I have been working on self development, or self improvement, however you call it, for now almost 15 years, perhaps even more. Over the years I have uncovered a variety of truths – underlying motivations behind my actions, implications of the big choices I made in life, influences of various people on my personality and decisions, etc.

At different points in my life I’ve been working on different things – overcoming fears, procrastination and indecisiveness, taking risks, embracing change, being open to new, willpower, living in the now rather than past – the list goes on. Last couple of years I focused on several things, among them overcoming the temptations.

Temptations come in different shapes and forms. They may be things, objects. They may be people. They may be feelings. Although it seems that WikiHow and Yahoo Answers covered most of them in terms of the action plan 🙂  (eg check this step-by-step WikiHow guide on overcoming lust, actually some very good tips, going to army must be my fave!). In my case, temptations are unnecessarily distracting and do not allow me to fully focus my life energy on things, projects and people that are important and that I want to focus on. They keep my mind busy with the wrong thoughts and in turn, its incessant buzz is sapping energy from my present.

After a period of meditating, reflection and talking to my close and very life-wise friends (Lia, I owe you big!), I left myself no choice and through a powerful, yet simple, technique of self analysis (where you constantly ask ‘why?’ until you arrive at the answer) arrived at 4 causes of temptations in my case. This was a big breakthrough for me, and it took 10 years to come to this. I list them below, in case they help you dig dipper and uncover your motivations and/or overcome your temptations which prevent you from realising your full potential.

1. I create DRAMA to feel alive, instead of living in the present – live in the now

2. I always want MORE, I am not happy with what I’ve got – ditto, meditation helps

3. I am ADDICTED to pain-pleasure cycle (as defined by E.Tolle) – stop it

4. I DISTRACT myself from important projects, I procrastinate – face your fears

Once you know the causes, you solved the problem half way. It will be easier to be aware, present whenever temptations re-emerge and hence easier to overcome them. And you will gain a new perspective in life which will inevitably contribute to your personal growth. All the best, my fellow nomads. Do not give in 😉