Don’t be afraid to try something that tempts you, whether it’s auditioning for a play or a new flavor of chocolate or sailing around the world. We often resist temptation, for many of us were raised in cultures in which we were adjured to “be careful,” “don’t be selfish,” “take care.” Being grabby was not a prized characteristic, especially for children—we’re quickly taught that people prefer us to be sweet and demure. But the wonderful thing about being human is that we can be all of it: shy, lustful, chaste, eager, brave, scared. We even can be all of these at the same time when we allow ourselves the freedom to experience. The origin for the word temptation is from the Latin temptare: “to feel, try out,” and from tentare: “handle, touch, try.” Eve taught us how to touch life and taste life. She showed us we could be free to try out life. To fall in love with life. To grow conscious of it, and ourselves, and other people, and to take it in, with all its grandeur, hardship, ripeness, decay, and deliciousness. There’s no harm in trying something out—what harms us is resisting the temptation and then regretting what we might have had.
