Daily Dose of Dov
 
Dov is sober in SA for over 13 years. See his story here.

 
Someone wrote to Dov:
 
I recently fell after a clean period of 40 days, and it hurts. How can I finally beat this thing so that I never come back to it? I want to do a real, permanent Teshuva rather than having the difficulty to build till I just lose again!
 
Dov replies:
 
Don't kill me here please; the answer may not seem to make much sense, but here it is:

Recovery has to be worked one day …

12-Step Tip of the Day
Exercises from Duvid Chaim's "Take out Menu"
on the Big-Book Lunch & Learn Cruise
 
I want to congratulate our Group on the completion of the first two weeks of our "cruise". I can see how the members are being more open in their sharing, and I can tell already that we're building a very special and "safe" container for us to come to regularly. I feel like we are creating a sort of "Vaad" to deal with one of the biggest taivos we are faced with.
 
As of today, we have completed the reading in the Big Book up …

One of our goals on GuardYourEyes is to help people "Hit bottom while still on top". Don't wait for the addiction to destroy your life!
 
Please read through some of these stories to see where the addiction leads to, and get the help you need now – while you’re still on top, no matter what it takes!
 
1) Where it All Leads
 
2) Serial Killers
 
3) Women tell of their husband’s (or ex-husband’s) addiction
 
4) The Typical Suffering of the Wife of an Addict
 
5) A Typical e-mail to GYE
 
6) Dov’s Story
 

 
One of …

By "Momo"

 
Click here for info on how to join Duvid Chaim's Free 12-Step phone Conference 4 X a week, 12 PM EST.
 
Yesterday Duvid Chaim helped us understand Step 1 of the 12 steps with the Big Book: "We admitted we were powerless over lusting and that our lives had become unmanageable".
 
I love the saying we've been using in the calls: "I was once a cucumber, now I'm a pickle, and I'll never be a cucumber again." When I was very young I could lust normally, but now I'm an addict …

By "London"
I would like to share with you an amazing experience I just had. My seven year old daughter is going through a difficult time at school at the moment, both socially and academically. This morning, she had a massive tantrum that she is not going to school, refusing to eat breakfast and throwing her bag around. In the car on the way to school, she told me how sad she is that she does not have friends, etc. I was able to sympathize with her and I told her …

"Battleworn" posted a beautiful series of posts called "The Torah Approach" to breaking free of addiction, and he asked "Dov" the following question: "If he (Dov) had known the Yesodos of the "Torah Approach" before he joined SA, would he have still needed the 12-Step program in SA to find freedom from his addiction?"
Dov Answers as follows:
The answer of my heart to your question is "no", I did not know these things. Furthermore, I believe that had I known them, I would never have needed SA.
But let's get honest here …

A Ben-Torah on our forum who is struggling to stay clean but keeps experiencing falls, recently wrote that the times he has the most difficulty are when he is lonely. He expressed the hope that through "more Hishtadlus" he will ultimately succeed.
Dov (who sober for 11 years in SA, story here) writes to him as follows:
My dear fellow,
You are certainly not alone in the inability to bear loneliness! (Actually, that's kind of ironic, no?)
Anyway, as your insight into yourself grows, you certainly will add weapons to your arsenal, but …

"Momo" posts his thoughts on the daily 12-Step phone conference group with Duvid Chaim (click here for info on how to join):

We learned yesterday in the call that the "spiritual experience" that we are all seeking (d'veikut) happens slowly, as we work the 12 steps, and not all at once. That's why we have to be patient and not say, as I was saying last week: "How come I'm in the program for 3 weeks and I still don't feel any differently?" It takes a lot of time. As Duvid …

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 fences, worked so hard in our spiritual lives… and yet, we have this "moment of insanity" where we are possessed by the Yetzer Hara and do all that we know is wrong. If the Yetzer Hara is infinitely …

Previously we discussed how one of the foundations of the 12-Steps is learning how to "Let Go and Let G-d". Well, another major foundation of the steps that helps us find freedom from the addiction, is learning how to live for OTHERS and not be "self-centered". As one guy wrote today on the forum:
 
Some of you know that I've been attending Duvid Chaim's 12 step phone conference (admin: click here for info on how to join!). I can honestly say that after 3 weeks of Duvid Chaim's call, I am …