How does one purify his own horrible mind?

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theCardinalbird

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My mind has been abused with pornography and inappropriate conversations for a while. Now I want to change that (because I am taking my faith seriously), but the thoughts are hard to get rid of and are hard to avoid. My mind almost always drifts into lusting, and it just gets annoying.

Any suggestions on how I can purify my mind?
 
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Pray Psalm 51 http://www.usccb.org/bible/psalms/51

Meditate every day on Philippians chapter 4:

Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!

Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near.

Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.

Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
 
No quick fix.
Wake up, dedicate your day to Christ and try your hardest. When you feel tempted, pray a Hail Mary.
The devil flees at her name.
I will pray for you
 
Mental prayer and meditations are good methods of prayer. Devotion to Mary and Saint Joseph are good methods to preserve purity as well as devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. Mortifications such as fasting are important and effacious ways to overcome self-love and the inclinations to sin.
 
I would say start by seeking guidance from a trusted Priest, go to confession…and mean it…go and partake in the sacraments…go to mass as often as possible, go to confession as often as you need or can…understand to detest your sin and run like crazy from everything, every place and every person that reminds you and tempts you.
Learn how to submit your will to God, learn to fight spiritual warfare with the tools He has given you…Pray, pray pray…Pray to Michael…pray to your guardian angel, to Christ and the Holy Spirit…Get yourself right to partake in communion…seek help from Mary…Love God, hate sin. Find people that support and love you and develop those healthy relationships…

He is faithful and promises to help you…

Just my .02

M
 
Find edifying reading material that really interests you and bathe your mind in it.
 
Get back out into nature also,there is simplicity and innocence out there in all God’s beautiful gifts.Do the things you enjoyed when you were younger.Camping and hiking,sport,gardening,photography.Being outdoors and enjoying the little sweet things in life.
 
The more you try to resist thoughts, the more they will haunt you. Just let them pass and move on to other things. After a while they will come less and less frequently and have diminished power. The worst thing you can do is try to prevent them. For example, if i say “do not ever think of the color yellow”, what will be the first thing you think of? If you are like me, yellow will pop into your head. So let the thoughts roll off like water on a duck’s back and busy yourself with productive things, without giving the thoughts power over you. Trying to resist thinking about something means you are thinking about certain thoughts in order to resist them. So just accept that these thoughts are outside your control and move on. We all have intrusive thoughts. It is when you get worked up about them that they gain power over you.
 
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It’s a fact: the more you try to not think of something, the more you will think of it.

You could try this: reserve a time each day to focus on it for 15 minutes. During that 15 minutes you’re not allowed to think about anything else. After a week, reduce the time to 10 minutes. And so forth. It’s a proven method of combatting intrusive thoughts.

Yes, it’s porn, yes that’s sinful but set that aside because you need practical help. Lord help me, but prayer and good intentions aren’t going to get you out of it.
 
I have had trouble with intrusive thoughts on an unrelated eh next, and I started to treat them.like temptations and pray the Our Father, Hail Mary, and the prayer to St Michael the Archangel over and over until they went away. They would come back; I would pray again. They would change and when I recognized them, i would pray again. I still have to do this at times.

The most important thing, tho, is that no matter how much those thoughts fly around you, you do not sin unless you agree to them. If as soon as you realize what is happening you back away from them, then you have not agreed. At that point, start praying again!

These thoughts are a cross, and I find that I need to accept them as a cross but fight them as a temptation. However, I know I need help, so the way I fight them is by praying
 
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Thoughts become words become actions. choose the good ones. I’ve read that if you wish to combat the 7 deadly sins the best way to cultivate the opposite of whichever sin you are dealing with. I believe humility is the opposite of pride. Maybe the opposite of lust is purity? Anyway work on the virtue that is opposite of a particular sin. I also like the idea of getting outside and back to nature. Nothing purer than that. 🙂
 
It’s the job of the Holy Spirit, we have to ask Him to and cooperate with Him, at least not work against Him.
 
It’s a slow process, my friend, and we should never suffocate ourselves with guilt. In one way or another we are all in the same boat; temptations are never ending. St. Augustine wrote about this, saying; “Lord, how much more will this go on? Will you be forever angry, Lord, and never cease? Pay no further heed, I beg, to my entrenched vices. I felt still in the grip of these vices and blubbered pitiably. How long, how long- on the morrow is it, always tomorrow? Why never now, why does this very hour not end all my vileness?”

God is looking for a contrite heart, not perfect behaviour, which is impossible within these human vessels. The strength is in the struggle. Ultimately the struggle is good for us. Never give up, but don’t drown yourself with guilt. 🙂
 
Don’t get frustrated. In a certain sense you have to not care. I don’t mean that the bad thoughts aren’t bad. I mean you have to not get worked up over them. To be clear what I mean here is that they enter your mind. I don’t mean that you entertain them. However, you probably do have a habit of allowing impure thoughts to be entertained. So you have to have a bit of the not caring attitude towards your habit of entertaining them.

Not caring doesn’t mean allowing an impure free for all when thoughts enter your mind. Rather it means observing what is going on. That is you notice you’ve slipped into the habit. You recognize it isn’t what you want but you have some compassion for yourself that you have this habit. What I am trying to express, no doubt poorly, is that a habit of impure thoughts is like quicksand. The more you struggle with it the deeper you sink and get stuck. You have to be able to mentally bend so that you don’t break. Trying hard to resist them will most likely only make you frustrated and want to give up.
 
exnihilo said:
Don’t get frustrated. In a certain sense you have to not care. I don’t mean that the bad thoughts aren’t bad. I mean you have to not get worked up over them. To be clear what I mean here is that they enter your mind. I don’t mean that you entertain them. However, you probably do have a habit of allowing impure thoughts to be entertained. So you have to have a bit of the not caring attitude towards your habit of entertaining them.

Not caring doesn’t mean allowing an impure free for all when thoughts enter your mind. Rather it means observing what is going on. That is you notice you’ve slipped into the habit. You recognize it isn’t what you want but you have some compassion for yourself that you have this habit. What I am trying to express, no doubt poorly, is that a habit of impure thoughts is like quicksand. The more you struggle with it the deeper you sink and get stuck. You have to be able to mentally bend so that you don’t break. Trying hard to resist them will most likely only make you frustrated and want to give up.
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This is absolutely brilliant advice.
 
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