Hi Skeptical,

Thank you for your beautiful post a couple of days ago. Your honesty and humility really come through.

Nitzotkeloki! I love your avatar thing!! U really are a certifiable GYE member now!

#12: Asking Hashem to take it away -

A few days ago, I was having a really tough time controlling my thoughts. Out of desperation, I thought to myself, "There are guys on GYE who say that they just ask Hashem to 'take away the lust,' and they say that it works. Why not give it a shot?"

I didn't verbalize it, there were people around, I just thought it: Hashem, I'm having a difficult time with these thoughts. Please take them away from me.
Poof! They disappeared immediately.

Why does this work?

I think the answer is that when we're asking Hashem to help us through it, we are forcing ourselves to think about Him, even if it's on the most basic level. Intrinsically we know that these desires are all about making ourselves feel good, throwing Hashem and all other victims to the sidelines. If I believe in Hashem enough to ask Him to help me through a hard time, I'm putting Him at the center of it all and then there's no room for entertaining such thoughts and desires.

May we all have the strength to keep Hashem at the center of our lives and ask Him for help when we need it.

If I could just add, I think the key is humility. I can't do it myself, I need Hashem. It focuses us away from self and selfishness, and towards Hashem and humble service. At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter WHY it works. למה יאמרו הגויים

so are you doing 12 steps or 90,000? because if ur only doing 12, ur done. But i think everybody on here wants you to continue, so i say go to 90,000

or 93,000, like at the Siyum Hashas

Oh boy, better get working on a server upgrade

Very nice and impressive work. Keep on trucking Skeptical ad meah ve'esrim

Hi heuni memass

Are you new here? Why don't you go ahead and say Shalom Aleichem to us all in the "Introduce yourself" section?

Nice meeting you, welcome aboard!

Just want to call attention to an older post of mine that I think is important.

Life is a Game of Super Mario Bros.

It has been an incredible year!

Thank you, Hashem and thank you, GYE!

Achas shoalti me'eis Hashem osah avakeish - Shivti b'vais Hashem kol y'mei chayai, lachazos b'noam Hashem, ul'vaker b'heichalo.

"One thing I asked of Hashem, that i shall request: [Would that] I dwell in the House of Hashem all the days of my life, to behold the delight of Hashem and to visit His Sanctuary." (Tehillim-27:4)

I was thinking about and singing these words last night. I just came across the following d'var Torah that really connects with my thoughts and is perfect for going into Rosh Hashana.

knowthewords.blogspot.ca/

thanks for that vort. i told it to my kids. great stuff

Last year yesterday, I became a registered member on a site called GYE (I don't know if any of you guys have ever heard of it).

I had been receiving the Shmiras Einayim emails for a little bit before then (thanks to my wife, see earlier in this thread for more info on that) and I finally decided to visit the site. Looking under the Tools menu, I found options for a forum and for phone conferences. I registered on the site and looked at the phone conference schedule, seeing that Duvid Chaim's group would be starting shortly at noon.

I called into the conference a few minutes early. I had the phone on mute. I had zero intention to say a word. Duvid Chaim asked who was there and I didn't reply. Apparently, there's a check-in system with regulars saying their first name or a username. I listened in to the conference. I thought that some things I was hearing were over the top, and other things made sense. It was erev Erev Yom Kippur, so a lot of it was focused on how we, people with lust issues, should go into Yom Tov. There was a Q&A period and it was really nice to hear frum people with the same issue I was hiding for years giving each other chizzuk and wishing each other a good yom tov.

I have made some really good friends here this year. The bonds that were created, I feel, are very strong - even with guys I have only chatted with online. There is something really powerful about being part of a community where people really get you. A place where the stupid things we've done over the years isn't viewed as stupid, because the others have done similar things and can totally relate. I have also talked on the phone with several of the guys I have chatted with, and met with a couple of them. I have two chavrusas now. Both are GYE members. I learn with one in person and the other over the phone.

It took me 3 months to actively start working on myself and to actively participate on this site. But I was reading and absorbing the information that was here. You never know who is out there benefiting and changing from your words.

It is now 9 months from when I decided to be clean. Nine months in which I fell twice but got back up immediately. There were a couple of times in my 15+ years of this struggle that I went 3 months or so clean, but once I would fall, that was it - I stayed down.

All I can say is, thank you, GYE - the staff and all the guys who are sharing themselves with others, in a struggle that is extremely tough to go alone - for helping me live life properly.

A g'mar chasima tovah to all of you. May Hashem grant us and our families a great year full of health, happiness and growth in all areas of our lives.

Thank you Skep, for the biggest payback you can do for this site, is by helping all that are on it now, myself included....big time!!!

May HKB"H bentch you and your family with a gmar chasimah tovah.

b'hatzlachah

Thank you Mr. Skeptical, for all the chizzuk you have provided all of us here. Having your participation in this chevra and your insights and chiizzuk add significantly.

A special thank you for the individual guidance you have given me personally.

Gmar Chasima Tovah.