How do I stop looking at porn?

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Pray every day. It works. For some, rather quickly, for others, a longer time.

One thing I’ve learned is boredom and opportunity are triggers. Anxiety can be too.

Pray daily. Know that God loves you even if you have this feeling He doesn’t. Pray to Mary for her intercession. Pray to see other people as people, not just parts. For guys: Pray to look at women with respect at all times. Yes, you might turn your head sometimes. But be aware of respect. There is a line.

God bless,
Ed
 
Great advice here.
What helped me, is realizing that there is only a thin veil between heaven and earth.
Like a one-way mirror. “A cloud of witnesses . . .”
All the saints and angels can see us, all the time. Would you watch porn in front of Our Lord and his mother?
That was enough to stop me. It’s a little embarrassing when you’re in the bathroom or shower, but the saints are human too, so that’s not so bad. But porn and its offshoots, are something we choose, and I don’t want Our Lady watching me do that. Got enough embarrassing stuff I’ll have to account for in heaven, I don’t want to add to it.

.
 
akiharu said:
So this is a bit embarrassing to write, but I’ve been trying for years now. No matter what I do I always end up looking at porn or masturbating again. Sometimes I manage to not do it for 1-2 months, but it always happens again. I always think that this time I’ll manage to resist and I always go to confession as soon as possible after it, but as I said, I always do it again, it’s like I can’t help it and I always regret it immensly immediately afterwards. Usually after confession I have at least 1 week where I don’t feel tempted to do it, but then the temptation always returns and even if I manage to resist it at the moment I eventually fall for it.

Is it a mortal sin? Does anyone have any tips on how I can stop? I’d of course be happy for prayers
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I’m not sure if anyone mentioned this yet, but there’s an excellent group here at CAF titled, “Impurity Addiction Support Group,” that you might wish to join if you haven’t already. Lots of other very good advice above in this thread as well. Keep up the good fight, and God bless you always. The Saints in Heaven are cheering you on to success!
 
This probably isn’t the most helpful post, but I find that porn is a non issue if one has a woman 🙂
 
Burt_Macklin said:
I disagree. It’s better to have a porn habit under control before seeking out a relationship.
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I don’t play pretend when I have the real thing o.O but everyone is different.

Also if dating right, and staying chaste. It is still easier to not watch when you have a chaste woman cuddling you. Or that could get awkward lol…
 
Watch Matt Frad (think that is his name!)'s speech on 10 myths of porn on YouTube. At the end of the speech, he gives you practical tips. (I believe he recommended a programme you can do online for free?) his other talks mentioned an app too.

Try watching the whole thing. He’s really funny and smart and I feel like it will help make you stronger!
 
Porn used to be a problem for me before I converted. Regular confession has almost cured me (have only fallen once or twice). Other sins of impurity are still a problem, but even those I am doing less. So regular confession (weekly) and try to end each day with saying some sort of penitential act.
 
LethalMouse said:
I don’t play pretend when I have the real thing o.O but everyone is different.

Also if dating right, and staying chaste. It is still easier to not watch when you have a chaste woman cuddling you. Or that could get awkward lol…
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I may not speak for everyone, but there’s something that makes me incredibly uncomfortable when women (or any person, really) are discussed as a means to solve or cure some problem in another person. IMO it’s not in keeping with recognizing our human dignity.
 
pensmama87 said:
I may not speak for everyone, but there’s something that makes me incredibly uncomfortable when women (or any person, really) are discussed as a means to solve or cure some problem in another person. IMO it’s not in keeping with recognizing our human dignity.
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I agree, you are the one supposing that they are being used for said end. Side affects don’t allude to purpose. Having a wife has purpose, not needing porn would be a side affect.
 
peter26 said:
Porn used to be a problem for me before I converted. Regular confession has almost cured me (have only fallen once or twice).
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This, almost exactly. Although you will still need time and effort to hold them at bay, porn and the accompanying ‘behavior’ are NOT something you look forward to confessing…

especially more than once…

and especially to the same priest.
 
akiharu said:
So this is a bit embarrassing to write, but I’ve been trying for years now. No matter what I do I always end up looking at porn or masturbating again. Sometimes I manage to not do it for 1-2 months, but it always happens again. I always think that this time I’ll manage to resist and I always go to confession as soon as possible after it, but as I said, I always do it again, it’s like I can’t help it and I always regret it immensly immediately afterwards. Usually after confession I have at least 1 week where I don’t feel tempted to do it, but then the temptation always returns and even if I manage to resist it at the moment I eventually fall for it.

