Teaching yourself new habits

It seems that willpower only will not be enough to change habits. Ben Tiggelaar refers to psychologist Carl Rogers who claimed that people should learn 2 important things in life. Accepting a certain degree of uncertainty en being able to postpone getting rewards. It seems that it is deeply wired in our system to increase behavior that leads to instant rewards, and to stop behavior that leads to instant punishment. The urge is strong and subconscious. Therefore it is hard to change habits that lead to instant reward, like computer gaming or fast food dining. Ben Tiggelaar advises a way out of this, which he calls dreaming, daring and doing.

"Dreaming" is about setting goals, finding out what is important to you in life. There's an interesting referral to a research done by Martin Seligman from Pennsylvania State University. It seems that some circumstances contribute measurable to happiness. They are:
1. Living in a prosperous democratic country
2. Maintaining a large social network
3. Being married
4. Believing in God
5. Avoid negative emotions
I suspect Seligman interviewed only Americans though. What was interesting is that earning more money, living in a sunny country, staying healthy, having the best possible education are not contributing so much towards happiness. Anyway, everybody has to make his or her own list. This can be a starting point.
Step 2, "Daring", is about predicting barriers to success, and creating plans and behaviours to get around them. Especially the second part is important, since you'll only be scaring yourself otherwise.
The last step, "Doing", is about rewarding the behaviour that you've identified is leading to your goal. Because it is so deeply wired in our system to do more of the behaviour which leads to instant reward, it is of course important to give yourself instant small rewards for the right behaviour.

The book also contains an interesting discussion about negative feedback, "punishment". We are wired react to negative feedback, to avoid behavior which leads to pain, or displeasure much stronger than to positive feedback. This is very logical form an evolutionary point of view. Learning by negative feedback has a few drawbacks, though. It is only about avoiding the bad things, so you can't build positive, creative behaviour with it. The behaviour disappears with the disappearance of the threat. For instance, kids do naughty things, when they think their parents aren't watching.

So if there are some nasty habits, you want to get rid of, or if you are frustrated at failing at your new year's commitments, or if you just want to change yourself for the better, this could be an interesting read.

Coke, Freedom and Enlightment

I saw Noreena Hertz and Johan Norberg in a web cast of the Dutch 'Niew Economisch Peil'. A very interesting emission for anyone speaking dutch. Two things struck me:
- Johan Norberg had stuck three world maps behind his desk on the wall. One showing global Coke consumption, one showing GNP and one showing how far countries had come towards democracy. The maps showed stunning similarities...

- Noreena Hertz said, as an argument for fair trade, "Why should I be lucky to have all these chance, just because I'm born in a rich western country. Why shouldn't people in other
be able to get those chances." Suddenly it dawned on me what Buddhists mean when they say the I is an illusion: the I is a product of it's environment...
I do agree with her though that resources should be shared more equally or some tensions will rise too high.