Beating New Paths

So I just skimmed a few chapters of Chime, by Franny Billingsley.

I didn't like it enough to want to read the whole thing, BUT, I found myself intrigued by the way it describes beating new paths in our minds. It's like CBT, but described in a new way, which improved my understanding of the concept. Beating new thought paths is so incredibly difficult. Why is that? And how do we get such distorted thought paths so deeply worn in our minds in the first place? 

While I didn't like the book (the writing style irritated me, which is why I read the first five chapters and skipped to the last two), I'm grateful I read part of it!