Go 30 days without a cigarette…
Surround yourself with cigarette smoke all day. But don’t smoke. Force yourself to inhale the fumes. That will trick the mind into associating the smell and taste of smoking a cigarette with the agony you felt those 30 days. This is called: “Operant Conditioning” and was coined by B.F. Skinner. The point is this: immersion therapy works, and we all need to begin to learn to use these techniques for not only quitting smoking, but also for any negative (or positive) behavior!
Trapped By Habit
Immersion therapy is simple to understand. Pretend you are trying to undo a bad behavior, such as thinking negatively. Every time you think negatively, snap a rubber band against your wrist three times. Over time, the brain becomes conditioned to associate negative thinking with the pain of the rubber band snapping against your skin. Operant Conditioning and immersion therapy are one in the same, and they can both be utilized to achieve some form of behavioral change about yourself.
We all have a behavior we need to change. Whether biting your nails or smoking, the severity does not matter. What matters is your emotional and mental freedom! Being trapped by a habit – whether life-threatening or simply annoying – is dangerous. Studies have shown that allowing bad habits into our lives only gives us reason to find new ones. A lot of smokers are also nail-biters, as found in a 2013 study.
Taking Action
The human experience is all about learning. I offer a specialty service that can be found by clicking here, and emphasizes behavioral modification. This is a new technique that has only been recently developed over the past decade or so, and allows one to associate a mnemonic device (something as simple as tapping your finger against your knee) with a behavioral change. Want to be able to feel confident on a whim? Begin to associate tapping your finger with the taste of a small piece of chocolate.
On a chemical level, chocolate releases dopamine: a chemical that causes small amounts of pleasure. If you eat a piece of chocolate and feel happy when doing so, tap your index finger against your knee twice. Do this three to five times a day. Over time, your body will synchronize with the mind, telling it that every time that finger is tapped, you are to feel the same pleasure you do when you eat a piece of chocolate. Chemically-speaking, you are associating a hormone that induces pleasure with a simple action, called a “mnemonic device.” I teach these principles in my service.
What’s Your Desire?
It may not always be about breaking a bad habit; it can also be something like trying to gain a new behavior! Some people want confidence all day long. Well, this can be done through behavioral modification. I have trained myself to associate a good feeling in my stomach when I arch my shoulders. If I hold it for more than 2 minutes, I feel much more confident. As time progresses, I guarantee you that it will take 15 seconds for it to occur, then a year from now (if I practice this behavior enough) I will be able to arch my shoulders and suddenly, that sense of confidence will occur.
And all I had to do was train my mind to recognize action!
