"Strengthen yourself so you can stop lewd thoughts." --Rabbi M. M Lefin of Satanov, Cheshbon HaNefesh
People who are well-versed in this middah accept the appropriate responsibilities and seek to fulfill them and them alone. Those who are strong in this middah can also separate from the visual culture which seeks to overwhelm and draw us away from Hashem. If we draw close to those we are destined to draw close to, and separate ourselves from relationships that are forbidden, unhealthy or unsanctified, then we will receive what separation has for us as its due reward: holiness.
Meditation
Daily Questions
What were the "seeds" that started to erode your ability to maintain a heathy separation from those things that you should have distance from today?
What was your reaction in your moments of challenge?
If you were unable to maintain a separation from the things or people that cause you to stumble, is this a recurring struggle? What will you do differently tomorrow to prevent it? What fence will you erect to help you?
If you were on the verge of losing the battle with separation but won instead, what did you employ that worked?
Were you able to use prayer or meditation to help you through the circumstances?
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Quotables
And he called out to the people, saying to them,'Listen and understand! It is not what enters the mouth that makes the person tamei, but what comes out from the mouth—that makes the person tamei.' --Mashiach Yeshua, Matthew 15:10-11, DHE
Rabbi Samuel bar Nachman said in the name of Rabbi Yonatan: “Here the Yetzer seduces you, there the Yetzer betrays you.” --Talmud
Nittai the Arbelite said: Keep thee far from an evil neighbor and associate not with the wicked; and abandon not belief in retribution. --Avot 1:7
The greater a person is, the greater is the force of his temptation. --Talmud, Succah 52a
Hasten to do even the slightest mitzvah, and flee from all sin. Because one mitzvah will lead to another, and one sin will lead to another. --Avot 4:2
You have given Your people beginnings of new months, which are time of forgiveness for all their transgressions. – Rosh Chodesh Mussaf service
One who walks with the wise will grow wise, but the companion of fools will be broken. --Proverbs 13:20
Rabbi Eleazar ha-Kappar used to say: “Jealousy, lust, and ambition remove man from the world.” – Avot 4:28
Reflect upon three things and you will not come within the power of sin: Know what is above you --a seeing eye, a hearing ear, and all your deeds recorded in a book. --Avot 2:1
Don't quench the Spirit, don't despise inspired messages. But do test everything – hold onto what is good but keep away from every form of evil. --1 Thessalonians 5:19-22
What G-d wants is that you be holy, that you keep away from sexual immorality, that each of you know how to manage his sexual impulses in a holy and honorable manner, without giving in to lustful desires... --1 Thessalonians 4:3-5
Therefore, do not let sin rule in your mortal bodies, so that it makes you obey its desires; and do not offer any part of yourselves to sin as an instrument for wickedness. --Romans 6:13
I have always thought that cheshbon hanefesh, literally a reckoning with one’s own soul, was a practice most appropriate at the beginning of Elul, the month that precedes Rosh Hashanah.