what is your attitude toward adversity and temptation?
116017
virtue lies in the middle
709933
I resist temptation everyday, but always glad when i do because it can only lead to guilt, anguish or momentary pleasure which is transient and not fulfilling.
746962
I have experienced it all, and with help you can overcome anything. I have been taught that all of our thoughts are just in our head because of the things we learned in the past.....\n“He who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure.” - As A Man Thinketh\n\nI have come to believe that the greatest diseases of mankind are doubt and fear. That is not to lessen the seriousness of some of our other afflictions, but doubt and fear rob more people of more life than all the other diseases of the world put together.\n\nWhy do I think they are diseases? Well they are acquired, we were not born with them. They are communicable - much of the time, they are passed from one person to the next. But clearer is the Merriam-Webster dictionary which says a disease is "a condition of the living animal...that impairs normal functioning." Sounds like fear and doubt to me.\n\nDoubt keeps us from going for the promotion that we certainly would have gotten had we gone for it; from asking for the big order that the next person got because they asked; from making positive and long lasting changes in our life because they "rock the boat."\n\nFear causes us to make weak and irrational decisions that sell out our future for the sake of today. It takes our happiness, our sleep, our very life.\n\nIn her outstanding book, Conquer Fear!, Lisa Jimenez lists "The Seven Truths" that can help us overcome fear:\n\n”Truth #1\nFear is the dominant problem in your life today.\n\nTruth #2\n\nFear is a gift that was instilled in you as a means of protection and a way to bring you closer to God.\n\nTruth #3\n\nWhen you run from or deny your fear, you leave the gift unopened.\n\nTruth #4\nWhen your fear of success or fear of failure is exposed, you break through their control over you.\n\nTruth #5\n\nYour belief system is the driving force behind your behaviors and your results.\n\nTruth #6\n\nYour everyday habits are broadcasting your belief system, your fear, and your unmet needs loud and clear.\n\nTruth #7\nChange your beliefs and you change your behaviors.\nChange your behaviors and you change your results.\nChange your results and you change your life.”\n\nAnd that is worth thinking about.\n\nGood luck and I know you can do it!
1088594
Interesting question. I ask myself the same thing almost every day!\nI'd have to say that I am the way I am because of who I strive to be like. It's impossible to be perfect the way Christ was. But if I'm striving for perfection, even though I don't attain it, I know that it's making me better every day. I love to be happy because depression stinks. I love to treat people with respect because it makes me feel good to see them smile and feel important. I love to take long drives and look at nature because it makes me thankful and feel closer to God. But most of all, the more I strive to be like Christ, the less stressed out I feel. And in a world full of stressed out people, the less stressed out I am, the more I can help those who are.
1115238
I do. Especially annoyed with bad drivers. Sometimes I even wish I was in an island all to myself. Of course, as long as it has internet, food and w*. I've always said, being nice and good to others is the hardest thing to do. Me, I just try. There's too much grief, hunger, war, and fighting in this world I sometimes forget how lucky I am to be here. Life is hard, and if you are not living, then you are dead.
544971
I have faced a similar problem. what I did is that i started thinking... is what I'm doing good? shouldnt I end this evil. then I decided that I must begin the fight against the temptation. So, I began the fight.. every time I'm on messenger, I try my best to control my self, by keeping the good thoughts in my mind. Each time, I get a bit stronger. Sometimes, I decide not to open the computer at all, but rather do any other safe activity. By time, I became strong enough to overcome the temptation, and have the victory. That was the Holy Spirit who gave me this strength. All thanks to God. I hope, my friend, you will benefit from my real experience and God be with you.
