Our instincts don't know they're doing actually. It's an ancient system that is designed for survival but in the modern world it's easily tricked and manipulated.
Just by doing something over and over, our instinctual caveman brain rewards with dopamine, which automatically forms habits over time. Imagine a caveman looking left and right before he leaves his cave: it just started out as a random occurance, but since he didn't get eaten he gets a dope hit which forms the neural pathways to continue the habit. Great adaptation for basic survival, and social mechanisms will even propagate the habit to others.
However, the habit forming dope reward system doesn't "know" what the behaviors are. It's not making any rational or moral judgement. Habits like addiction are extremely maladaptive, formed by the same feedback loop. This is why withdrawals actually feel like a threat to an addicts' survival. Breaking it feels like a threat triggering a fight or flight response. Trusting your instincts or feelings won't help you break a bad habit.
Thinking can help, though, which is where the forebrain comes in. By thinking, we can break a bad habit by creating a different, better adapted habit to replace it. This requires the force of the will, at least in the beginning until the new and improved neural pathway is formed. But once it is, you'll have a shiny new habit that's actually beneficial.
tl; dr. Think and use your forebrain to form the habits you want.
Just by doing something over and over, our instinctual caveman brain rewards with dopamine, which automatically forms habits over time. Imagine a caveman looking left and right before he leaves his cave: it just started out as a random occurance, but since he didn't get eaten he gets a dope hit which forms the neural pathways to continue the habit. Great adaptation for basic survival, and social mechanisms will even propagate the habit to others.
However, the habit forming dope reward system doesn't "know" what the behaviors are. It's not making any rational or moral judgement. Habits like addiction are extremely maladaptive, formed by the same feedback loop. This is why withdrawals actually feel like a threat to an addicts' survival. Breaking it feels like a threat triggering a fight or flight response. Trusting your instincts or feelings won't help you break a bad habit.
Thinking can help, though, which is where the forebrain comes in. By thinking, we can break a bad habit by creating a different, better adapted habit to replace it. This requires the force of the will, at least in the beginning until the new and improved neural pathway is formed. But once it is, you'll have a shiny new habit that's actually beneficial.
tl; dr. Think and use your forebrain to form the habits you want.