the more i stick with the program, the more i realize certain truths first hand. among them - the corner stone for staying clean is guarding the eyes. but what about guarding the brain and imagination from inappropriate thouhts? i am sure i am not the only one out there with a vivid and overactive imagination. thankfully, true to its name, guardyoureyes has many resources for shemiras einayim. but hirhurim are just as damaging. but what tools can there be? how are success and a "fall" defined and measured? by the time you dwell on a thought? By the inappropriateness of the thought? By the amount of effort you put into fighting the thought? what taphsic method or 90 day chart can there be for the mind?
bad images and sights are things we can turn away and/or run away from and really for the most part usually avoid bearing the brunt of. But how can a person run away from his thoughts? Your head is with you wherever you go. The only thing that works somewhat is to tell myself that if I don't stop I'm getting out of bed nomatter the hour ( that's when it usually strikes) and going to shul. in shul, its easier, although really no where and no time are we really immune, are we?

ps - plz do not answer that the eitzah is to learn torah. thankfuly, i do plenty of that, and i give several weekly shiurim, and yet i have time for these extracurriculars. even a compelling sugia never is quite enough. and if it really was that simple, there would be no need for any of this, anyway.

Thank you for reaching out and sharing peloni! I'm not likely in any position to give you any advice. You've been here awhile and it seems like you've had a lot of success. So, I'll just say, thank you for being here!

Love that picture!

(copied from a recent post)
How to not entertain a thought? That's where surrender comes in.
These thoughts are precious to us. They are our precious drug -- lust.
But we can surrender the thoughts and the accompanying lust to Hashem.
How? By saying it:
Ribono Shel Olam, I am powerless over lust and my life has become unmanageable.
Only You can restore me to sanity.
I turn my life and my lust over to Your care and ask You
to please heal me from this illness of lust. Take my lust.
I don't want to lust.
I only want You and a relationship with You, Your Torah, and an appropriate, loving, giving relationship with my aishes chayil.
Please take my lust.

Thought came back? Say it again and again. Mean it.

Mazal Tov on your first 90 days!!!

thanks... me too

Helping others helps me to stay focussed on recovery and keeps my thoughts ion that direction.

re: gevura and lomed's comment about my picture

okay, it just occured to me there is some teefkeit to this picture, as i was blogging with another gye brother. the whole yesod of the 12 steps is not to fight. to sit back and let daddy deal with the bully who is bigger and meaner than you. so לכאורה, its a סתירה to the picture which encourages to fight back, and shows the gye underdog forming a big fish who gives chase away the original bully - seemingly fighting it off themselves, without any help from a higher power. בתמיה?
ונראה לי דיש ליישב. ואין כאן מקום להאריך. והמבין יבין

(think: הא גופא that the gye brothers are surrendering themselves to daddy, is the formation of the force that empowers us with his power to chase away evil)

This is the most amazing shtikle toirah. thank you .

I think לכאורה the idea of us 'fighting' back already bases on the understanding that the strength to do so comes only from hashem. Those are the first three steps! So together the gye fighting off the yetzer horo is just a symbol for the aibishter.

what do you think?

היינו הך. ומר אמר חדא ומר אמר חדא ולא פליגי.
וודאי עלך איתמר לעיל "המבין יבין" יישר כחך.

i hope its not too much aramaic for a blog

what about this - davka fish

מה דגים שבים מים מכסה עליהם ואין "עין" שולטת בהם

how is that for guard your eyes?!?

Oy vey this is getting too much for me!

ויעשו כולם אגודה אחד לעשות רצונך בלבב שלם

peloni almoni wrote:


I won't answer the eitza is to learn torah, the eitza is to think torah, to have OIsyois HaTorah ready that whenever a thought strikes just forcefully think the words (not getting involved in adeep inyan cause then your mind can wander, but when your thinking words you just continue to the next word.)

Ths of course after R' AE's eitza of surrendering (we're doch fort dealing with addiction.), then you occupy your mind with Oisyois HaTorah kanal.

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Gevura Shebyesod wrote:


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(which is really not so bad if you think about it...)