Have you ever done something you knew you shouldn’t have, then immediately asked yourself, “Why did I just do that? I know better!” You tell yourself, “I don’t act like that. I never act like that. So why now?”

We then berate and beat ourselves for doing what we know we should not be doing, yet we did it anyway, wondering why we repeat behaviors that lead us nowhere.

Why? Why do we tend to conduct a ritual that we know is detrimental and unresolving?