A decision is not complete until the change is reflected in behavior.

It took me literally one minute to decide to stop eating sweets, stop drinking alcohol and coffee, and start meditating. I made a decision, changed my behavior and that was it! After some time, the new behavior got internalized, and now I don’t even think about it.

However, not everything is that easy. For example, it’s been difficult for me to go back to working out regularly again. The funny thing is… I love working out, but unconsciously I’ve been resisting it. I thought about it for some time and I realized that it was because of the fear that I’ll get reinjured.

In addition to the risk being manageable (I can start with light weights, and gradually increase them as I get stronger), this path may also be safer than the alternative. Being out of shape can make you very injury-prone.

This is why self-awareness is so important. When the resistance emerges to your consciousness, it becomes much easier to deal with and overcome. Many fears are false positives, so unless the threat is truly immediate, subjecting them to conscious analysis makes a lot of sense.