00:00:00When I was first learning to meditate,
00:00:04the instruction was to simply pay attention to my breath
00:00:07and, when my mind wandered, to bring it back.
00:00:09It sounded simple enough,
00:00:12yet I'd sit on these silent retreats,
00:00:15sweating through T-shirts in the middle of winter.
00:00:18I'd take naps of coffee,
00:00:20and I'd sit in the middle of the morning.
00:00:22I'd sit in the middle of the morning,
00:00:24and I'd sit in the middle of the morning,
00:00:26and I'd sit in the middle of the morning,
00:00:28and I'd sit in the middle of the morning.
00:00:30I'd take naps every chance I got because it was really hard work.
00:00:33Actually, it was exhausting.
00:00:35The instruction was simple enough,
00:00:37but I was missing something really important.
00:00:39So why is it so hard to pay attention?
00:00:43Well, studies show that even when we're really trying to pay attention
00:00:46to something, like maybe this talk,
00:00:49at some point, about half of us will drift off into a daydream
00:00:52or have this urge to check our Twitter feed.
00:00:55So what's going on here?
00:00:59It turns out that we're fighting
00:01:00one of the most evolutionarily conserved learning processes
00:01:03currently known in science,
00:01:05one that's conserved back to the most basic nervous systems known to man.
00:01:08This reward-based learning process is called positive and negative reinforcement
00:01:13and basically goes like this.
00:01:15We see some food that looks good.
00:01:17Our brain says, "Calories, survival."
00:01:20We eat the food, we taste it, it tastes good.
00:01:23And especially with sugar,
00:01:24our body sends a signal to our brain that says,
00:01:27"Remember what you're eating and where you found it."
00:01:29We lay down this context-dependent memory
00:01:33and learn to repeat the process next time.
00:01:36See food, eat food, feel good, repeat.
00:01:40Trigger, behavior, reward.
00:01:43Simple, right?
00:01:44Well, after a while, our creative brains say,
00:01:48"You know what?
00:01:49You can use this for more than just remembering where food is.
00:01:52You know, next time you feel bad,
00:01:55why don't you try eating something good
00:01:57so you'll feel better?"
00:01:58We thank our brains for the great idea,
00:02:01try this and quickly learn that if we eat chocolate or ice cream
00:02:05when we're mad or sad, we feel better.
00:02:07Same process, just a different trigger.
00:02:11Instead of this hunger signal coming from our stomach,
00:02:14this emotional signal,
00:02:16feeling sad, triggers that urge to eat.
00:02:18Maybe in our teenage years,
00:02:21we were a nerd at school,
00:02:23and we see those rebel kids outside smoking,
00:02:25we think, "Hey, I want to be cool,"
00:02:27so we start smoking.
00:02:28The Marlboro Man wasn't a dork,
00:02:31and that was no accident.
00:02:33See cool, smoke to be cool, feel good,
00:02:37repeat, trigger, behavior, reward.
00:02:39And each time we do this, we learn to repeat the process,
00:02:43and it becomes a habit.
00:02:45So later, feeling stressed out triggers that urge to smoke a cigarette
00:02:50or to eat something sweet.
00:02:53Now with these same brain processes,
00:02:56we've gone from learning to survive
00:02:57to literally killing ourselves with these habits.
00:03:00Obesity and smoking are among the leading preventable causes
00:03:04of morbidity and mortality in the world.
00:03:06So back to my breath.
00:03:08What if instead of fighting our brains
00:03:12or trying to force ourselves to pay attention,
00:03:14we instead tapped into this natural reward-based learning process,
00:03:18but added a twist?
00:03:20What if instead we just got really curious about what was happening
00:03:23in our momentary experience?
00:03:24I'll give you an example.
00:03:26In my lab, we studied whether mindfulness training
00:03:29could help people quit smoking.
00:03:31Now, just like trying to force myself to pay attention to my breath,
00:03:34they could try to force themselves to quit smoking,
00:03:38and the majority of them had tried this before and failed,
00:03:41on average, six times.
00:03:42Now with mindfulness training, we dropped a bit about forcing
00:03:46and instead focused on being curious.
00:03:49In fact, we even told them to smoke.
00:03:52What? Yeah, we said, "Go ahead and smoke.
00:03:54Just be really curious about what it's like when you do."
00:03:57And what did they notice?
00:04:00Well, here's an example from one of our smokers.
00:04:02She said, "Mindful smoking.
00:04:04Smells like stinky cheese and tastes like chemicals.
00:04:07Yuck!"
00:04:09Now, she knew cognitively that smoking was bad for her.
00:04:13That's why she joined our program.
00:04:15What she discovered just by being curiously aware when she smoked
00:04:20was that smoking tastes like shit.
00:04:23(Laughter)
00:04:25Now, she moved from knowledge to wisdom.
00:04:30She moved from knowing in her head that smoking was bad for her
00:04:33to knowing it in her bones.
00:04:35And the spell of smoking was broken.
