Habits and how they grow

"Habits" are interesting things, aren't they? I mean, who really understands them, and who's really in control once a habit enters the picture? We as humans are DEFINITELY prone to developing habits, for good or evil, so doesn't it make sense to try and understand this dynamic?

I can't negatively judge others' drug habits or whatever, because these kinds of habits - whether chemical based (like meth or heroin) or otherwise (gambling, sex, shopping) - have their basis in factors beyond anyone's choosing, often rooted in events from before they were even BORN. If you're interested in this dynamic, please read Dr. Gabor Maté's brilliant "In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts" (you may instantly recognize the Buddhist imagery) - it's an entire book, not an article, and you can read it for free here. I heartily recommend it - it changed not only my perspective on addiction, but my life. It's my most purchased + given-away book. Some people like a hard copy - what can I say?

Anyhow, I just realized I was habit-forming, myself, in real time. Right now. And I think the process might be interesting to you also, as I can see the parallel to when I started chanting/doing SGI, even though I didn't understand or recognize what was happening at that point - in fact, I misunderstood it, as you'll see.

So first, here's what's going on right now. I decided, for reasons that don't need to be disclosed, that I should be walking for at least a half hour every day. My best friend walks 5 miles every day at 10 AM - SWEARS by it! It's helped her drop a bunch of weight and keep it off, plus keeps her mobile. She does this every day, except when she's on vacation, and on a recent cruise, she hurt her knee. Upon arriving home, with still-hurt knee, she was wondering how she was going to re-engage with her walking habit, and frankly quite worried about the impact on her life if she couldn't. Knee injuries can be long-term interferences, but fortunately, hers was not serious and she's back to her walking routine (habit).

Back to me! I realized that early morning was better for me - where I live, it's often foggy/overcast/cool at dawn, and when the sun rises to a certain point, it all burns off and then bright sun and blue skies and hot! The foggy/overcast/cool stage is much more conducive to walking for me - it's typically cool enough that I start off in a jacket. Now, I've discovered that 7:45 is too late to start out - by then, the sun is getting close to the burning-off stage. So I need to get out there between 6 and 7:30 AM - it's fully light out (we DO have animal predators where I live) but still cool/overcast/foggy. NICE!

The way this new habit I've decided to adopt has affected my life is that it's something I have on my mind in the evening - how is what I'm doing with my evening (dinner, relaxing with a glass of wine, staying up late watching a movie) going to affect how I feel about my planned walk when I get up next morning?

Our new kitten tends to approach me (purring loudly) around dawn; previously, I might push him off to get a few more minutes of sleep or at the very least NOT feed him upon arising, because I wouldn't want him to get in the habit of pestering me to get up and feed him! But now, he's working in my favor. I can get up at dawn, feed him and the other pets, and still have some time before it's light enough to set out on my morning walk.

I remember very early after starting chanting that I began to feel "I wouldn't want to try to live my life without chanting." I very quickly started feeling that it was "important", and as a personal activity, it became an "action item" on my internal schedule. I know that was encouraged by my new (manipulatively love-bombing) SGI "friends", but it wasn't a completely external kind of thing - it came from within, too. How? When someone has any level of addiction tendency within their life, it can get activated - by pretty much anything, I suppose. And when you're getting the social reinforcement for this new "habit", it forms all the more quickly, regardless of whether it's actually beneficial to you as an individual or not!

It's a fact that addicted individuals tend to want to draw their friends and family members into their addiction with them ("Misery loves company", right?), and researchers have identified cult membership as an "addictive disorder" - keep that in mind. Because SGI is definitely a cult (when there's THAT MUCH discussion about the topic, yeah, that's smoke → fire).

The process of addiction, or habit-forming, can be in the direction of something positive - like routine exercise or tidying up at home or keeping a daily planner calendar - or negative - something that causes LOSS, such as drug addiction, over-spending, gambling, etc. - any destructive tendency that the person can't seem to resist. SHAMING individuals by condemning their inability to resist their addiction only makes the addiction WORSE - addiction is basically a cry for help:

What is addiction, really? It is a sign, a signal, a symptom of distress. It is a language that tells us about a plight that must be understood. - pioneering child psychologist Alice Miller

'When a trout rising to a fly gets hooked on a line and finds himself unable to swim about freely, he begins a fight which results in struggles and splashes and sometimes an escape. Often, of course, the situation is too tough for him. In the same way the human being struggles with his environment and with the hooks that catch him. Sometimes he masters his difficulties; sometimes they are too much for him. His struggles are all that the world sees and it usually misunderstands them. It is hard for a free fish to understand what is happening to a hooked one.' Excerpted from page 3 of The Human Mind by Karl A. Menninger, M.D. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Copyright© 1930, 1937, 1945, 1965, 1972 by Karl A. Menninger and © 1992 by the Menninger Foundation. Reprinted with permission of The Menninger Foundation, Topeka, Kansas.

