Okay, so you’ve burned yourself out on something you’ve decided is no good for you. You want to give it up, but it still tempts you. Warren offers some pretty sound advice for defeating temptation in Day 27.
First, Warren advises that we not try to fight our temptation, but ignore it – fill our minds with something else so the temptation can’t get traction. I don’t think I’ve ever actually tried this tactic with temptation – I’ve always preferred to dwell and wallow in my misery for some reason. Intentionally filling my mind with other thoughts seemed dishonest, somehow, like I was avoiding dealing with the issue – if I was tempted, it was for a reason, for my growth in some way. That’s how I saw it, so the idea of intentionally turning my attention to something else repelled me. That said, I’m sure we’ve all had at least of handful experiences in our lives where we were able to distract ourselves from something unpleasant – whether temptations, thoughts, or emotions – by focusing our attention on something else. These experiences are testaments to the power of intentionally choosing what we think about.
Second, Warren tells us to confess our struggle. YES! Nothing frees you from your struggle like admitting to the fact of the struggle. I have written here about my struggles with resisting change, anger, hate, fear, self-pity, shame, dishonesty, and probably a few other unflattering flaws. Admitting my struggles – to myself by writing about them and to you by publishing that writing – releases me from them, releases them to the Universe to be dealt with there. Not all at once, of course, but bit by bit. The act of admitting that I struggle with hate actually reduces the power of the hate over me, and the next time it arises, it’s not as intense and dies away more easily. With each admission, its power is further diminished until it ceases to have any power over us at all. It’s only in admitting the power of our flaws, or temptations, over us that we are able to diminish that power.
Third, Warren tells us to “resist the Devil” by accepting Christ and refuting the “Devil” not with logical argument, but with Biblical Scripture. The only thing I’m going to say about this is that our egos are ingenious at creating solid logical arguments to justify any and all behavior. When we feel ourselves being led in a direction we don’t want to go, there’s no point in trying to argue with our egos because our egos will win every day of the week. Instead, you have to know what you stand for and what you want to manifest in this world, whether that comes from Scripture or other spiritual teachings or wherever. You can’t outlogic your ego, but you can know whether you’re ego is guiding you toward what you want to manifest or toward what you don’t, and you can agree to follow it or not.
Lastly, Warren tells us to realize our vulnerability and avoid tempting situations. None of us want to admit that we can be led down a path that we didn’t choose ourselves, which leaves us in a pretty vulnerable position when we do put ourselves in tempting situations – when we find ourselves in a place we didn’t intend to go, we either have to admit that we were fooled and led astray or (the more common response) decide that we really did want this and actually chose this and proceed further down the path of our own pain and misery. Of course, knowing your own vulnerability is a discovery process, something learned over time and through making mistakes (perhaps many). Knowing your vulnerability means intimately knowing, and accepting, yourself.
TL;DR: No tl;dr for virtual book club posts.
