I knew fatty, sugary, and processed foods were harmful and needed to be removed from my life. I knew that avoiding such foods, eating healthily, and exercising—especially after the age of forty—was an unavoidable necessity. But it was as if the chains of habit and addictive pleasures had bound me to my old unhealthy lifestyle, preventing any change.
Despite inner conflict and dissatisfaction, I continued on that misguided path. Every day I would tell myself, “Tomorrow I’ll change everything… I’ll start tomorrow… tomorrow, tomorrow…” until the pain arrived. After visiting the doctor and undergoing tests, I was told my health situation was serious and that I needed to change my lifestyle and eating habits.
Suddenly, a strong motivation awoke in me. I came home and threw away all the unhealthy food. I don’t smoke or drink or use other toxins, but I overhauled my diet, added exercise to my daily routine, lost a significant amount of weight, and adopted a different lifestyle. That incident hit my mind like a powerful jolt and transformed everything. It was as though my knowledge and desires had been waiting for a trigger to turn into a powerful force for change.
Socrates and Plato believed that the root of human misbehaviour is ignorance. They said that when someone commits a wrong, it’s because they don’t truly understand the difference between good and bad. If they really knew an action was harmful, they wouldn’t do it.
They asked: How can someone knowingly choose an action that will bring them pain and trouble?
But Aristotle disagreed. He believed that wrongdoing doesn’t always stem from ignorance but sometimes from weak will. He argued that many people know lying is disgraceful, that assault is shameful, or that overeating causes illness—yet they still do these things.
So, knowledge and understanding don’t necessarily prevent mistakes. There’s another factor: willpower.
Aristotle’s ethics have rightly been admired for their moderation and realism, and I too agree with him— But in this case, Socrates and Plato were right. In my view, people make mistakes because their awareness and understanding are insufficient. But we must define “awareness” precisely.
Freud showed that our mind has two major parts: The conscious, where we are aware of our thoughts, decisions, and actions, and the unconscious, where hidden information, old memories, emotions, and deep desires reside. Interestingly, the unconscious functions almost like a separate intelligent being, with its own knowledge, desires, behavior, and even language. In fact, most of our actions and reactions are not conscious or deliberate—they happen automatically or unconsciously.
If someone tells you a funny story about a stolen wallet, you’ll laugh. But if at the end, you find out the wallet was yours, that laughter will instantly turn into anger or anxiety.
This shows how our knowledge—even unconscious knowledge—shapes our reactions. Like many others, I was aware of the harms of unhealthy living, But that awareness was only at the conscious level. My unconscious still found those foods and that lifestyle appealing.
But when this awareness penetrated my unconscious—when I was confronted with a serious, undeniable reality— My emotions and behaviors changed… without needing, as Aristotle put it, “a special act of will. In psychology and personal development, there are many methods for quitting bad habits or forming good ones—like repetition and affirmation— But all of these, in essence, are tools for transferring awareness from the conscious to the unconscious.
In truth, what most people call “willpower” is not something independent from knowledge.
It is the product of how important and urgent something becomes in our minds.
When we deeply realise the importance of something, we act on it.
If we don’t, it means we still don’t consider it important enough at the deeper levels of our mind.
This message holds a powerful lesson for anyone who thinks they “lack willpower” and can’t overcome bad habits. In reality, there’s no such thing as a strong or weak will.
Those we call “strong-willed” are simply people whose awareness of something’s importance runs deep enough. At the same time, through practice and repetition, their unconscious has learned to follow their conscious mind.
There is a gap between your conscious and unconscious selves. The more you obey your automatic desires and urges, the deeper that gap becomes, and the harder it is to break habits.
On the other hand, the more you practice “breaking the habit,” the more alert your unconscious becomes— Eventually learning to follow what your conscious mind believes to be right.
This is the very advice Hafez gave:
“Seek delight in breaking habits, for I
Found peace through disheveled curls gone awry.”
He says that acting against habit causes discomfort at first, but the result is success and inner peace.
And Nezami echoes:
“Whatever goes against habit’s way,
Leads the caravan of joy that day.”
Your willpower doesn’t grow through force, threats, or promises.
What you need instead is a deeper understanding of the nature and consequences of the behavior. Your conscious mind uses everyday language—conversation, lessons, intentions.
But your unconscious has its own language, and you must learn to speak to it in its own way. You must bombard the unconscious with impactful, meaningful knowledge— Not just words, advice, or resolutions, but through art, music, images, repetition, and experience.
In some countries, cigarette packs display horrific images of diseased smokers’ bodies.
These images offer no new information, but they speak directly to the unconscious:
“This is the consequence of what you like.”