00:04:38She started to become disenchanted with her behavior.
00:04:42Now, the prefrontal cortex, that youngest part of our brain
00:04:46from an evolutionary perspective,
00:04:48it understands on an intellectual level that we shouldn't smoke.
00:04:52And it tries its hardest to help us change our behavior,
00:04:56to help us stop smoking,
00:04:57to help us stop eating that second, that third, that fourth cookie.
00:05:01We call this cognitive control.
00:05:04We're using cognition to control our behavior.
00:05:07Unfortunately, this is also the first part of our brain
00:05:10that goes offline when we get stressed out,
00:05:12which isn't that helpful.
00:05:14Now, we can all relate to this in our own experience.
00:05:16We're much more likely to do things like yell at our spouse or kids
00:05:20when we're stressed out or tired,
00:05:21even though we know it's not going to be helpful.
00:05:24We just can't help ourselves.
00:05:25Now, when the prefrontal cortex goes offline,
00:05:29we fall back into our old habits,
00:05:31which is why this disenchantment is so important.
00:05:34Seeing what we get from our habits helps us understand them in a deeper level,
00:05:38to know it in our own bones,
00:05:39we don't have to force ourselves to hold back or restrain ourselves from behavior.
00:05:43We're just less interested in doing it in the first place.
00:05:46And this is what mindfulness is all about.
00:05:48Seeing really clearly what we get when we get caught up in our behaviors,
00:05:53becoming disenchanted on a visceral level,
00:05:57and from this disenchanted stance, naturally letting go.
00:06:00This isn't to say that, poof, magically we quit smoking,
00:06:04but over time, as we learn to see more and more clearly the results of our actions,
00:06:08we let go of old habits and form new ones.
00:06:10The paradox here is that mindfulness is just about being really interested
00:06:16and getting close and personal with what's actually happening
00:06:19in our bodies and minds from moment to moment.
00:06:21This willingness to turn toward our experience
00:06:24rather than trying to make unpleasant cravings go away as quickly as possible.
00:06:28And this willingness to turn toward our experience
00:06:31is supported by curiosity,
00:06:33which is naturally rewarding.
00:06:34What does curiosity feel like?
00:06:36It feels good.
00:06:39And what happens when we get curious?
00:06:41We start to notice that cravings are simply made up of body sensations.
00:06:44Oh, there's tightness, there's tension, there's restlessness,
00:06:48and that these body sensations come and go.
00:06:51These are bite-sized pieces of experiences
00:06:54that we can manage from moment to moment,
00:06:56rather than getting clobbered by this huge, scary craving that we choke on.
00:07:02In other words, when we get curious,
00:07:04we step out of our old fear-based reactive habit patterns
00:07:09and we step into being.
00:07:11We become this inner scientist
00:07:14where we're eagerly awaiting that next data point.
00:07:18Now, this might sound too simplistic to affect behavior,
00:07:22but in one study, we found that mindfulness training
00:07:25was twice as good as gold standard therapy at helping people quit smoking.
00:07:29So it actually works.
00:07:30And when we studied the brains of experienced meditators,
00:07:34we found that parts of a neural network of self-referential processing
00:07:38called the default mode network were at play.
00:07:41Now, one current hypothesis is that a region of this network,
00:07:44called the posterior cingulate cortex,
00:07:46is activated not necessarily by craving itself,
00:07:49but when we get caught up in it,
00:07:50when we get sucked in and it takes us for a ride.
00:07:53In contrast, when we let go, step out of the process,
00:07:57just by being curiously aware of what's happening,
00:07:59this same brain region quiets down.
00:08:03Now we're testing app- and online-based mindfulness training programs
00:08:07that target these core mechanisms
00:08:10and, ironically, use the same technology that's driving us to distraction
00:08:15to help us step out of our unhealthy habit patterns
00:08:17of smoking, of stress eating and other addictive behaviors.
00:08:21Now, remember that bit about context-dependent memory?
00:08:24We can deliver these tools to people's fingertips
00:08:27in the contexts that matter most,
00:08:29so we can help them tap into their inherent capacity
00:08:32to be curiously aware right when that urge to smoke or stress eat
00:08:36or whatever arises.
00:08:37So if you don't smoke or stress eat,
00:08:40maybe the next time you feel this urge to check your email when you're bored
00:08:44or you're trying to distract yourself from work,
00:08:46or maybe to compulsively respond to that text message when you're driving,
00:08:50see if you can tap into this natural capacity.
00:08:54Just be curiously aware of what's happening in your body and mind
00:08:58in that moment.
00:08:59It will just be another chance to perpetuate
00:09:01one of our endless and exhaustive habit loops
00:09:04or step out of it.
00:09:06Instead of see text message, compulsively text back,
00:09:08feel a little bit better,
00:09:10notice the urge,
00:09:12get curious,
00:09:13feel the joy of letting go
00:09:15and repeat.
00:09:16Thank you.
00:09:18(Applause)