My mother was a wonderful, and interesting, woman.  She was a believer in virtually everything supernatural and mystical.  Her library included the Bible, the many works of L. Ron Hubbard, books on UFO's and alien encounters, ghosts, hauntings, magic healing crystals --you name it, she's read it, and believed it all.  She would explain these strange worlds to me, perhaps to open my mind to other possibilities, which I believe it did.  But it also had a side effect; these thoughts of body-snatching aliens, soul-possessing demons, voyeuristic angels, and other "spiritual" beings with a seemingly strong motive to enter my room at night, terrified me for the first 37 years of my life.

I used to see this massage therapist who was in fantastic shape.  One day, he shared with me his "secret" to looking better at age 50 than most 20 year olds look.  His secret? "Everything in moderation".  Shortly after, he told me how he "limited his cigarette smoking to a few butts per day".  Yea... there's a great message for the kids.

Besides being a substantially void statement, or at least one demanding more detailed explanation, it's advice that very often does more damage than good, by leading people into a false sense of justification for continuing, or worse, taking up, bad habits.