fail to fulfill their duties as a social being often feel depressed and isolated. They go through life with no sense of “belonging” (like the kind Maslow defines in his “Hierarchy of Needs”) and it becomes difficult to build positive and rewarding relationships that improve our lives.
Although we may like to believe that self-esteem is something that is solely about us – the truth is that our self-esteem is highly dependent on our ability to connect with others in a meaningful way.
If you suffer from social anxiety and have a hard time making new friends, I highly recommend Sean Cooper’s The Shyness and Social Anxiety System. It’s a self-help workbook that uses scientifically proven techniques in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to help individuals reduce their stress and anxiety around others.
7. Adopt a confident posture.
A lot of research in psychology demonstrates that you become what you pretend to be. In other words, by adopting a confident posture and using body language as if we have high self-esteem, very often those habits begin spilling over into our attitude and self-perception.
A straight back, open posture, and warm smile are some of the key habits that studies have shown increase our well-being and self-esteem. And by mimicking these behaviors (even if at first it seems a bit fake), we can begin to adopt a more positive perception of ourselves.
8. Poke fun at yourself.
I’ve noticed that those with the highest self-esteem are also the first people to poke fun at themselves
This is probably because individuals with true self-esteem don’t feel the need to take themselves too seriously. They have a healthy and modest ego, so they see little need to boast, brag, or try to impress everyone.
Instead, they acknowledge their imperfections with a sense of humility and humor.
When they make a mistake, they give a sincere apology. And when something embarrassing happens to them, they see it as an opportunity to share a funny story in exchange for a few laughs.
When you become comfortable in your own skin, you are often much more willing to take wise cracks about yourself around other people. The irony is that when you do this people end up actually liking you more (even though you aren’t deliberately trying to “win” anyone over or make yourself out to be anyone who you aren’t).
9. Respect everyone as equals.
Another trend I find is that those who have deep-down insecurities about themselves often disrespect and mistreat others.
It’s possible that they find themselves to be insecure with who they are, so they project that insecurity onto others in order to make themselves feel better.
Part of the problem comes from the “social comparison trap.” Many people unconsciously (and sometimes consciously) compare themselves to other people and judge whose situation is “better” or “worse.” This kind of judgmental thinking can often hurt ourselves, because it gives the appearance that life is a constant conflict between “us” and “them.” It can also lead us to believe that the “grass is always greener on the other side,” and we can never find contentment with our own lot in life.
Instead, I recommend (as corny as it may sound) that we try to take a more egalitarian approach to how we view others. I sincerely believe that there is good in everyone and everyone has their own unique place in this world (hey, I said it wasn’t going to get corny), therefore, I have a strong belief that everyone is deserving of some respect (even those who may have been misguided at some point in their life).
As Plato wisely said, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
And I find that when you show compassion toward others, it becomes that much easier to show compassion toward yourself as all. We are all just humans – imperfect, but ultimately just trying to find happiness.
10. Take responsibility.
A person who takes responsibility for their actions will always be better off than someone who doesn’t take responsibility.
Responsibility is the acceptance of our personal power.
The idea is that we do have some control over our lives, but only if we become more conscious of the actions we take on a daily, moment-by-moment, basis.
The problem is most people go through life similar to a puppet on strings – they take little responsibility for their life situation – and instead consider themselves to be merely a victim of outside circumstance.
This process of “victimization” is the opposite of taking responsibility. Victimization is when we believe that everything negative in our life is due to some external force that we have no control over.
But taking control of the negativity in our lives requires that we first take SOME responsibility and accept that we play a causal role in how our lives end up.
Of course, this doesn’t mean we have complete 100% power over our reality (that would be taking it to an extreme). Clearly, as I mentioned in point 3 – “Accept the things you can’t change,” there are always some limitations to how much we can improve ourselves.
The really important thing is that we learn to distinguish what aspects of our lives are (and aren’t) in our control, then we assign responsibility to ourselves when it’s appropriate. Only then can we really take conscious control over our lives and build healthy self-esteem.
Bonus video: Katt Williams on “Self-Esteem” (Warning: NSFW language)
Learn breakthrough techniques on how to overcome social anxiety at:
