Our Most Important Challenge now, is Being Good to Ourselves

"Don't we already do this, as a natural part of being human?" You may ask.

My answer to this is "Sometimes we are good to ourselves, and sometimes we are not. And this ambivalence is part of our human nature." 

Part of the problem is our split between our logical and emotional natures. Every smoker knows smoking is bad for him - but few quite smoking because of that.

This list can be expanded indefinitely - we are creatures of habit, and many of our habits (the good ones and the bad ones) are very strong.

The reply here has been made many times - we should keep our good habits, and get rid of the bad ones. Simple as that.

But life is not that easy - whether habits are good or bad, depends on the situation they are in. The best of people do bad things, and vice versa. 

What we have to do, in any case - is improve our decision-making abilities. Which those in power may not approve of.