after an interesting and stimulating lunch at the orange room in new westminster with doug little, who i had met at a recent ESN roundtable, i had some time left before my next appointment.
originally i had planned to look in at my favourite bread store, especially since i need to stock up on bread. but then this sweet little seductive voice inside me started whispering, oh, i’m in new westminster, i haven’t been to grand central in a while (a great consignment store).
all of a sudden, my mind fixated on that. i could see myself going there, browsing through the clothes, fingering all the blouses and pants and skirts, marvelling at the great prices … aah, yes, i’ll do that, i thought. and got all excited about it.
the fact that i definitely needed to buy bread and certainly didn’t want to be late for my appointment faded into the background like last week’s newspaper. those things were drab and uninteresting compared to the great colourful picture of being in the clothing store.
in situations like that, i’ll often follow my impulse. but today was different. for some reason i was actually able to hear the more responsible part of me, who reminded me that what was likely going to happen was that i would end up buying something that i didn’t need, feel guilty about it, rush around like crazy (which i can’t stand), and not buy the bread.
the really neat thing was that those images in my mind were just as clear as the lovely images of browsing through grand central.
i got into the car, left new westminster, and bought the bread just as i had planned. sticking to my plans – keeping my promise – made me feel strong and victorious. yay! i slayed that sweet-talking dragon!
isabella mori
counselling in vancouver