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JudaismTeleconference on the Six Constant MitzvahsGiven by Rebbetzin Tziporah HarrisRebbetzin Tziporah Harris gives a 5 week class on the Six Constant Mitzvahs. It is free to those participating in Ahavas Yisroel Chaburas. Click here for class 1
Six Constant Mitzvahs Class 1 May 19 2009
Overview: Goal: to be able to teach this material and insights to others; to give you a taste of the 6 Fundamental Principles which can lead to greater inner peace and has the power to create breakthroughs in relationships. These Principles are based on Jewish Sources, but it applies to and is accessible to all because they are universal principles of how the world works. If a person knows how to look at the universe they will be able to detect G-d’s principles that are wired into reality. Introduction: The material to be learned is meant for the soul, and should be contemplated upon when you are calm in order to enable insights to just come to you. Although the material may or may not be new, there is a tremendous benefit in giving your soul a chance to hear something again and again, we want the principles of consciousness to go deep into our being. Distinction between Insight and Break-though: An insight: a moment of clarity, when you hear or see something that you haven’t seen before. A Break-through: when you take an insight and work on internalizing it, consistently over time which can lead to a shift in the way you relate to life, people, or self; your patterns of thoughts or speech change in some way. Only possible if an insight is internalized with persistent effort over time. The insights in this course have the potential to be transformed into break-throughs over time. Therefore, take a concept that “hits” you in this class, write it down, and contemplate it everyday for about a minute, and ask G-d to help you internalize it. It is important to remember that our minds can wander into places that are unproductive and dangerous for us and our job is to bring back our mind and anchor it; if you are anchored in even one of these principles, you will not fall. 6 Constant Mitzvot or 6 Principles of Jewish Consciousness: (we are going over them not in order) #6 Do not get distracted by the perceptions of your eyes and the desires of your heart. How you perceive an event has an effect on your inner peace and your relationships with others and even your ability to function and make decisions. Letting yourself get pulled by the perceptions of your “eyes”; the personal voice that you hear when things happen is a perspective that you were born with and is wired into your spiritual DNA. Exercise: (to determine what perceptions of eyes and desires of heart are) 1. Question 1: Think about a goal that you really want but didn’t yet reach. Now, what do you tell yourself to explain that? 2. Question 2: If you do something wrong, what do you hear in your head? 3. Question 3: If someone wrongs you (personally), what do you hear in your head? 4. Question 4: What if you experienced a very negative life circumstance, what do you hear in your head? There are generally 3 possible ways in which people answer these questions; 1. There is something wrong me; 2. There is something wrong with someone else; 3. There is something wrong with life, reality, or the way the world works (ie. “life is not fair”) The way we explain things to ourselves, our “knee-jerk” perceptions are wired into our DNA. The things we hear in our head have more to do with us and the way we perceive reality than reality itself. Our day to day lives are filled with situations that are potentially negative. As soon as you become aware of a negative perception of reality, to the degree you understand that it is just your minds producing these thoughts, that it is not necessarily the only way to see reality, even if you feel the negativity very strongly, you can stop yourself from reacting to those situations in the same manner as you would normally You can be calmer and this can have a profound impact on your life and your interactions with the people around you. Application of this principle: anytime you experience negative and unproductive thoughts or emotions (which generally come from thoughts); know that these are just thoughts from your “wiring” or your lower self. It is not reality, merely your perception of it. Once you experience negative thoughts, you can stop, hold yourself, and tell yourself that this may not be the reality, only my perception of it. Furthermore, by using the other fundamental principals you can more closely tell what the reality is or is not. The goal is to avoid rash actions and decisions, by giving you a chance to stop and assess. By not immediately reacting, you can reach a place where in a negative event, you will stay calm and it will not negatively affect the way you interact with people. Task: 1)Teach or discuss this principle with 1 other person. (make sure to give stories or examples) 2) Reflect on your inner negative voice and how it expresses itself in your life. 3) Reflect on an insight you have had with regards to this material.
