Strict Practices

Besides simplicity and purity, you should understand that there is no need to search for specially strict practices to take upon yourself. To think that you should is an illusion: it is simply one of the devices of the Evil One to deter you from serving G-d. Such practices are not part of serving G-d. As our Sages said: `The Torah was not given to the ministering angels' (Kiddushin
54a). It was given to men of flesh and blood. These exaggerated practices can put you off completely. The greatest wisdom of all is not to be wise at all. It is simply to be pure and straightforward.

(Rebbe Nachman of Breslov)