Those who are believers will recoil, repent, be ashamed, regret, change ways, ask God for forgiveness, only to fail again and again, and to recoil ever so stronger again and again! It's an ongoing tug of war, a process.
We erupt when someone cuts us off on the way to work, we give in to gluttony, we engage in small talk, draw attention to ourselves, look lustfully at someone's spouse, etc, even though we don't mean to.
Even during the Divine Liturgy all sorts of thoughts well up in our minds and the Fathers spoke about them and we believe those are little demons testing us, so we concentrate on Christ and they disappear as quickly as they came in.
Evil is very much present and active in the world, and ever so drawn to where righteousness abides.
I choose to fixate on the Light. Darkness cannot stand in the Light.
When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth [it] not, then cometh the wicked [one], and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth [it]; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. – Matt 13:18-23
For me, the most insidious are the distractions of life. For instance, if my feelings get hurt, it takes extraordinary self-control to turn to God and asking for His healing and direction. The instinctive, unthinking way is to turn to the offender and either defend myself or “return fire.” Likewise, wealth and poverty are distractions. So are extremes of pain and pleasure and so on.
So for me, always, the answer is to fixate on the Light. Believe Him, trust Him, count on Him.
Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. – I Th 5:5
This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. – I John 1:5