When You Know Better but Do It Anyway |
We live in an era saturated with information. In a matter of minutes, we can find answers to both simple questions (“What’s a good birthday gift for a 9-year-old boy?”) and complex ones (“What’s the optimal diet for a 40-year-old woman trying to build muscle?”). While some decisions are in fact deeply nuanced, most of the struggles that undermine our well-being are not caused by a lack of knowledge.
More often, the problem is this: We know what to do, but we don’t do it.
This is one reason I often reassure colleagues and curious friends that tools like ChatGPT will never entirely replace therapy. Information, insight, and even emotional validation are rarely the missing pieces. The harder part of change is translating insight into action. Especially when doing so requires tolerating discomfort, delaying gratification, or resisting well-worn habits. As most of us have experienced, knowing what would help does not mean we feel able or willing to do it.
Our inaction, even with the right information, is nothing to be ashamed of! And it is not a modern failure of discipline. It is a deeply human pattern that has been recognized for centuries.
In Ayurvedic philosophy, this phenomenon is described by the concept prajñāparādha, often translated as “an offense against wisdom” or “misuse of intellect.” It refers to moments when we act against our own better judgment. It’s when we override the internal signals trying to guide us toward balance and health.
Feeling called out? Yes, most of us recognize this experience immediately. Perhaps we drink coffee despite knowing it worsens our