I just heard this story on a shiur and I freaked out, and wanted to tell you about it.
A few years ago, a bus on a lag baomer trip crashed and 3 young boys and a bus driver died. One of the boys who died, who had been a chavrusa with a boy who survived, came to his friend...
The Rambam (Hilchos Teshuva 2, 1) says that, if a person faces the same Nisayon, and overcomes it ONCE, that is Teshuva Gemura. The Rambam also says (Hilchos Teshuva 2, 3) that Teshuva (here he doesn't use the stronger term "Teshuva Gemura") is where Hashem testifies tha...
An addict is driving along all alone in his car one night on an empty highway. He is depressed beyond words, thinking how miserable he is and how he would do anything to get sober and have a normal life. Suddenly, as he's zooming down the highway and thinking, he hears th...
I'm so grateful to Hashem, SA, GYE, and all the support. I realized today that I need to surrender more. I read in the White Book that part of surrender is surrendering the right to act out. Another big Yesod of SA is that the recovery and surrender has to be against lust...
We forget simple facts of life... Sometimes, when I look at my kid's smile I wonder to myself how I could ever possibly act out... I wish that instead of getting overwhelmed by images of the pornography and desires to act out, every time I get stressed or lonely or irrita...
This is a problem of connection. Most of us have a hole in our soul and we fill it up by escaping into a fantasy land where quick pleasures give us temporary relief and then we feel horrible and do it again to feel better again. This is no way to live.
Figure out what is ...
I was walking home and I decided to take a short cut and cut across a patch of snow. When I stepped on the snow it was icy and I started to slip.
Lesson for recovery: When you go off the beaten and proven path by trying to take shortcuts, there is a good chance you'll ...
If you can't have the recovery you want, want the recovery you have.
For me, a big part of recovery is being happy with the recovery I have, even if it isn't perfect.
Dear Reb Guard,
I must admit that I have not been reading all the emails that you kindly send out every day but I am doing other work for myself. In February last year, I went to my first SA meeting. It was very embarrassing. It was a huge leap for me, but I thought I cou...
I sent this beautiful story / video clip to a friend, and this was their response:
It truly is beautiful to see his new-found connection to G-d through his recovery. Even a non-Jew's connection with the Creator is something so precious (as we can see by how Hashem respond...
WHAT?? The world can run without me?That's impossibly untrue!How dare you mock my awesomeness?I'm much greater than you!My dreams are all just fantasy?My life's falling apart?Maybe I'll think things over and start a brand new start.I guess there's Someone greater Who was ...
I have B"H over 6 years clean in SA, and I am grateful for such a venue to share these victories in the name of Hashem with others. Somehow I've been doing great even without meetings, but I make phone calls everyday to share and connect. Your chizuk e-mails help even fur...
Adapted from an Aish.com article here .
The movie "127 hours" is the riveting story of American mountain climber, Aron Ralston, whose ordeal gripped the nation in May 2003 when he was forced to cut off his arm in order to survive his adventure.
The movie is fascinating, ...
I found this Fantastic Mashal, which is relevant to all of Sefer Shemos:
A great sage was staying at an inn far from his home. Late at night, he sat down to say the Tikkun Chatzos, the lamentations over the destruction of the Temple that pious people say after midnight. T...
As her six-year struggle with cancer wound down to its bitter end, Elizabeth Edwards wrote on her internet blog:
"The days of our lives, for all of us, are numbered. We know that. And yes, there are certainly times when we aren't able to muster as much strength and patien...
We struggle so hard to "figure" our way out, to try to understand what's happening. But my experience has been that my understanding "availed me nothing" (as the AA saying goes).Maybe you are beginning to understand that this is a problem that's bigger than you, than you ...