Showing posts with label Step 1. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Step 1. Show all posts
Friday, May 14, 2010
What does it mean to accept the Yolk of Torah?
A person who gets married knows that he is accepting additional responsibility but accepts it so that he will have the additional benefits of marriage. When a person accepts the Yolk of Torah he is accepting the additional responsibilities, and gaining added benefits. Just like a married person has to work together with their spouse, taking them into account in all of their plans, we are married to the Torah and we have to take the Torah into account in all of our plans.
Just as a married person does not perceive his new state as a lessening of his life, we must see the benefits to us from accepting the Yolk of Torah. When a person throws off the Yolk of Torah, Hashem gives them a different Yolk, We should rejoice in our relationship with Hashem.
from a Shiur by Rabbi Wachsman about preparing for Shavuos
When we voluntarily accept the rules of OA (L'havdil) we are accepting the added responsibility, but we are getting so many benefits. Giving up excess food, and regaining our health is a worthwhile trade.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Leave those demons behind!
Once there was a king and a queen who could not have a baby for a long time. When they finally had the baby they were overjoyed until they realized that the baby had an ugly deformed mask. They were devastated and they didn't know what to do. How could they admit that they had an ugly baby. One of the kings ad visors made a suggestion, to have a perfect mask made so that no one would know what the baby really looked like. As the child grew and got bigger they made bigger and bigger masks to cover his face. When the prince was a young man and ready to become married he told his bride to be about the mask. She agreed to get married, but she asked to see his face before the wedding to make sure that she could handle it. the Prince took off his mask, and she said, "Your Face looks exactly like the mask".
When you know that you want to become something but you don't know how to do it, you have to "act as if" you are already there. Actions will bring us to reality.
from a Shiur on Aish Audio
Leave Those Demons Behind # SW 916
by Schwartz, Rabbi Shmuel
In OA we always say, "fake it till you make it". If you do all of the steps required (the 12 steps) you will eventually become a different person, and you will see the promises of OA come true.
When you know that you want to become something but you don't know how to do it, you have to "act as if" you are already there. Actions will bring us to reality.
from a Shiur on Aish Audio
Leave Those Demons Behind # SW 916
by Schwartz, Rabbi Shmuel
In OA we always say, "fake it till you make it". If you do all of the steps required (the 12 steps) you will eventually become a different person, and you will see the promises of OA come true.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Vain have its builders toiled
If Hakodosh Boruch Hu will not build a house, then in vain have its builders toiled upon it; If Hashem will not preserve the city, in vain does the watchman keep vigil. It is in vain for you that you rise early, sit up late, who eat the bread of toil; but He will surely give sustenance to His loved ones. (Psalms 127)
To me, this portrays that it is not necessarily how hard we work, to normalize our weight or in any other endeavor. We need the component of Tefila, we need to beseech the Almighty for help, so that we may be blessed with His Grace and, thereby with success. There is no other way to success. No "vigils", nor "toils" ever worked for me.
Only when we realize we are completely powerless and add the component of turning to G-d, can we put food in perspective over the long term. When connected to Hashem, the idea of bingeing just falls away. Sanity sets in and we realize that food is a gift which has been granted us, a pleasant way to nourish our bodies and sustain energy so that we can focus on the really important things.
Three bad things that remove a person from this world.
R'Elazar HaKappar taught: There are three bad things that remove a person from this world: Jealousy, lust and honor. (Pirkei Avos 4:28)
Until I was able to humble myself and admit, both to myself and others, that I was a compulsive eater, I could not recover. My honor stood in the way. The conversations in my head were full of excuses. The fault was either in the particular day's circumstances and stresses, or the problem was non-existent, at all. I told myself that I was really capable of taking control, when the time would be right for me.
My lust for the substance of my addiction blinded me to the truth. And when I met a person who behaved appropriately around food, my abnormal logic caused me to think that she was unusual. Although I did not consider myself jealous, I'm sure that, in the recesses of my mind, I was guilty of this too.
Today I look back at the folly of my ways.
Until I was able to humble myself and admit, both to myself and others, that I was a compulsive eater, I could not recover. My honor stood in the way. The conversations in my head were full of excuses. The fault was either in the particular day's circumstances and stresses, or the problem was non-existent, at all. I told myself that I was really capable of taking control, when the time would be right for me.
My lust for the substance of my addiction blinded me to the truth. And when I met a person who behaved appropriately around food, my abnormal logic caused me to think that she was unusual. Although I did not consider myself jealous, I'm sure that, in the recesses of my mind, I was guilty of this too.
Today I look back at the folly of my ways.
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