
Help getting rid of unwanted sexual thoughts?

deleted_user
I am struggling lately with a lot of thoughts that are very sexual, particularly regarding my fiance (who is not local, so it's not like this is a huge issue right now). Thinking a lot about past experiences together where we have already talked about it and decided that it isn't a good place forus to go, and decided that we will not allow this to happen again before we're married. But it's like once I have gone there and opened the floodgates to those powerful emotions, I am having a hard time closing them down again. When I have these thoughts, I do feel a great temptation. Currently I'm trying not to think about it and trying to come up with alternative strategies to help me to banish the thoughts from my mind. Do any of you have suggestions of things that have been helpful for you? I'm thinking that scripture memorization, which has always been a struggle for me, might be really helpful here. Any scriptures that you would recommend? I'm thinking Ps. 51, the prayer for God to cleanse my heart, would be helpful, so that's my plan.
I'm open to ideas. Thanks in advance.
I'm open to ideas. Thanks in advance.
Posts You May Be Interested In
-
A friend sent this to me..As far as I can see, grief will never truly end.It may become softer overtime, more gentleand some days will feel sharp.But grief will last as long as Love does - ForeverIt's simply the way the absence of your loved onemanifests in your heart. A deep longing accompaniedby the deepest Love some days. The heavy fog mayreturn and the next day, it may recede.Once again, it's...
-
Today is my 25th birthday, to my somewhat lack of surprise I can see already no one really seems to care. I've always been the kinda person to make sure that everyone I Care about feels appreciated and knew somebody had their back. I can count 4 times this year when I Went out of my way to make sure a "friend" felt good on their birthday, especially if they got left hanging. Its early in the...
The second suggestion I think I also made to you at the same time as the first. Write a letter from yourself, to yourself. In it, outline all of the good that has come from your recovery so far, as well as the positive results that might logically be expected from abstaining now. Then, list all of the consequences that have resulted in the past from acting out, and the possible consequences that might occur should you have a "slip" now. Some people do this in a two paragraph fashion, while others do the lists in a side-by-side fashion. Whichever way works for you will be fine. Again, make copies and leave a copy wherever you have a copy of the "Fire Drill".
Everybody is different, and what works for me might not work for you. Of course, the reverse of that is also true. But for me, the best thing I can do is say a short prayer. Oftentimes, simply praying, "Father, please help me" is enough to get me out of my addictive frame of mind. But you'll have to figure out what works for you. Good luck.
Another trick I use is the: "Thanks for sharing" statement and it quiets my mind. The issue here is that I am reminding myself that I am putting more importance to the thought, calling it bad and unwanted, but in reality it is just a thought.
Example: I may think: "Gee it is raining outside" If I come from an unwanted aspect, then I'll call it bad and it turns into a litany of, "Dang it! I'll need a raincoat, I won't be able to go camping, etc.. Yadda, yadda." Thus losing precious minutes because it has snowballed into a huge issue. If I had just stopped it at what it was which was a statement of fact and sought solutions, it would have cut my time considerably.
So if I were to think, for instance, "Gee, Angelina Jolie has a nice figure." It could snowball into places I dare not venture, not because it is a ghastly thought per se but it can very well permutate into one or several billion thoughts and off the wagon I go. So, what do I do? Well, I say, "Thanks for sharing." and do something else not remotely related to what I just thought. I don't punish myself or feel guilty which by the way makes it worse.
Remember this:"It's never the thought, it's what is done with the thought that's the issue." And if all else fails, try Psalm 23. Reason being is that the very psalm affirms who is truly running your life, making your crooked places straight, so to speak. It has a tendency to calm me down.
Peace,
Wolf
I got to get on my knees, this is too much!