“You ain’t gonna learn what you don’t wanna know.” — Jerry Garcia

“If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present.” — Lao Tzu

 “There are two types of pain you will go through in life, the pain of discipline and the pain of regret. Discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.” — Jim Rohn

 “If you only pray when you’re in trouble, you’re in trouble.”

I don't usually write but today I must because I feel a huge surge of gratitude for the weekly chizuk you send through the Breaking Free emails. Especially, the article by Dov "R' SHIMON BAR YOCHAI DIDN'T BRING ALONG A SANDWICH" because it is the first time I finally und...

*I was getting my teeth cleaned today - by a female hygienist who had to reach over me a couple times. והמבין יבין. I tried so hard to control my thoughts and think of Hashem's love in giving me this test. And, you know what she said to me? "Wow! You're a great patient! N...

My sponsor told me that I should be a grateful alcoholic and always have “an attitude of gratitude”—that gratitude was the basic ingredient of humility, that humility was the basic ingredient of anonymity and that “anonymity was the spiritual foundation of all our Traditi...

“Anger is a wind which blows out the lamp of the mind.” — Robert Green Ingersoll

A Practice For When You Find Yourself Annoyed by Other People By Leo Babauta It’s a common thing to be frequently annoyed by other people — added to our regular interactions with family, friends and coworkers are the online habits of people on various social media, and t...

I've been thinking a lot about it lately and I realized that looking at inappropriate things is just like smoking - either first hand or second hand - and we should approach it the same way. Let me explain. Every time I walk around someone who smokes, I try to make sure I...

GYE is greatly expanding its services behind the scenes. We hope to have a major announcement in the coming weeks about a whole new division for addicts that is being worked on now. Stay tuned. An anonymous donor has made a generous offer to donate $5,000 to GYE if we s...

In the spirit of Purim, I figured I would share a thought of Torah with everyone here. The Bnei Yisaschar (Rav Zmi Elimelech Shapiro of Dinov) points out something very interesting about Purim. In naming the Moadim, the Torah refers to each particular holiday with a name ...

 “A comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there.”

I was 35 years old the first time I spoke up to my mother and refused to buy into her games and manipulation. . .I didn't have to start an argument. But I could say what I wanted and needed to say to take care of myself. I learned I could love and honor myself, and still ...

Tonight I celebrate 90 days of sobriety. I've had 6 months before but this is the first time it's a sobriety with not giving in to lust. What I've learned in the past 90 days is it's all about surrendering and allowing G-d to do the rest. I would never have believed...

Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself. -Eleanor Roosevelt

When a pleasurable and intimate activity is always shared with one person ( e.g., a wife) to the exclusion of anyone else, that both indicates a closeness and causes further closeness [siman & siba]. If this activity is also experienced with others (or even a person a...

GYE Responds: Excellent question. I am not a posek, but I will try to use common sense based on what I have learned. - If a person's wife is a niddah, then he should not do anything intentionally to arouse his desire for her. - If she is mutar to him, then it depends. If...