As much a part of the human condition as falling in love, habits, like our favorite aunt, exist only to smother us in comfort, giving us reprieve and safe haven from worry and concern.

Recently, I had to strap duct tape around my noggin to prevent it from exploding when I heard an ad about a diet discovery you mix with water and drop 10 pounds in a week with the added benefits of hunger pains and dizziness because your calories come from sugar.

When this young girl is grown, her memories would not be mine, an ashamed, self-conscious, overweight teen. Rather, she’d fondly recollect swaying and laughing with her family to a loud Latin beat.

I’m always interested in what triggers us to finally take action. We fight it for years until we cross a line that drives us from needing to do something to actually doing it.

It’s important to understand what “being happy” really means. It’s not as simple as adding equal parts sugar, water and dreams into a mixing bowl and stirring for a while. It takes hard work, which is a great segue into my first tip…

Ready to break the broken-resolution cycle? It’s much simpler than expected. As a New Year’s public service, I present a four-step-plan to a happier you.

It behooves me to master the skill of eating healthy while traveling. As I put pen to paper (more accurately “keyboard to word processor”), I find myself determined finally to be successful in my travel and dieting endeavors.

Everyone wants the easiest, quickest way to lose the weight. In our society today, we are accustomed to fast results on everything. We have fast food restaurants, fast access internet, up to the minute news and weather and smart phones with everything at your fingertips. So why not the same for you getting rid of that extra bulge around your middle?

I had heard Zumba involved a lot of coordination and a great deal of sweating. I was low on the former and weary of the latter.

I would feel terrible should the round fastener explode forth from my midline, fly across the room, and put out somebody’s eye. I wager the medical report would make history: “Blindness induced by excessive chocolate intake from out-of-control dieter in nearby restaurant booth.”

My hypothesis: When we are happy with our actions, we take credit for them. When not, we blame them, not us. In effect, good results are internalized; bad results are externalized. This is critical because where we place that control determines our future results.

Dieting can lead to a vicious yo-yo cycle that can have you swearing to cut out all junk food one day and binging on ice cream the next. Sometimes, it seems the more you try, the harder it is to succeed. Sometimes, the best way to get ahead and to finally meet your diet and fitness goals is simply to give in.

Obviously, no one clearly fits either, and most of us fit both. But a character in a book I’m reading stated, “Be who you are and accept it. Stop blaming yourself for who you aren’t.” Although discussing a different subject, the reminder hit home. We compare ourselves to “the others,” forgetting they’re “different,” not “better.”