Amanda Reiman, PhD

As humans, we struggle with moderation. Whether it’s food, social media or exercise, we are often driven by the desire to feel good, and the fear of how we will feel when we stop. This can plunge us into a pride-shame cycle where we tie these behaviors to our own worth. For example, if I choose oatmeal for breakfast I am 'good'; if I choose hash browns, I am 'bad'. Rather than assign value to these choices, I encourage mindful consumption. This means awareness without judgment.

Awareness around our habits can help us keep behaviors in check, without the pressure of a reward-punishment dichotomy. I argue that reward-punishment does not work, because we often reward ourselves with more of the behavior we are trying to curb and punish ourselves in the same way. For example: I only spent 10 min on Facebook this morning, so I am going to allow myself to binge it later on tonight. Or, I spent so much time on Facebook this morning that I feel bad about myself and will self soothe with more social media time.

Breaking out of this cycle and instead using mindfulness and awareness, is a way to curb unhealthy habits and become more of the person we want to be. I use this model to talk about the mindful consumption of substances like cannabis and alcohol and provide tools for recognizing and changing unhealthy habits without placing judgment on yourself, increasing the chance for meaningful change.