Sincerely Happy

“Everything that happens to us in life is a precision Divinely-originated stimulus intended to facilitate our tikkun – our soul correction – and mission in life.  Realizing that Hashem is doing everything for our ultimate benefit – whether we understand how or not – enables us to be sincerely happy with our lot in life.” ~ The Garden of Peace, R’ Shalom Arush

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Matching Worlds

Depression, anxiety and pessimism damage the channels of blessing from Above.

The Zohar explains that there is a lower world—our world—and there is a higher world. Our world is meant to continuously receive from that higher world, but always according to our personal state of mind.

If we are glowing with joy and vitality, then that world shines upon us in its full glory.

But if it we wallow in depression and anxiety, then we can receive only the metered trickle that squeezes through a constricted channel.

That is why King David said, “Serve G‑d with joy!” Because your joy here draws upon you another joy from above. ~ R’ Tzvi Freeman

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Cast Your Burden Upon Hashem

“It is written, “Cast your burden upon God, and He will sustain you” (Psalms 55:23)

If a human being has a patron and goes to him once, he is received.  The second time he is also received, but the third time, he is refused an audience.  By the fourth time, no attention is paid to him at all.

This is not true by God.  No matter how many times you bother Him, He receives you.” ~ Midrash Tehillim 55:6 as quote by R’ Aryeh Kaplan zt”l in A Call to the Infinite

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A Lesson from Fish

“If one opens up a large fish, he will usually find a smaller fish inside.  However, the tail of the small fish is never facing in the same direction as the tail of the large fish.  On the contrary, the head of the small fish is always facing the tail of the large fish.  This indicates that the large fish did not make the effort to catch the small fish; the small fish swam right into the large fish.  So too, a person need not spend all his effort trying to earn a living; Hashem will make sure that his living will come right to him!” ~ R’ Meir Yechiel of Ostrovtze zt”l from Torah Tavlin

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One of No Means

An advantage of trust in God, in respect to religious life, is that he who trusts in God, if he has means, will hasten to meet his monetary obligations to God and to man with a willing soul and generous spirit. If he has no means, he will regard his lack of money as one of God’s favors toward him, for he is free of the obligations to God and to man which money imposes, and he is spared the aggravation that is involved in maintaining it and managing it, as is to told of one of the pious, who used to say: “May God save me from distraction of the soul.” He was asked “What is distraction of the soul?”  He answered “Owning property in every port and every city.”  This is as [our Sages], of Blessed memory, said: The more possessions, the more worry.” (Avos 2:7);  “Who is wealthy? He who rejoices is in his portion.” (Avos 4:1). ~ Chovos Halevovos

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Each and Every Action

We must know that every action in the service of Hashem stands alone, it is the goal.  If we learn a minute’s worth of Torah, the world was created for that minute.  We daven and bolster ourselves with proper intent for a bit, Hashem created the world for that.  Hashem did not create the world for us to eat, drink and enjoy.  That is not the purpose.  The purpose is to fulfill the will of Hashem, even with little things.  One of the great tzaddikim said, “it was worthwhile for Hashem to create all of the worlds for one Jew to one time say, ‘Baruch Hu Uvaruch Shemo’ – ‘blessed is He [Hashem] and blessed is His name.’  ~ Rav Menachem Azolai as translated by Dov Elias

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Anxiety

Working for a living is good. It’s the anxiety over making a living that is not good.

Don’t let your inner self get involved in your business. That inner self must be preserved for fulfilling your purpose in life. Making lots of money is not your purpose in life. ~ R’ Tzvi Freeman

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Hashem is here, Hashem is there…

“Some people like to think that Hashem is truly everywhere.  But in reality, Hashem is where you let him in.”  ~ The Kotzker Rebbe (Torah Tavlin)

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Where am I?

“A person cannot begin to attain a goal if he doesn’t know where he currently is. How can you look at a map and reach Chicago if you don’t know whether you’re in New York or Denver? What direction do you go, east or west? We must therefore know where we are in order to know where we are going.

Did we create ourselves? Who created us and for what purpose? Such basic questions enable us to know where we are. Most people never ask themselves such questions and are therefore utterly lost. How can we possibly know what path to pursue if we don’t know what we’re doing here on earth?” ~ The Garden of Peace by R’ Shalom Arush

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Quality over Quantity

“Chazal explains that one will be asked [after life in this world], ‘did you establish set times for Torah study?’ He will not be asked, ‘How much Torah did you study?,’ because better is the deliberate study of five chapters with pleasantness than ten [chapters] with pressure…” ~ Mekor Chaim

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