Hi Brooke! I have a possibly silly questions about the statement that actions are always voluntary (or I at least need a little bit of convincing!). What about actions that we do mindlessly? As a simple example, if I feel hot, I roll up my sleeves. Or just plain habits that are thoroughly ingrained–when I get home, I dump all my stuff on my bed. These actions aren’t (or don’t seem to be) motivated by a feeling or a thought…but just habits or involuntary movements. Can you help me make sense of this?

As a more relevant example, I just returned from a long vacation where I had been eating healthily and making good progress. Something about returning back to my apartment seemed to trigger old habits without a mental switch–I found myself overeating and buffering today without any discernible reason.

What role do habits play if our actions are always based on feelings?