A good way to look at it when contemplating a bad decision

It often seems so easy to fall into making a bad decision. Even if we know it's something we shouldn't do (e.g. having extra helpings of dessert when we're not truly hungry), it seems so tempting to say yes.

I know I struggle with this sort of thing, and it seems easy to justify falling into temptation, especially with the dessert example ("I'm not hurting anyone, after all", I'd tell myself.)

Finally, I heard something at church that made sense to me. The pastor said something which I'll paraphrase here:

"Better not to fall into the temptation. You'll wind up with a bit of regret at not doing the tempting activity, but it's at least better than to fall into the temptation and wind up with regret at doing it - plus guilt."

This is true: it's a small amount of regret on one hand, weighed against a larger amount of regret PLUS guilt on the other hand.

When I phrase it like that, it makes it much easier for me to say no to bad decisions. (Easier, but it's still not easy!) The good news is that I now feel like I'm getting advantage from the power of saying no.

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