Hot Wings & Other Things

Have you ever seen one of those movies or shows where the person is trying to make a tough choice, and they show a little angel self sitting on one shoulder and a little devil self on the other? That about sums up how I feel every now and then.

For example, yesterday I stopped to get gas at the little convenience store here in town. Well, of course, they had just made donuts & pastries and the whole place had this fantastic “just baked” smell.

My internal conversation with myself went something like this:

Devil Self: MmmmMMM. I bet you could have one, just compensate for it later.
Angel Self: Come on now, you know that won’t help you reach your goal.
Devil Self: That smells awesome - remember how a good donut tasted?
Angel Self: If you eat one, you’ll only want MORE.
Devil Self: In the long run, what’s ONE donut going to hurt?
Angel Self: You know you don’t want to blow your entire day for a stupid donut. You don’t eat like that anymore.

Our internal conversations with ourselves happen in only a few seconds. I’m learning that you really have only a split second to make the right choice. And I’m learning that you really have to listen to what’s going on in there - it’s a daily mental game. The power that our minds have over our actions is tremendous. You have to listen to that little conversation going on and consciously make the right choice. Very hard to do sometimes!

The angel won for me that time. Who is going to win for you today - the devil or the angel?

Posted on August 21st, 2009 by hotwings
Filed under: Mental Mania