As human beings, we have a very difficult time empathizing with anything we have not experienced already for ourselves. Anyhow, not ALL habits are necessarily detrimental to our well-being, although it's the ones that ARE that get the most attention. I'm talking about the mechanism by which this kind of thing sneaks itself into the reward centers of our brains, where engaging with it provides us with a feeling of relief, accomplishment, and satisfaction. Everybody needs those; it's just a matter of where they're getting them. Some people sew, some people bake, some people paint, some people dance, some people chant - and some people walk.

WHICH brings us to the GLP1 inhibitor drugs! You know, Ozempic, Wegovy, semiglutide, Zepbound, Mounjaro, etc. In addition to curbing "food noise" - mental preoccupation with food and food-related craving, they've shown a remarkable dampening effect on cravings of all kinds! One person who really enjoyed going to the pub for a beer recounted how he couldn't even drink any more - the taste put him off - and how going to the pub or out to dinner with his wife less was saving them a bunch of money:

23. "Side effects I've personally seen: I went from drinking about 8 ounces of bourbon daily to zero alcohol. It just tastes gross to me now. I've thrown out all my clothes and bought a new wardrobe twice as my size dropped. We eat out a LOT less. My wife and I used to hit our local bar for dinner and drinks at least twice a week. My end-of-year credit card review said I spent $15,000 dining out in 2024. Now we eat out maybe once or twice a month."

24. "One of the biggest shocks to me on my first grocery trip after starting the medication was that the magnet that drew me to those things just wasn't there anymore.

25. "I was doing a deep dive on my credit card statements from 2025 for taxes last night, and it's funny: You can see right where I started my GLP-1 because the DoorDash and fast-food transactions fall off a cliff."

And this:

16. "Most of the studies coming out of GLP-1 use and clinical trials are showing that the drugs are effective not just at reducing people's eating, but also their wanting and craving in general. The problem is that reducing all wanting has already been shown to have deleterious effects on social activity, passion in relationships, sex, and forming durable human connections."

This is fascinating, provocative stuff! We've already noted how the Internet, which makes information-sharing possible - and quicker - than it's ever been before in history, has proven to be such a threat to cults like the Dead-Ikeda-Corpse-Mentor-cult SGI, which relies for recruiting on ONLY its own propaganda about its own wonderfulness being available (negative reviews such as by the citizen journalists of SGIWhistleblowers have seriously impacted SGI's success, which was already low), demonstrating how critical thinking, provided with appropriate information, can interfere with a predatory group like SGI getting people addicted (via the SGI's twice-daily chanting habit and meetings) quickly enough for its indoctrination to take hold. NOW what happens when that craving mechanism is being chemically reduced, resulting in overall LESS demand for that kind of addiction at all?? There's no more "need" to be "met" through the SGI's proffered "habit"!

AI crawls reddit for perspective:

When GLP-1 medications (such as Ozempic or Wegovy) alter the brain's dopamine and reward pathways, they can cause a general lack of motivation, emotional flatness, or a loss of enjoyment in previously loved activities.

Many users report a phenomenon called anhedonia, characterized by this emotional dullness. For individuals with a history of depression, binge eating, or substance use, removing these quick sources of dopamine can feel jarring and isolating. Some users in r/GLP1ResearchTalk also note that under-eating or physical fatigue can significantly exacerbate these feelings.

So I'm thinking there's this fine line between the craving that results in better overall mood and enjoyment of life, and the craving that results in obsession and life-destroying addictions. IS there a solution? CAN this be medically managed? How do we manage our own craving tendencies once we see them?

Seek Alternative Dopamine Hits: Engage in low-effort, healthy hobbies to stimulate your reward system, such as taking daily walks, trying new scents, or spending time outdoors.

And there we go 🙃