I remember during JC year 1, before the school term came to an end, the KI (knowledge and inquiry) students came on stage one by one to share their opinions on this matter:
"The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it"
Very vividly remember my dance friend, Charmaine, ending her eloquent speech with
"so run, run as fast as you can and never look back"
There I was, a mediocre GP student, thinking that these people must be really brilliant to be doing public speaking. However, I didn't agree with any of them (no offence Charmz). All 4-5 of the KI kids disagreed with the quote and insisted that resisting is the way to get rid of temptation.
This memory has bugged me for the past 5 years so I thought I'd share my views on the quote.
The key word to argue here is "get rid". You wanna "get rid" of it, you yield! Temptation will then no longer be the forbidden fruit looking so juicy on that tree. Temptation will now morph into the seed of sin in your tummy!
Logically (mathematically even), it's the only way to kill temptation. Cause the more you run away, the greater the temptation becomes! You can never un-expose yourself to the ideas and situations which tempt you in life. So if your goal was to get rid of it, then think no further and yield!
I think the hidden premise here is that "getting rid" of temptation is the right thing to do. But is it? Why do you wanna get rid of the tease? The seduction of the temptress? The allure of hokkien mee when you're on a diet? Here are two better ways to deal with temptation
1) Indulge in the fantasy
This is very different from yielding. Yielding is the physical act. Fantasies are the stories we cook up in my magical brain. I feel that most of the time, our brain creates a better story than reality itself.
You know how an eye candy is an eye candy until you speak to him? Either you realise he's a downer or you guys just becomes bros or if you're a v v lucky girl, you guys start dating for a while until you realise that he isn't as perfect as how he appeared to be. Eye candy no more, you get a pretty average person on your fb list. All because you yielded!! An eye candy is always good from far and far from good.
Try this next time you see a really cute guy: keep it that way next time. This good memory of butterflies fluttering in your tummy will be preserved forevaaaa. Isn't that gr8? Of course, you have to set your expectations right and don't end up being a stalker or whatnot. But that's quite a nice way to deal w temptation, to indulge and relish and know that you can never go any further than that.
2) Yield, but to an alternative
That bowl of hokkien mee, the succulent prawns, the fragrant broth, wow. What can be a better alternative? I find that the best food in the world are the ones I whip up.
Be it half cooked chicken drumsticks (these badasses are just raw regardless of how long I simmer/microwave/bake), or home made maggie mee (I always make it a point to add sliced cheese into the soup yumyum), or terrible green steak (bought 1kg of beef in Aus and I cook once a month so....), I feel that I like eating what I cook! Maybe it's to save my ego when no one likes what I cook, or maybe it's just the attachment I feel towards my cooking (hey, it's the recipe, ginger, garlic, beef, spices I picked up myself!) but self made food is an excellent alternative if sinful food is tempting you.
So cook! And as you do, realise that the ONLY way hokkien mee can be so tasty is because of the amount of salt/oil/lard they add in during the cooking process. You may not enjoy your own version of the hokkien mee but I'm sure it would be a healthier version. And if you don't like your cooking at all, do your own cost benefit analysis and decide if the health factor is worth the taste factor! If so, temptation is not tempting you no more: it becomes a rational choice that you make. And that's good! If not, temptation kind of goes away as well cause you don't think about the yumz in the hkm, just the lard and toxins.
Disclaimer: I eat all the hokkien mee in the world. I don't really watch my diet cause I exercise a lot. This is just an analogy because I can't come out w a non-example based argument.
When you yield:
It's common to feel guilty after yielding. When that happens, take a step back and think about why you have committed x y and z. Get some rationality inside your thinking process. Given that you actually felt guilty, chances are that you don't care too much about that act and you won't do it again. Store this feeling somewhere in your emotional RAM and invoke it when temptation strikes again!
And if you ever yield and don't feel guilty, please be a rational human being and hide your tracks. Don't get caught, and you don't get into trouble. It's also very likely that you're a psychopath. Seek help!!!
