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Don't Think About Pink Elephants

GYE Corp. Thursday, 29 December 2011

I'm reading a lot of posts and I keep seeing people talking about Shmiras Einayim and fighting fantasies and thoughts. By me, when I see something on the street, I don't fight myself and wonder if I looked too long or not. I just ignore it. I look away and continue on in life without harping on it. In the past, I used to do as others seem to be doing and it never worked. It seems (at least to me) that harping on it just makes it worse. When I worry about "did I look too long?" or "I must stop thinking such thoughts NOW!" it seems to just make me think about it a lot more. Even with fantasies and the like, I do the same thing. When I feel myself getting excited and the Y"H grabbing a hold, I also do the same thing, and it seems to work much better then fighting it head-on.

This idea really isn"t mine. I got it from Rav Yaacov Kanievsky ZT"L in his sefer Kraina De'igrusa. In the fifteenth letter in Kraina De'igrusa, the Steipler writes clearly: "The physical eitza to deal with this (bad thoughts) is to not think about it". Also in letter 370 he writes: "It seems clear and obvious that these thoughts are not bad character traits, but rather the body automatically thinking about what it's afraid of".