Do you think we are capable of creating permanent positive habits as humans? ...

Well, I hope so! Just looking at my own experience, it definitely is positible to create positive habits. Although surely, it's more like a mountain road (going uphill and downhill at times) than one continuous growth.

In changing habits I believe it's important to start with small steps towards a bigger goal than changing the pattern completely at once. A great book about how to accomplish that is 'One small step can change your life - the Kaizen Way - by Robert Maurer. When habits have become part of your daily life and are in line with your values and goals, I believe they can be easily part of a positive change in lifestyle.

If you're interested in the subject, I would really recommend to take a look at all kinds of research on positive changes and well being - https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/. There's also an interesting MOOC on EDX on 'the science of happiness' by this Berkeley Institute. It contains both a lot of interesting scientific research papers on the topic, but also very usefull tools to implement it in daily life!

What makes you doubt if we, as people, can create permanent positive habits?