Is it a mortal sin? Does anyone have any tips on how I can stop? I’d of course be happy for prayers
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Hi!

Your problem is very familiar to me because I was stuck in it for years until one day when I wholeheartedly repented of all my sexual addictions and decided to loyally follow Jesus Christ and his teachings forever.

The only way for you to get to the point where you’ll be able to abandon the bad habits of watching porn and masturbating is to develop a live, interactive everyday relationship with Jesus.

There were only 2 things that helped me develop my own live, interactive daily relationship with Jesus and that can also help you do the same:
  1. After being stuck in my sexual addictions as well as being absent from the church for over 15 years, I finally returned to God by attending a Mass and got to listen to the following Gospel (Matthew 7:21, 24-27), that’s the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders (also known as the House on the Rock):
*Follow Jesus’ teaching, like a wise man who built his house on rock.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. . .

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell — and great was its fall!”*

As I was carefully listening to this parable, I was almost shivering with fear, and tears, one by one, started slowly dropping down my cheeks.

I could feel my entire soul hurt and slowly heal as I was sincerely repenting of all my sins piled up over the years.

Jesus’ words in this Gospel renewed my fear of God because I could immediately recognize myself as that foolish builder and knew that if I didn’t decide to change and be the wise man, I could easily have God furiously punish me forever.

This was the day when I not only gave up the evil and the foolishness of all my sexual compulsive behaviors around meeting women but also I firmly decided to follow Jesus’ teaching for the rest of my life.

Hence until you’re able to identify yourself with the character of the foolish builder while indulging in porn and masturbation and decide to wholeheartedly repent of all your sins, you won’t be able to completely abandon your current sexual addictions.
  1. Once you take step 1., I suggest that you take some time and efforts to identify your top passion in life and then fully commit to fulfilling it.
The reason I suggest that you do so is because dedicating yourself to fulfilling your top passion will most likely motivate you to enter such a strong, live, interactive daily relationship with Jesus where you’ll be constantly praying for not only all His blessings but also His overall leadership throughout your journey to achieving your dream life.

God bless you!

Bruno
 
So this is a bit embarrassing to write, but I’ve been trying for years now. No matter what I do I always end up looking at porn or masturbating again. Sometimes I manage to not do it for 1-2 months, but it always happens again. I always think that this time I’ll manage to resist and I always go to confession as soon as possible after it, but as I said, I always do it again, it’s like I can’t help it and I always regret it immensly immediately afterwards. Usually after confession I have at least 1 week where I don’t feel tempted to do it, but then the temptation always returns and even if I manage to resist it at the moment I eventually fall for it.
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Is it a mortal sin? Does anyone have any tips on how I can stop? I’d of course be happy for prayers
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A suggestion for you could be to maybe get rid of your computer altogether, but since you might need it I would suggest you put up somekind block or firewall so thatway you dont have access.

It would only be a mortal sin if you knew what you were doing was wrong, it was of grave matter, and you had full consent iff all three of these conditions are met then yes it is however it seems like since you were asking you were ignorant to some extent so that might reduce your culpability.
 
akiharu said:
So this is a bit embarrassing to write, but I’ve been trying for years now. No matter what I do I always end up looking at porn or masturbating again. Sometimes I manage to not do it for 1-2 months, but it always happens again. I always think that this time I’ll manage to resist and I always go to confession as soon as possible after it, but as I said, I always do it again, it’s like I can’t help it and I always regret it immensly immediately afterwards. Usually after confession I have at least 1 week where I don’t feel tempted to do it, but then the temptation always returns and even if I manage to resist it at the moment I eventually fall for it.

Is it a mortal sin? Does anyone have any tips on how I can stop? I’d of course be happy for prayers
Click to expand...
Pray. Understand why porn is wrong. Realize that the things which make porn wrong are not something you can ignore, it’s not a distant theoretical potential something, it’s very real exploitation, issues with self esteem or moral downfall. If you wouldn’t like your daughter to participate, then you shouldn’t bear to look at the thing, yourself, either. You need to see it for what it is, not for what you may be missing in your life.

If you have your own problems with self-esteem, intimacy, emotional fulfilment — you should seek help for them, as they may be what’s making it so hard for you to resist the temptation.
 
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