When you get the urge, try to distract yourself. It's a cliche but it works. I've been getting into a book on Providence and it's keeping my mind active
Maybe consider shifting your focus to simply avoiding P at first. That is the poison that keeps lust aflame within us. MO can occur without lust in the heart and mind (although I don't recommend it as a long-term solution). In my own recovery, I had to take it in small steps. Ridding my mind of P was one of the biggest and most difficult.
I woke up this morning with morning wood. This is always a vulnerable moment to M, but I resisted. I have been working through this for years. I am not a big P person, I just use it to get through the release and and then its done. I used to have a powerful imagination with fantasy about any women I would see tha has been worked through over the years and there are few women now who stimulate fantasy in me. You seem quite knowledgeable in this and I am curious about something since I do not believe that it fits the model of an addiction in my life. It is a bodily need that comes and goes, but I feel guilty about it, I feel it puts me in a difficult position with the church, and I think that it is maybe stealing energy that could be used to accomplish other things in life. Maybe this does make it an addiction, since I continue even though there are these issue. What I mean is that I do find satisfaction and I do not always need a bigger and better "hit" as others talk about. I respond to my body, but do not chase after the lust. I chase after Jesus and talk to him all the time. This is my focus. Anyway, I have been going back and forth on this all of my life. I remember being a teenager and trying to not MO, but the longer I waited the more intense it was when I did it and so the reinforcement of giving in is a powerful force in my life. I was looking for more information online and I found this website, so I decided to see if I can work through this here. Thanks for listening and offering feedback.
I know many men, mostly single, who have decided that MO is acceptable for them, as long as P and lust play no part in the process. They are at peace in their spirits with this decision. Who am I to argue against how the Spirit has led them? For me, as a married man, I have decided that this practice is not helpful. In my case, MO always leads to lust and chasing P again. I want no part of that. But I do not make any rule about this for others. I think life is better without MO, but I cannot speak to the experience of unmarried men. Perhaps there are others in this circumstance who can share their perspectives with you. Whatever we do it, may we do it to God's glory!
