The Library

One of the greatest obstacles stopping a person from changing is the notion that it can be done without a lot of investment. We live in the generation of instant results, and we come to expect that whatever needs to happen should happen quickly. Furthermore, we tend to fo...

IN THIS WEEKS PARSHA WE FIND THE MOST MOST MOST (THAT'S A LOT OF MOST) FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION IN THE TORAH:"WHAT DOES G-D WANT FROM ME???"V'ATAH YISROEL MAH HASHEM ELOKECHA SH-EL MEI-IMCHA??I WILL STOP AT THE FIRST WORD: "VE'ATA""VE'ATA" IS LASHON OF TESHUVAH "VE'ATA" MEAN...

Sixty-five years ago, in high-school, I learned a powerful mussar lesson, but I did not realize it at the time. Ulysses was a hero and traveler in Greek mythology. He heard of the "music of the sirens." This was music that was heard at a particular harbor, and it was so ...

Yasher Koach to those who responded so brilliantly and encouragingly on the forum. I'm going through a very trying time here, even though I'm only at 11 days; not 90, not 200, just ELEVEN. What will day 90 be like?? But I know what everyone will say: "one day at a time". ...

Uri (clean for 11 days) wrote on the forum: I'm still clean, but barely holding on. I'm in a terrible mood and I'm having trouble getting hold of myself. I was so good this week, I feel like crying. When I drove home tonight I passed town and I felt such mixed feelings. ...

At first it will seem next to impossible. You will feel antsy and be unable to focus. You will barely be able to stifle your yawns. You won't be able to wrap your mind around a simple piece of shaklah ve'taryah. But rejoice. That is the perfect raw material to work with. ...

Hashem gives us these struggles so that we can make beautiful jewels for His crown through them. Rabbosai, share with us your thoughts from the times you have struggles and overcome them! By sharing and inspiring many other people as well, you will be uplifting your strug...

To me, GYE (generally) no longer has anything to with addiction! To me, GYE is special family. I don't see 'addicts' when I come to visit. I see nothing more and nothing less, than suffering neshamos. I see tremendous pain, bleeding wounds, and scars in all sizes and shap...

Someone who has been on our forum for a long time and put in a lot of effort to break this addiction and yet still continued to have occasional falls, wrote on the forum: I think many of us have given it our all. We've made drastic changes in our lives, created many fence...

I'm sorry to say I had a fall yesterday. I didn't post right away, cuz I was depressed. I was extremely MAD at myself and I felt soooooooooo lost. I hated every part of me and my animalistic desire to sin. The feeling of shame trickled down all over my bod...

The GYE forum is virtual land... the land of the fake. All you guys here are not people, you are algorithms... it's all 1s and 0s, right? The real world is people in $1500 suits and the New York Post at every...

During Slichos, I struggled a bit with reconciling a positive frame of mind with emotion about how bad I've been. Everybody here (on the forum) was helpful in me getting past that. Thank you. Rosh Hashana was good, I focused on being M...

I don't know what to tell you to help you stand up... You're down, and this addiction is taking advantage, kicking you while you're down... You're taking blows to the head, blows to your ribs... It's an old fashioned beatdown... ...

Let me speak from experience: If there is no holiness in your life, you will get bored/sick/frustrated with your wife no matter how beautiful she is. If you think that had you married the "ditz" you wouldn't be looking at other...

I dragged myself to shul Friday night, after not having been or shul or having davened in around 4 days. I went to a shul that I'm rarely at, in the hope of no one bothering me. I sat in the corner and listened to sounds of Yedid Nefesh and I closed my eyes and t...

"Nurah B'Amram" calls "FIRE" on the forum! (His nickname and his calling "Fire" is based on a story in the Gemara Kidushin 81a, see Tool #9 of the GYE handbook). Nura writes: I'm coming off a very loooooong project at work, about to wrap it up. I'm bur...

LISTEN SLOW AND HARD MY FRIEND, THE YETZER HARA IS A TRICKSTER. HE DOES NOT "NEED" YOU TO TRANSGRESS ANY SINS, HE WINS THE WAR BY SIMPLY ENGAGING YOU IN THE "SHAKLA VITARYA". I FEEL BAD SOUNDING LIKE AN OLDER GUY SAYING, "BEEN THERE DONE THAT" (I HATED WHEN ...

E.L reached this milestone yesterday on the 20th of Av, which is spelled Ke'Av. The word "Ke'Av" has a double meaning In Lashon Hakodesh. It can mean "pain" and it can also mean "like a father". E.L. has taken the "pain"...