Motivation

The Tanya gives advice as to how we are to motivate ourselves to keep away from sin. The recommendation is for us to have our sins right in front of us.This means that we should focus on the feeling of disappointment that we had with ourselves at the moment when we made bad choices and we did things that we are not proud of. That feeling of even disgust with ourselves should stay with us as a motivation that we never fall again as we once did.Years ago I was reprimanded by a young lady who I thought was being overly strict on a Halachic matter. She told me that I must not judge her for I have not been where she was. She told me that she was a Baalat Teshuva and she was being extra careful as she never wanted to go back to the place where she came from. This was the idea of having one's sins before him at all times.