The Compulsive Gamble

by Sarosh Motivala, PhD

There are few things more distinct than the familiar sights and sounds inside a casino. Besides the bizarre carpets and dim lights, there are the chirps and bells, the tinkling sounds of gold doubloon pouring down into slot machine tray. I bet you can close your eyes right now and see it. Look over there in the distance: the restaurant buffet with crab legs galore, or to your right, maze like shopping area with the painted blue sky on the ceiling. No doubt the care and attention to detail poured into a casino is a secret science - a massive team of casino business people whole heartedly applying the concepts of operant conditioning. From them, we can learn a lot. We can learn about why we do the repetitive things we do - whether they are compulsions, worrying, ruminating or evaluating your self worth.

Why would I do something repeatedly that I realize probably isn’t succeeding?

To understand this question, we have to remember that we are not computers or robots. We think in sophisticated, complicated ways. But these complicated and sophisticated ways can have glitches.

Compulsions are highly repetitive actions that we perform to reduce our distress or to generate a sense that we just prevented a horrible outcome. They are not “good” for us. Hand washing 3-4 times a day for about 20 seconds each time is good for us. Hand washing for 2 hours a day is burdensome, difficult, impacts our family and social life, impacts our school work or occupation. It is not good for us. Wondering if my significant other is cheating on me can be useful; it would be important to know. Wondering if my significant other is cheating on me for about 3-4 hours a day, including sending 10-20 texts “checking-in” with my significant other, discussing cheating likelihood with friends and family excessively is not good.  So compulsions are not good, but they are “reinforced”. 

Reinforcement is a concept from operant conditioning. It refers to a “consequence” that happens after an action is taken. If the consequence makes it more likely that the action will happen again, we call the consequence “reinforcing” of the action. Think about the shiny bright coins, the sounds of bells and chimes and the lights that flash if you pull a lever and get three strawberries in a row while playing the slot machine. The money, the bells, the shiny coins and all the other stuff reinforce the likelihood that you will continue to pull the bar over and over. We don’t need alot of reinforcement to get hooked on playing the slots. In fact, a “near miss” is reinforcing. So getting two strawberries reinforces us to keep pulling the lever.

A quick search in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary and we find that focus as a noun has a few different meanings, including - 1) the center of attention; 2) directed attention; 3) “a state or condition permitting clear perception or understanding”. This is focus as a thing; but now, I’m thinking of focus as a response - an action, so let’s examine it’s definition as a verb. To focus means 1) to concentrate attention or effort; 2) to bring cause to be concentrated. On the surface, pretty straight forward. But now I’m going to make things weird. Before we leave Merriam-Webster, our stately dictionary adds a scientific definition - the point where geometric lines either converge or diverge and intersect, giving rise to an image (in a mirror or lens). Does this seem confusing? Let’s say it’s an apt way of describing the action of “bringing the lines of thought together” and also the location of “where things come together”. I like that. The Oxford Dictionary spells it out a little differently. “to adapt…so that things can be seen clearly”.

The Oxford Dictionary goes on to say that the beginnings of the word focus are in the 17th century when it was used in mathematics and science, but its origin predates this, back to the Roman Empire, when the Latin word “focus” meant domestic hearth. Now, this is to me the deeper mysterious meaning of the word focus - domestic (or home) hearth, meaning the center of the home that provides warmth, light and sustenance. As Jim Morrison sang beautifully, “Let me sleep all night in your soul kitchen, warm my mind near your gentle stove”. To me, focusing has a centering, rejuvenating feel to it. Jim was singing about going to the hearth after what was probably a long and crazy night out. So to me, to focus is to go to the hearth; to go to the center. But where is that exactly?

Centering is a nice way to think about focusing. In Peru, the ancient capital of the Incan empire was Cuzco. What a mysterious name! What could it mean? Turns out it means navel of the world. In old Incan culture, the navel was the center of a person’s being, the place where a person is connected with the universe through a spiritual umbilical cord. So the center of the soul of the Incan empire had to be named Cuzco. Their capital was the center of the world (to them) and was where they connected with the universe. Getting focus means “Go to your Cuzco”. In humans, wanna know where our center of gravity is? Can you guess? Yup - the navel. Your center of gravity is where your hearth is; it’s your soul kitchen as Jim Morrison would say. And lastly, in Hindu tradition, our bodies have energy centers called chakras. My grandfather used to tell me that the third chakra was the one that had fire and the warm burn of a home hearth as its symbol. Can you guess where that chakra is located in the body? It is located just above the....drum roll please...navel! So the statement “get centered” literally means “go to the navel”. Is it any coincidence then that belly breathing, so vitally important in yoga and meditation, is a way to get centered and to get focused?

Now let’s operationalize these varied definitions into something practical. I’m thinking that the focusing response first involves centering, or going to the navel, or going to the hearth. Whatever phrase you like better.

You go there not with your feet, but with your attention. So you take your attention to your belly.4-5 breaths should do it, but if you want to warm your mind by the gentle stove like Jim did, stay with it as long as you like.

Ok, after centering, the next step of focusing is observing/noticing. There are two basic things to observe. The outside or the inside. It’s hard to notice both at the same time. The outside could be visuals like people, birds, trees, or scents, odors, or sounds, or touches - the sun on your skin, the feel of air rushing into your nose, the feel of an ice cube on your finger tips. Then there’s the insides. Maybe it’s a radiating warm feeling in your belly, a tightness in your shoulders. Insides also include your mindspace. Maybe you notice a certain rush of thoughts, with a certain kind of intensity or flow to them.

Lastly, you practice welcoming/accepting. This is a verbal statement you make. I’ve heard people advocate for a welcoming statement like “I welcome this feeling of tightness” or “I welcome this feeling of fear”. This is not really my speed. I don’t have anything against this style, I just don’t talk to myself that way. I like a different welcoming form of self-talk - something like “this is good - this is ok. It’s fine to feel fear or tight. let’s go - you got this”.

That last bit of “you got this” is like adding a little bit of seasoning to the acceptance pot - the specific seasoning being something called self-efficacy, a statement that you can handle this.

So to review, start with centering and going to the navel via your breath, then you do a bit of observing of your body state and your surroundings and then you close it out with a welcoming statement. That’s my way of focusing and developing that fourth fear response.