Help overcoming self lust

[abc9]

I'm not sure how common this is, but how can we overcome self lust? Being obsessed with one's own body? I can't seem to overcome these thoughts - I can go a week or even a few, but then eventually slip. I'm starting to loose faith because of this - I try to pray constantly when tempted, but still give in. I am thinking that I've tried as hard as I can, maybe I just should stop trying because I've done what I can... I need advice.

[Dravin]

Do you mean masturbation? Or do you literally mean you feel lust for your own body in the same way someone might feel lust for the girl/guy over there?

[FunkyTown]

Self-lust? Lusting after your own body? I have to admit, that's a new one. If you're talking masturbation, that's different, but self-lust? I think you're making that up.

Although I have made jokes about how if I could clone myself, I'd totally 'Go gay'.

[Wingnut]

Do you mean masturbation? Or do you literally mean you feel lust for your own body in the same way someone might feel lust for the girl/guy over there?

Or by "obsessing" over your body, does the OP mean constant worry about physical appearance, the way someone with anorexia or bulimia might obsess?

[Dravin]

Or by "obsessing" over your body, does the OP mean constant worry about physical appearance, the way someone with anorexia or bulimia might obsess?

I dunno, the tone doesn't seem right for talking about vanity, and you usually hear things like eating disorders put in the context of being unhealthy rather than sinful.

I wager one admission I'm wrong that he OP was just trying to avoid using the word masturbation.

[Wingnut]

Masturbation seems the most likely, but in trying to be discreet, the OP has just been far too vague.

[abc9]

Do you mean masturbation?

Yes.

[Roseslipper]

Self-lust? Lusting after your own body? I have to admit, that's a new one. If you're talking masturbation, that's different, but self-lust? I think you're making that up.

Although I have made jokes about how if I could clone myself, I'd totally 'Go gay'.

lol funky....wheres the laugh button

[rameumptom]

Temptations will always be there. You have an addiction, just like with alcoholism. Once an addict, always an addict. However, many addicts do control their addictions for the rest of their lives.

First, the LDS Family Services in many areas has an Addiction Recovery Program, including one focused specifically on sexual addiction. Find the one nearest you and attend. Here's their link, with a PDF of their manual available:

Addiction Recovery Program

Second, You have to get to the point where you hate what you are doing more than you enjoy it. Anthony Robbins suggests that you envision your addiction, then feel yourself loath it until you feel the loathing intensely. Feel how it is destroying your life, your spirituality, your family, etc. Do this daily for just a moments, several times a day if needed. Mark it off on your calendar when you've accomplished it, so you keep it up. Every day, Alcoholics have to look in the mirror, admit their addiction, feel the loathing for it, then promise to follow the program. You have to do the same thing.

Next, select a series of options you can choose in place of the addiction. Exercise. Read scriptures. Watch a spiritual program or General Conference. Go see a spiritual and uplifting friend. Make a long list of options, so if one doesn't work, you automatically go to the next one on the list. By the time you have gone through a dozen options, you'll have lost the desire.

You now have some good tools to overcome it, or at least endure the temptation well for the rest of mortality. Go and make your plan on how to implement these in your life.

[Gwen]

please read this thread. http://www.lds.net/forums/advice-board/35004-i-need-opinions-advice.html

[Guest mormonmusic]

You need to apply techniques from cognitive-based therapy involving thought-control. There are a number of them which strangely, I learned from a weight-watchers pamphlet someone gave me when I taught the importance of controlling one's thoughts in a Sunday School lesson, and indicated I'd like to know more.

Here is one -- when you find yourself obsessing over something, visualize a time when you overcame the challenge. Reflect long, hard and deeply about the time you met the challenge successfully. Eventually, that state of mind will characterize the present, and you'll shuck the bad habit.

Another technique is reframing through visualization. Visualize yourself in a situation where you are tempted to do something lustful, then visualize yourself taking "evasive action" and doing something positive instead. Constantly engage in this kind of visualization and this will assist you in actually behaving that way when you face the temptation in reality.

There were five other techniques in the pamphlet that I can't quite remember. I may post them again if I find the pamphlet!

[Dravin]

Yes.

I recommend doing a forum search (use the advanced search feature not the quick feature, the quick search is broken) on the term 'masturbation'. It is a fairly common topic around here and you may be able to glean some useful advice that otherwise might not make it into your thread. Also people are different and so what works for one may not work for another, so keep that in mind when perusing the advice.