There is no such thing as a healthy habit.

4 min read

Habits are never a positive thing because…

A habit is something one does automatically from the subconscious; meaning the action is done without intention or a present mind. Eliminating all habitual behavior is paramount for one’s own mental and emotional development. No habit exists that is a measure of success.

Why are we talking about habits?

There is nothing new under the sun, yet individuals feel the need to stand out from the crowd (measuring success with mainstream popularity), and invent new meanings upon words, in order to fit their agenda, completely destroying original concepts. Buzzwords like; habits, flow, bio-hacking, muscle confusion, whole foods, functional training, fitness, movement, and others, rise up and trend with little to no foundation to work from.

For example: Look at the Atkins diet which started in the 1970’s. The majority of people have negative information about the low carb approach taught in the Atkins diet. Presently, there aren’t “Fitness Professionals”, Nutritionists, Doctors, etc. going around marketing how great the low carb Atkins diet is. While simultaneously the (low carb) Keto diet is thought of as the most revolutionary and amazing diet ever. Yet, those with a critical way of thinking have understood for years that by controlling insulin you can control weight gain or loss, and for the majority of the population, this means reducing carbohydrates. The point is, mainstream popularity can make something like low carb good or bad based on who and how many people say so and not on whether it actually is beneficial.

Yes, innovation is good, but there is nothing new with the human body pertaining to eating, training, sleeping, recovering, goals setting, meditation etc. That day is not yet here.

More on innovation and nutrition in later articles…

Back to why habits are not “good”.

By making habits the goal, you are intentionally creating new habits. You are developing the skill of creating habits, which is the opposite of developing awareness, sensitivity, and mindfulness, which are some of the foundational concepts of meditation.

We should do things intentionally.
We should do things with purpose.
We should do things because of practice, discipline, and priorities.
We should do things because we have planned too for our progress.

Again, we should always do things with presence of mind and never automatically.

Rituals are key for behavioral changes.

A ritual is something done intentionally and in opposition of circumstance; continuing development of our own willpower and discipline.

Mind you, rituals do not need to be complicated. BARUCHealth programs use a simple form for Daily, Weekly, and Monthly Submissions to track behavior. An example of a ritual is, always drinking one of the Morning Tonics before eating anything. Another example is, always turning off artificial light after 9pm. Another example is, always kissing your children goodbye before going to work.

Again the point of a ritual is that you do it every single time, regardless of the opposing circumstances. This is because you have already decided that the ritual being practiced is necessary for your development.

It is about discipline, not some “hack”, short-cut or mental trick to make your life easier. Hard work and discipline are everything when you are working towards a (present moment) impossible goal.

A quick word on Goal Setting.

Set an objective and decide on 3-5 priorities to make it happen. After you have your objective and priorities set, take notes everyday about your behavior and at the end of the week reflect on whether you have executed on your set plan.

More on Goal Setting in later articles…

Wrapping Up

One of the goals of BARUCHealth is to enable self-discovery and eliminate all habitual behaviors and become present minded. In order to do so, one must expose unconscious thought and action, understand why it is occurring, and then ‘future and past think’ about what rituals can be set to develop sensitivity and awareness around habitual behavior, in order to eliminate it.

We should always be asking ourselves, why are we doing what we are doing? Is it because it is popular/mainstream, or is it because we have thought deeply about the nature of it and believe it will make us better…

Hopefully, you can see how habits have never been thought of as ‘good’ in context to meditation and mindfulness since these practices have existed.

All The Very Best,

Dan Baruch
BARUCHealth: Founder
info@baruchealth.com