188.2 Instant Gratification Leading to Long Term Regret

I just received an email from one of my readers with whom I am working on her weight loss. She wrote that she was really mad at herself because in a moment of being angry about a very poorly done repair job on the deck of her home, she ate strawberry shortcake, a lot of strawberry shortcake.

My thought is that what is really at work here is the good old instant gratification impulse that leads to long term regret, especially if the pattern becomes habitual. Part of what I write about frequently is awareness, and if we can plug in that awareness so that there is always a good strong connection, we can stop ourselves before we start to give into that detrimental instant gratification behavior. Here's an idea that might work ~ if you can link anger, sadness, all those emotions that yearn for instant gratification to make us feel better, with walking, or gardening, or shopping, or something you really enjoy doing, you'll begin to break that old pattern.

And, since you probably won't make a perfect transition to your new connection, be kind to yourself and then reaffirm what you intend to do the next time you're feeling bad. Does this make sense?