"The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it"
Very vividly remember my dance friend, Charmaine, ending her eloquent speech with
"so run, run as fast as you can and never look back"
There I was, a mediocre GP student, thinking that these people must be really brilliant to be doing public speaking. However, I didn't agree with any of them (no offence Charmz). All 4-5 of the KI kids disagreed with the quote and insisted that resisting is the way to get rid of temptation.
This memory has bugged me for the past 5 years so I thought I'd share my views on the quote.
The key word to argue here is "get rid". You wanna "get rid" of it, you yield! Temptation will then no longer be the forbidden fruit looking so juicy on that tree. Temptation will now morph into the seed of sin in your tummy!
Logically (mathematically even), it's the only way to kill temptation. Cause the more you run away, the greater the temptation becomes! You can never un-expose yourself to the ideas and situations which tempt you in life. So if your goal was to get rid of it, then think no further and yield!
I think the hidden premise here is that "getting rid" of temptation is the right thing to do. But is it? Why do you wanna get rid of the tease? The seduction of the temptress? The allure of hokkien mee when you're on a diet? Here are two better ways to deal with temptation
1) Indulge in the fantasy
This is very different from yielding. Yielding is the physical act. Fantasies are the stories we cook up in my magical brain. I feel that most of the time, our brain creates a better story than reality itself.
You know how an eye candy is an eye candy until you speak to him? Either you realise he's a downer or you guys just becomes bros or if you're a v v lucky girl, you guys start dating for a while until you realise that he isn't as perfect as how he appeared to be. Eye candy no more, you get a pretty average person on your fb list. All because you yielded!! An eye candy is always good from far and far from good.
Try this next time you see a really cute guy: keep it that way next time. This good memory of butterflies fluttering in your tummy will be preserved forevaaaa. Isn't that gr8? Of course, you have to set your expectations right and don't end up being a stalker or whatnot. But that's quite a nice way to deal w temptation, to indulge and relish and know that you can never go any further than that.
2) Yield, but to an alternative
That bowl of hokkien mee, the succulent prawns, the fragrant broth, wow. What can be a better alternative? I find that the best food in the world are the ones I whip up.
Be it half cooked chicken drumsticks (these badasses are just raw regardless of how long I simmer/microwave/bake), or home made maggie mee (I always make it a point to add sliced cheese into the soup yumyum), or terrible green steak (bought 1kg of beef in Aus and I cook once a month so....), I feel that I like eating what I cook! Maybe it's to save my ego when no one likes what I cook, or maybe it's just the attachment I feel towards my cooking (hey, it's the recipe, ginger, garlic, beef, spices I picked up myself!) but self made food is an excellent alternative if sinful food is tempting you.
So cook! And as you do, realise that the ONLY way hokkien mee can be so tasty is because of the amount of salt/oil/lard they add in during the cooking process. You may not enjoy your own version of the hokkien mee but I'm sure it would be a healthier version. And if you don't like your cooking at all, do your own cost benefit analysis and decide if the health factor is worth the taste factor! If so, temptation is not tempting you no more: it becomes a rational choice that you make. And that's good! If not, temptation kind of goes away as well cause you don't think about the yumz in the hkm, just the lard and toxins.
Disclaimer: I eat all the hokkien mee in the world. I don't really watch my diet cause I exercise a lot. This is just an analogy because I can't come out w a non-example based argument.
When you yield:
It's common to feel guilty after yielding. When that happens, take a step back and think about why you have committed x y and z. Get some rationality inside your thinking process. Given that you actually felt guilty, chances are that you don't care too much about that act and you won't do it again. Store this feeling somewhere in your emotional RAM and invoke it when temptation strikes again!
And if you ever yield and don't feel guilty, please be a rational human being and hide your tracks. Don't get caught, and you don't get into trouble. It's also very likely that you're a psychopath. Seek help!!!
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