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Review: Do not be mislead by the perceptions of your eyes or the desires of your heart Our lower self is wired to produce perceptions to stop us in life and an amazing gift is to know that no matter how real it feels, it is not, it is a just a thought. Just recognize that they are there and continue on the path you were going. We live in a society that focuses on what is wrong; this principle can liberate us from negativity (by pausing and thinking once you hear the negative voices) and help us transcend it (by choosing even in the face of such voices). As soon as you hear your negative voice, just pause and consider the possibility that it is not true and just the lower voice stopping you from pursuing something worthwhile and/or fulfilling your potential. Class 2: Focusing on 3 additional principles Introduction: We are created and wired to receive insights from a higher place; when you are given an opportunity and you have a voice trying to stop you, your goal is to get to a place of calmness and clarity, whereby you will know if the voice you are hearing is your higher self or lower self, thereby knowing what the right path is. We are going to discuss the next three principles together because they are overlapping and focus on faith and trust. The more these principles are internalized; it can bring us to a place where we are not thrown off by external circumstances or other issues in life. 3 Principles: Know there is a G-d: Understand deeply that there is a creator of the entire universe, a higher intelligence that sustains and supervises every detail in the universe from the beginning of history to today. That this infinite being is all powerful (can do anything), all knowing (is aware of the smallest details including feelings and thoughts), and all loving (everything He does is for the good). *This principle is the first of the 10 Commandments* There is no other power: Nothing has power over my life other than G-d interacting with my free will choices. There is no other person in the entire world that has power over my wellbeing, even though people have free will and people’s behavior affect me, ultimately everything is interacting within what G-d allows for and is a direct response from my personal choices. Example: The way I judge other people, that is the way I will be judged. If I am compassionate with others, G-d will be compassionate with me and will not allow certain harshness to come my way. Exceptions to this rule: Lashon Hara: If I speak or believe negative reports about other Jews, Jewish groups, or the land of Israel, then I allow negative judgment to come to me. Evil Eye: we are recipients of tremendous blessings that we do not deserve; when a person causes someone else to feel lacking they open themselves up to have certain blessings taken away. Exercise: If I just ___________, then I would have the life I want. What is your “just” that is playing in the background? This is your lower voice producing a condition that is limiting you from having the life you want. This principle says, any wellbeing is not dependant on life’s circumstances or another person or even my performance. Everything I want and need in my life comes from G-d and I do not need anything else to have the experience I want. I can have _________ regardless of my circumstances. Recognize that nothing can hold you back from what you want; G-d has infinite ways of making things happen. G-d is One: Everything that happens in my life (blessings, ordeals, pleasure, pain, success and failure) comes from G-d, (an infinite being who is all knowing, all loving, and has infinite wisdom) for ultimately one purpose – the fulfillment of G-d’s loving vision for me and the world; and anything that may happen is for a reason and ultimately for a benefit. Example: When things go wrong, being able to say “I get it, it’s not me, it’s You, G-d, and this is for the best”. A response such as this enables inner peace, even though you are not happy about the results. Recognizing that there is an all knowing power that is the only source that can truly affect you in terms of your wellbeing and your purpose. G-d has your best interest in mind, even if you do not understand it. Conclusion: Clarity is one of the greatest gifts in life, and having deep clarity over the fundamental principles of life can lead to inner peace, harmony in relationships. The holiday of Shavuot, is the time to receive the blessing of clarity. Tasks: Take any of these topics and discuss/ teach to another person.
