How do you go about identifying more subtle triggers/dealing with habits that seem (at least at first glance) triggerless. The example that makes me think this is biting my fingernails. There doesn’t seem to be any particular trigger that’s causing the response to trigger (at least that I can think of at the moment), but its still an automatic habitual behavior I would prefer to remove. In these more subtle contexts, are there any established mechanisms for working out what the trigger actually is or how to remove habits without knowing the triggers?
Hmmm. I agree with you that fingernail biting didn’t seem to fit the paradigm. However, I did Google “stop biting fingernails”, though, to see if there was any domain specific suggestions. (You may have already done this.)
Two things that maybe seemed promising:
Wear gloves to prevent easy access to hands
Getting a fidget toy to keep your hands otherwise busy
Something else which seems maybe useful is to be mindful/reflective after you’ve noticed that you’ve done it.
Otherwise, I (at least right now) don’t know much about breaking habits without knowing the trigger.
My reply is likely late, but I think part of the trigger is having fingernails that are long enough to be bitten. You could make a habit of keeping them as short as you can.
How do you go about identifying more subtle triggers/dealing with habits that seem (at least at first glance) triggerless. The example that makes me think this is biting my fingernails. There doesn’t seem to be any particular trigger that’s causing the response to trigger (at least that I can think of at the moment), but its still an automatic habitual behavior I would prefer to remove. In these more subtle contexts, are there any established mechanisms for working out what the trigger actually is or how to remove habits without knowing the triggers?
Hmmm. I agree with you that fingernail biting didn’t seem to fit the paradigm. However, I did Google “stop biting fingernails”, though, to see if there was any domain specific suggestions. (You may have already done this.)
Two things that maybe seemed promising:
Wear gloves to prevent easy access to hands
Getting a fidget toy to keep your hands otherwise busy
Something else which seems maybe useful is to be mindful/reflective after you’ve noticed that you’ve done it.
Otherwise, I (at least right now) don’t know much about breaking habits without knowing the trigger.
My reply is likely late, but I think part of the trigger is having fingernails that are long enough to be bitten. You could make a habit of keeping them as short as you can.