I suppose you don’t have that problem. Be honest with yourself – we all do. I suspect that Paul might understand what I mean (do the things I don’t want). As a very logical and rational person, I sometimes let my emotions lead me and quite poorly I might add. I have no problem with allowing emotions to have a voice in my decision making, however I really don’t like it when I let them dictate my actions. Inevitably I have to apologize or retrace steps or attempt to justify what I did/didn’t do, at least to myself. That rarely works.
While we all may share, in some degree, this dilemma it doesn’t answer the underlying question of why we do it. This behavior is often marked with arguments with yourself about why you are doing what you are doing, but it rarely changes the action. Without question this action is conscious and deliberate and there is absolutely no excuse that you didn’t realize. You do but you do it anyway. This is a ‘condition’ we all encounter, the point is what do we do about it?
It would be my contention that if we focus on discovering the ‘why’ then we need to change this focus. As helpful as it may be to understand why we do what we don’t want to do and don’t do what we should do… it would be a better use of our time and energy to focus on what precipitates these behaviors. If we identify what is happening in our minds and hearts prior to these ‘event (s)’ then we can develop ways of deflecting or eliminating our negative behavior.
The point in all this is that we can overcome. IF we want to. If we want to change our behavior, the ability is in our hands. We are our responsibility. Do we want to change, to grow? But this must be a proactive decision and one we commit to. It can’t be based in guilt, in outta’s. It has to be what we decide we want to be, want to do. The reason is that we will face challenges, obstacles, stumblings and if we aren’t committed then the likelihood is we’ll give up saying it’s too hard or not in our control. It isn’t of course. It always is our decision. Why is important, but it is secondary to acting to stop the behavior.
…but, what do you think?
