DAY 15: BEHAVIOR CURVE PT. 1 (START)

We’re two weeks in and things are about to take off. Are you ready? Today begins a four-part series on self-analysis which is essential to understand for living a life free from pornography & lust.


While in college at worked at a place making cinnamon rolls. The owner had a couple stores under his operation and was always looking for new spots to land. I recommended a place across the street from my college on a busy stretch of shops. While he appreciated the suggestion, he stated that they like to stay in malls because the smell helps with sales.


. . .  Makes scents. 😂


If we are going to figure out how to stop our behavior with pornography, we must have a greater understanding of what drives it. My suggestion is that there’s a curve to things where our behavior is triggered, escalates, climaxes, and then subsides to a place of normalcy, reflection, and often guilt.


Represented below:

Triggers can be something as simple as seeing an attractive girl on a tv show or somewhere in public. This prompts lustful thoughts and further mental inquiry.


Escalation can then be found in searching the internet (or wherever) for images or videos and may include masturbation.


Climax often then looks like further masturbation and orgasm which then prompts a sharp decline back to normalcy.

 


Three things on this curve. First, the climax at the peak may look different for everyone but know that it is whatever action you take which satisfies your urges and puts you back to a place of normalcy.


Second, this curve can take minutes, hours, or even days to work its full course. A pause on escalation is not the same as an exit from escalation.


Third, the last curve at the end which gets us back to ‘normal’, the one containing proper reflection & regret, demonstrates that we have the capacity to make right decisions, we just struggle with getting it all in the right order.


Let’s stop here for today and ponder this illustration. Luckily, David offers an example of this in Scripture and we’re going to learn from him.

 


Thoughts to Pray/Journal:


  • Spend some time looking inward. What drives you to do the things you do sometimes? Both good & bad.
  • How does this curve look in your life? What triggers you? What does escalation look like? What is the climax/peak of your behavior?

 


Reading:

2 SAMUEL 11