Why People Fail to Reach Their Health Goals Even When They Have the Labs, the Protocol, and the Information

We live in a paradox. People today have more access to health information than any generation before us. They have access to microbiome kits, genetic panels, hormone tests, YouTube doctors, meal plans, supplements, detox protocols, you name it. Yet most still feel tired, inflamed, stressed, dysregulated, and stuck in the same patterns year after year. If knowledge were enough, we would all be thriving. But knowledge isn’t transformation. Test interpretation is not enough. Protocol is observed for few weeks at best until it dissolves among many other priorities. Research, neuroscience, and even St. Hildegard all agree: you cannot do it alone. That’s why HARMONY integrates communal aspect.

The Intention/Action Gap: Why Information Doesn’t Equal Change

Behavioral psychology has a name for this: the “intention–behavior gap.” A major meta-analysis in Health Psychology Review found that even when a person has a strong intention to change, it only translates into real behavioral change about 28% of the time (Sheeran & Webb, 2016). In other words: You can know exactly what to do and still not do it. Or, wanting does not convert to doing as smoothly as you would like.

This isn’t moral failure. It’s human design. Our behaviors run on emotion, environment, nervous-system regulation (hello, trauma residue!), and patterns/habitual changes (hello, virtues!), not on knowledge alone.

Stress and Trauma Hijack the Part of the Brain That Creates Change

Chronic stress, overwhelm, or unresolved trauma shifts the brain from planning and taking initiative to survival. The prefrontal cortex, the part responsible for logic, decision-making, and self-regulation, literally goes offline. As trauma expert Dr. Bruce Perry explains, stress and trauma moves the brain from reflection to reaction. To start resolving the underlying issue a person needs to find an environment that is:

• Relational (safe, trustworthy)

• Relevant (developmentally-matched to the individual)

• Repetitive (patterned)

• Rewarding (pleasurable, enjoyable)

• Rhythmic (resonant with neural patterns)

• Respectful (of the child, family, and culture)

A PDF protocol cannot override a stressed nervous system. Hildegard understood this without modern neuroscience. She taught that the body and soul affect one another constantly and that healing requires the “viriditas,” the greening power that awakens through connection, presence, and grace.

Accountability Changes Outcomes More Than Willpower Ever Will

The American Society of Training and Development found something astonishing:

• A person has a 65% chance of completing a goal when they commit to someone else (Group Sessions in HARMONY)

• That jumps to 95% when there is a standing appointment or accountability check (Individual Sessions in HARMONY)

No supplement creates that. No lab test creates that. People do. A guide and a community does. Without accountability, protocols become suggestions. With accountability and community, protocols come to life as transformation.

The Nervous System Needs Co-Regulation Not Isolation

Neuroscientist Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal Theory shows that the human nervous system is wired for co-regulation which is the ability to stabilize and self-regulate in the presence of another calm, supportive person. This means:

• We make better choices when supported

• We tolerate discomfort better when accompanied

• We break old patterns faster in relational safety

• We maintain healthy routines longer within a community

Healing, consistency and stability is relational. This is why people don’t fail because they’re weak but because they’re alone.

Most Protocols Ignore Habit Science

As James Clear summarizes decades of behavior-change research: “We do not rise to the level of our goals. We fall to the level of our systems.” (Atomic Habits, 2018)

People can have beautiful goals and expensive lab tests, but if they don’t have support in building daily rituals, environmental cues, replacement habits, accountability groups, emotional reframing, weekly check-ins, their system stays exactly the same. Humans need systems. Systems require support. Support requires relationship.

Hildegard of Bingen Never Helped Others in Isolation

Hildegard did not separate “protocol” from “presence.” She treated the whole person, body, soul, and spirit through community, rhythm, prayer, herbs, food, music, relationships, teaching, accountability (the monastic rule!) Her healing system was built on this experiential truth: Transformation is not a solo act.

To Hildegard, healing is not merely taking the right herb or eating the right food, it is restoring harmony (ordo) under God through relationships, rhythm, and soul-work to live in peace (pax).

So Why Do People Really Fail?

Not because they lack motivation. Not because they don’t want it enough. Not because they didn’t get the “right” protocol. People fail because information is not enough, post-traumatic dysregulation blocks execution, stress hijacks the brain, guts and nervous system, they have no accountability structure, their nervous system needs co-regulation, they lack habit/virtues building support, they are not accompanied or they are not being heard on the journey, they do not want to surrender to God’s grace.

This is why authentic accompaniment isn’t optional. It is the missing medicine. It’s the bridge between knowing what to do and finally becoming who God created you to be.

Join HARMONY to experience a kind of support framework that opens up your heart, leads to wholeness of body, soul and spirit in a community and trustworthy guidance.