It’s a new year! Do you have new ideas and new habits to learn?
Hopefully, these new habits will sustain you through the whole of 2023 – not just January and February.
Many people want to create new healthier habits, but find that lack of motivation gets in the way of letting go of old habits because they’re familiar and it’s easier to stick with what we know; besides we’re used to getting dopamine hits from things we do on a regular basis to give us pleasure.
So how can we increase our motivation?
Neuromarketing helps corporations to cash in on what motivates consumers – they do this by finding ways to increase our dopamine hits. In his book, The Myth of Normal, Dr. Gabor Mate talks about how we perpetuate habits to get dopamine hits. In her book, The Hunger Fix, Dr. Pamela Peeke talks about getting dopamine hits from our addictions to food and she tells us how to choose healthy foods and habits rather than unhealthy ones.
Dopamine occurs naturally in the brain – we don’t need drugs to give us dopamine hits. What we need is a conscious awareness of how we feel when we eat something yummy or go for a brisk walk. If your health is important to you, plan to make healthy choices, and notice how you feel when you do something nice for yourself every day.
The Hunger Fix – https://drpeeke.com/2016/07/20/the-hunger-fix-2/
The Myth of Normal – https://drgabormate.com/book/
Author: Lynn Roodbal
