The path to teshuvah is accomplished with small steps. A few small steps in the right direction are so meaningful.
Reb Aryeh Levine zt'l would visit the Yidden of Yerushalayim who were in jail. When one prisoner was freed, someone asked him whether he planned to steal again. He replied that he wouldn’t turn to crime again. And then he said, "Maybe I will steal once more. Reb Aryeh Levine doesn't have a watch, and I want to get him one. If I can't obtain it legally, I will steal a watch for him. But after that, I won't steal again."
The man asked Reb Aryeh Levine, "What type of students do you have? I just spoke to one of them, and he said he would steal to get you a watch." Reb Aryeh Levine replied, "I don’t give them mussar, and I don't tell them not to steal. I teach them one thing: they must be cautious to speak the truth. And as you saw, this person was very truthful. He admitted that he would steal once more. When someone is careful never to lie, he won't steal. He knows that if he is asked whether he stole, he will have to admit the truth, so with this one precaution, he will be protected from theft and all other aveiros.
Once, a man was smoking a cigarette on the street on Shabbos, and Reb Aryeh Levine was approaching from the other side. One of Reb Aryeh Levine's post-jail friends went over to hear what Reb Aryeh Levine would tell the smoker. Reb Aryeh said, "I won't tell you to stop smoking because you know on your own that it is Shabbos, and you are smoking, regardless. But I will tell you that you shouldn't extinguish the cigarette when you finish smoking it. Let the coal extinguish on its own. That way, you will have one aveirah less on Shabbos."
A couple of weeks later, this smoker said, "Now, not only do I not smoke on Shabbos, but I also don’t smoke during the weekdays."