1043944
Yes. I have a very difficult time forgiving myself for many of my shameful actions, even though I've asked the Lord for forgiveness. In fact, some of the things that I regret I still ask forgiveness for, many years later. I know I don't need to, but I just feel so incredibly terrible about those things. I want so badly to be the person that God wants me to be. I want to have Christ-like qualities. It is so hard for me to understand why I can't get there! I struggle almost everyday with self control (especially control over my tongue). I would give pretty much anything to consistently maintain my self control, and yet I can't without God's help. I have found that if I forget to pray before I go to sleep (and thus forget to sincerely ask the Lord to allow His Holy Spirit to be with me every second of the following day to help me with self-control), I have a very hard time the next day. If I do ask, it's so much easier - I mean VASTLY different. I don't know why it seems as though God wants me to request help every night, but I'm sure He has a reason. Probably to get me to rely on Him more. That would be a good reason. When I lose my self-control and yell at my little ones, I feel so much remorse. I'm a stay-at-home mom, so my 4 and 2 year old are the ones who try my patience.  :o)  That is to be expected, and is not their fault (sometimes it is, but not usually)! I want to be a calm and predictable mommy, but it's very hard for me. That's all I have to say, as I am tired now and need sleep.  :o)
237475
Perseverence and self confidence
939914
i personally think its there to overcome\nlove on the otherhand is lusting for whats on the inside.\nlust is powerful as is all temptation\nbut if we try we can overcome it in the long run
136318
I wonder the same thing all of the time, sometimes I feel like it's because I don't want to surrender and then be disappointed...\n\nIt's also about me not wanting to let go of my old, destructive self.... I spent years crafting the protective barriers around me and the thought of having to let it all crumble down scares the shit out of me\n\nSurrendering means giving in.giving up, and I have been struggling for so long I am afraid to let go. What would I do with myself if I just passed my worries over to a higher power? Wouldn’t I become dull and passive.... a sheep?? I have been resisting conformity my whole life, but when I really stop and look at myself lately, I realize I am a hypocrite in believing that I have not conformed\n\nI conformed when I used alcohol to numb my pain, I conformed when I addictively consumed diet pills to live up to a media created standard of beauty, I conformed when I took a job selling overpriced junk to obscenely rich people making their living of oil (meaning I make mine the same way), I lie everyday to make a buck.... sometimes hundreds of times throughout the day, I avoid my family and friends like the plague, and worst of all.... I remain consistently ungrateful and miserable on a daily basis.\n\nThis all makes me the biggest hypocrite; a conformist to the societal roles we are all bound to play if we let ourselves become indifferent to living.\n\nSo why do I hang onto this misery? Why can't I surrender?\n\nI think you have to be ready, and willing\n\nand I am willing.... but am I ready?\n\nI guess not, because I have yet to surrender to anything tonight other than 8 cigarettes\n\nGood luck
270934
An interesting perspective and I would like to know what tradition that lesson is from? Is it from Hinduism, Buddhism or Jainism? If from Buddhism, then from what school of thought? \n\nMy personal belief is that it's too much to worry about. I do the beat that I can and try not to harm other beings. I take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sanghas and I follow the five precepts as best as I can while trying to better tomorrow. When bad things happen I accept them as a condition of life and I know that it will not last forever. I should not become discouraged and upset when things go wrong. I remember that there are those in the world that are currently experiencing good things in their lives and I am happy for them. I also remember that no matter how bad things are for me, there are those that have it worse and I feel compassion for them.  When good things happen I also accept them as a condition of life and I am equally aware that good things will not last forever. There are those that do not have as much as I do and for them I feel compassion and remember to share my good fortune. I should not become overly excited just because something good has happened. When it comes time to pay my karmic dept, then I will do so willingly knowing that nothing very, very good nor very, very bad last very, very long. In time, my dept will be paid. \n\nI can only do my best each day.  Worrying about what type of karma I am accumulating or if there are types does not help me free my unborn mind. My goal it to be the best that I can be while helping others to end their suffering and find the joy that is in every breath of life. \n\nAmituofo!
1152210
I welcome questions.  They make me think.  Thinking helps me to grow.  Sometimes I have even discovered that I could be *gulp*      wrong...fortunately, not often *whew*.\n\nI love a challenge.  So far, no question or challenge has weakened my faith in God.  If anything, it has grown stronger.  And that can only be a good thing.\n\nNever underestimate the power of faith, my dear.  Faith in the hands of a good person is awesome.  \n\nIn the hands of an evil person it is downright frightening!!\n\n:)
412087
I have made a lot of plans for my life; a list of things to achieve, all of which require risk to some extent. If anything was to put a stop to those plans, all be it illness, finance or people, it would ruin my hopes and aspirations. However, I would not say I am driven by the fear of losing it as much as I'm driven by the thought of achieving my goals. I am happy, enjoying my life and I play as hard as I work.
538942
I faced a tragedy from which there was no escape. It was a situation I had put myself in and had no alternate ways out. My only choices were to accept the fact that I was wrong about God, or suffer through life hoping and waiting to die. I now that sounds dramatic, but some of us are more hard-headed than others. \n\nThe secret is actually very simple: We are blinded by our own egos. They tell us we are good when we are not. They rationalize our irrational behavior. And the biggest one is that they tell us we are right. I learned that there are times when you can be right and times when you can be happy. And sometimes you have to choose between the two. I didn't know how to be happy without being right. Retraining was a slow process. But I saw that God was working in others' lives. I saw that they were happy & functional instead of bitter & barely making it. So I did what they did. I prayed to a God I didn't believe in yet. But I was willing to believe and that is the only requirement. As long as I was willing to be wrong about God, to say the He might exist, I could give Him the benefit of the doubt and I started reqping blessigns even before I actually believed. Also, I learned that helping others helped me see that God uses us and part of the reason is because it makes us feel useful & satisfies me like nothing I'd ever known before. If you'd like to discuss this further, feel free to contact me. God bless you & your search.
731630
It would forever bother me not to try something new and even later on fail, which I could overcome and accept, than not to have tried at all.\n\nIt can be the greatest sin of all. The sin of regret.
441220
* Never give up your inner self for anything.\n* Be honest.\n* Never give up your ideals for money or fame.\n* Never forget that you are free.  Do not let others or situations dominate your life.\n* Your main priority in everything you do should be Love energy.  Forget about the other ones...hate, envy, anger, lack of temperance, etc...\n\n* Faith if yourself and in your inner self.  Not just believing, but KNOWING that it IS.
209781
:}\nWhat you cannot gain or hold on to by reason and spiritual right you do by force.