Daily Motivation !

A WORTH-WHILE POST IN A SEA OF POSTS

Not many of these around these days. I truly wish that others stop with one-sided advice like 'abstain', or 'stay away from'. Instead provide reason to and what to do. Tips and tricks go a long way. Also, consider the someone posting may not intend for your specific interpretation to occur. Those who struggle, especially after a relapse, tend to just want to express, even though it can be INTERPRETED as negative. Have compassion for these persons, as we do not know their situation, and we might be in their shoes one day.

 

REGAIN PURITY OF MIND

No-matter one's faith or views of PMO, its sheer nature easily draws one's mind and energy toward itself. This can make it very hard to think clearly about the things that really matter to you. Granted, some might consider that they are strong and able to endure PMO usage. And yet, according to a diversity of pornography usage studies, most do not seem able to resist. Is it worth entering into what one thinks to be a puddle only to wind up drowning in a sea of unwanted thoughts?

 

NO PMO IS A CHOICE YOU HAVE MADE

Even if for different reasons and for different durations, the removal of PMO (for those here, anyway) is a definitive choice that one has made. Can one not maintain goals amidst difficulty, darkness, and the strain of desire? What is a man if he cannot keep his word?

 

PMO IS A FALSE PROMISE (think of something like from the film The Matrix)

Though bad sexual behaviors can often be found in real time and space (e.g., sketchy clubs, bars, communities, &c.), the PMO I discuss in this post is that which is found online. This digital PMO is a lie; it is watching or looking at others that, in a certain sense, do not exist but rather are mere recordings and images. When one is tempted to this kind of PMO, I think it is good to try to stop and think about what one is doing (even though this is difficult to do in the moment). Do you really want to take sensual pleasure in that which is a copy and not the reality? The intimacy that is desired will not be satisfied by this unnatural kind of lust. We deserve the reality.

 

USE OF PMO GENERALLY LEADS TO SADNESS

We are creatures of habit. The use of PMO is most often an addiction, and is therefore a kind of (bad) habit. Because of this habitual nature, it is far easier to fall back into it. This said, for those who have entered into a cycle of PMO use, they can also call to mind the habitual after-effects of using PMO. Generally, one feels shame and disgust for a number of reasons. The body might have reactions as well. Many of us who relapse will carry a sadness, depression, despair, and/or loneliness for hours (or longer) after the brief pleasure has faded.

In short, before even beginning to use PMO, I advise asking one's self questions first. Today's self-reflection begs the participant to ask about the consequences of using PMO and to remember not only the brief pleasure (usually the only thing that is remembered) but also the terrible after effects that linger. Though this is a training through a negative motivator, even this can be employed to avoid PMO (because though man seeks pleasure, man also seeks to avoid pain).

 

YOU DO NOT NEED PMO

Some might claim that one needs PMO. This should be obviously false. One does not need many things in order to live. To add to the point, if one finds that one is making that claim ("I need PMO"), one is likely addicted to PMO. In any case, PMO is not necessary...and if you think it is necessary, there is all the more reason to stop.

 

CHASTITY IS A VIRTUE ACROSS DIVERSE CULTURES AND RELIGIONS

Chastity (to be vague: a form of discipline regarding a kind of sexual and sensual temperance--not to be confused with celibacy, which is absolute chastity, or rather, no sexual actions at all) has been long hailed by diverse cultures and religions. Perhaps you have a faith background that condemns the usage of PMO? Perhaps you are interested in the wisdom of other societies--especially those whose wisdom laid the foundation for our own society? Perhaps you are truly open-minded and wish to explore the reason why so many ancients across so many cultures acted as they did in regard to chastity?

All of the questions point to an idea: If you have a religion or a philosophy that you take seriously, and it condemns PMO, you might wish to end your PMO usage to avoid hypocrisy.

 

PMO IS A DISTRACTION FROM DEEPER THINGS

PMO surely involves pleasures and goods; otherwise, no one would even bother with it. Of course, these pleasures and goods are warped and disordered (or to put it in another way: not given over to their proper use). For many, PMO becomes a drug--not merely in the sense of its effects on the brain but even in its application. It is a dangerous self-medication with terrible side-effects.

To the point, PMO takes on an escapist logic and avoids deeper things. It avoids the growth and creativity that loneliness and boredom can bring. It avoids asking the questions as to why one is addicted to PMO and its related issues. It avoids the healing that self-knowledge and suffering carry. It avoids the depths and keeps man at the surface.

 

PMO IS A WASTE OF TIME / YOU HAVE ACTUAL FREE TIME!

PMO often wastes tons of time. On a particular fall for a Fapstronaut, one might be hesitant to commit to PMO. As such, one might make false promises and very slowly give in. One might enter P deciding not to enter into MO...and yet, after hours and hours of P, one is overcome by MO as well. At the end of it all, so much time was lost. If the depression of the situation is particularly bad, one might binge and simply consume more and more PMO and waste more and more time.

On the other side of the coin: if you have time for PMO, you have free time. Let your free time actually involve your free will! Enjoy an article or part of a book. Listen to music. Go for a walk. Fit in a quick workout (there are 10-20 minute workouts--even weightless at-home workouts...). Pray. There is so much that can be done!

 

ABSTAINING FROM PMO HAS BENEFITS

Abstaining from PMO has numerous benefits. Some are physical. Some are emotional. Some are deeply psychological. Some claim to gain "super powers."

While some of the benefits reported are likely unfounded ("bro-science"), a lot more of the benefits seem to be proven on some level. Read some of the accounts on this site. So many claim to have gained similar benefits from their own no PMO plan. Though even these reports are not from some scientific journal with stacks of peer reviews (aside: some of which are dubious, anyway), personal stories do bear weight in and of themselves--especially when many personal stories report the same thing over and over again.

Besides this, even the unlikely "super powers" have potential to give the Fapstronaut benefits. The placebo effect is real---who knows if it has its place even here?

In short: avoiding PMO can give you a multiplicity of benefits. Why not try at least a 90 day period out and see for yourself?

 

LEAD BY EXAMPLE

Do you have aspirations to date, marry, teach, assume a high office, or even take on a religious/spiritual vocation? All of these duties absolutely require self-mastery and generally no PMO.

In marriages and dating relationships, PMO is destructive and contrary to vows, human dignity, love, &c. If a man has children, the man should be able to follow the moral law he himself places upon his children.
In teaching, high offices, and religious/spiritual positions, the same thing applies. To have true authority and influence in any station of life, one must lead by example. A leader who fails to follow his own rules of life is a failure, and his subjects usually know this amongst themselves.

I recall that one of my friends (now an officer at West Point with high rank in class, &c.) gave up masturbation as a youth because the officer manual he was reading said simply that officers do not do this sort of thing (I am sure it said more than that). Even the military sees the value of self-control in its highest ranking officers.

In short, if you ever aspire to any sort of authority--even simple, household authority--you owe it to yourself to end the vicious PMO cycle. Lead by example.

 

PMO IS A "GATEWAY DRUG"

As NoFappers tend to say, PMO once started with simple things and lead to places that they never had expected to go. PMO always asks for more; it leads to a dependence which seeks ever greater satisfaction via novelty. And so, PMO re-wires the brain to seek the abnormal. PMO is a kind of gateway drug to more and more deviant, illicit actions. Some items that once seemed unsavory then become a part of an out of control addiction.

PMO is a road that leads down many worse roads. My advice to you is to never even begin to start down this road at all.