Breaking the pattern
Breaking a pattern is consciously interrupting an established way of thinking or acting and introducing a different response.
Definition
Schemas are reinforced by repetition, emotions, rewards, avoidance and familiar environments. Breaking them up is rarely about a major revolution. More often it starts with a short pause, noticing the stimulus and making a slightly different response that creates a new learning opportunity.
Key ideas
- Noticing the stimulus
- A different reaction
- New learning
Practice and life
Choose one pattern and define a breakpoint: the moment at which you can pause, change place, sentence, movement or order of action.
Common misconceptions
It is a mistake to try to break the entire pattern at once. Another mistake is the lack of a replacement reaction after interrupting the old one.
> The pattern breaks not with a grand declaration, but with the first different reaction.
> — Guru Element
Questions for self-reflection
- What pattern do I want to break?
- Where can I enter with a pause?
- What new reaction is the smallest and realistic?