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Review: Listen to these ideas with mind and soul, we want to be open to insights that will come, and these principles are foundational ideas that have been around for over 3000 years and contributed to the survival of our people through our difficult history; they have a lot of power. Do not get distracted by the perception of your eyes and desires of your heart: We are wired to have a negative voice inside of us that can feel so real and affect our choices and decisions when it shouldn’t. This principle is there to show us and remind us to not get hooked into it or distracted by it. Anytime we experience an emotion that pulls us down or is an emotion that is negative to ourselves or others and is unproductive, you can rest assured that this is something you shouldn’t be distracted by. What you should you do is pause, and consider that these thoughts and feelings as real as they may seem, are in fact illusions- not reality. Therefore, you should not base your decisions of how to relate to yourself, others or life on them. Know there is a G-d: a Higher intelligence, a Creator that is the cause of everything in our lives: There are two exceptions to this: Ein hara (causing others to feel a lacking) and Lashon Hara (express or believe negative judgments about another Jew). Otherwise, there is a source to life’s circumstances, and the Infinite source of everything is all powerful. We believe there is an Infinite Creator who can cause anything to happen. There is no other power: there is no person, circumstances, a failing on our part, or outside power that can impact our wellbeing other than our choices and G-d’s supervision. If you internalize this deeply you will not get angry at yourself or another person again (an unproductive anger). Ideally you can get to a place where you recognize that everything that happens is from a creator who is infinitely wise and knows what is good for me. G-d is one: everything that happens is for my ultimate benefit for my Personal Training and Development (or PDO: Personal Development Opportunity). If anything goes wrong, when someone disappoints you, when you experience a personal mistake, or when there is a potential for negativity, with persistent review you can reach a place where you consider the wrong as an opportunity. Generally when wronged there is a “knee jerk” reaction, and what this principle can do is allow you time to pause and reconsider your natural reactions that you might later regret. Examples: What to do when someone causes you pain? Examples include: A person whose father left her when she was very young; or someone whose relative caused them to lose a tremendous amount of money. In these cases there is clearly tremendous pain and to tell such a person to not feel negatively is not productive because it is a hard level to get to. However, there are insights we can review so that over time they sink deeper and deeper into our consciousness and reach a level where there is less and less of a reaction. *Everything that happens is for my ultimate development and for my unique contribution; be open to the fact that the circumstances that are happening in your life right now are just what you need. A man was told by G-d to push a certain rock and he pushed and pushed and nothing happened. He turned to G-d and said, “you asked me to push this rock, but nothing is happening, I feel like I am failing, what am I supposed to do?” and G-d responds, “I told you to push the rock, not move it. See how strong you have become, I asked you to push to make you into a stronger human being.” *If we can consider the possibility that things happen for a reason we may not be aware of at the time, but know it is for our benefit, we would be very different in the face of that challenge. Need a consciousness that the struggles are an opportunity to grow and stretch into a better human being. Also know that you will not be a given a test that you cannot handle. The messenger who brought about negativity/ pain: there will be consequences to their actions, because they have free-will. There is no requirement to love them, however the person who has negative thoughts about another suffers more than a person who can meditate on the fact that the person who hurt you was just a messenger, ultimately it comes from G-d for our growth, for our eternal benefit. Imagine: There is a person who at work received a phone call from her client who wanted her to do something that she just couldn’t do. The person was so upset and began speaking in a way that was extremely hurtful, calling names and making the worker feel incompetent, they wanted to get her fired. She didn’t raise her voice and let them call the manger. She was very happy that she didn’t lose her temper (although she was still visible angry from the experience). Later she was asked “if you received a memo on your computer 5 min before that call saying that your performance at work was going to be reviewed and as such you were going to get a very angry call and see how you react to the call so that we can show the boss that you can handle difficult situations in order to get a promotion. If you got such an email, how would you react to that phone call?” Chances are that she would be much calmer, recognizing that this is a test for the sake of a promotion and instead of being angry, she would be happy for the opportunity. *These principles are our memo; telling us that you will confront a task that is meant to help you grow to your fullest potential. We live in a society that judges life by what feels good and what does not. Jewish wisdom says that following this “feeling” is a distraction, not reality, and can be a disservice to the fulfillment of our potential. Recognize, in the face of a challenge that you have a potential for greatness that you may not be aware of and that this test may be the pathway to actualizing more of your potential. During the time of the Roman Empire, there was a man, Nacham, who was a very pious and holy man and he was part of the Jewish community who decided to appease the Roman leader of the time. They gathered a tremendous amount of money, purchased a treasure boxes and filled it with gold, diamonds and other valuables. They sent it to the Roman Emperor as a symbol of appeasement and they felt that Nacham was the best messenger. So he went on his way, and during the night the inn-keeper of where he was staying, snuck into his room and emptied the box and filled it with dirt. Nacham went on his way, didn’t check the box and delivered it to the Emperor. The Emperor, upon opening the box and seeing only dirt got very angry and ordered Nacham’s immediate execution. When Nacham saw the dirt in the box and saw the soldiers coming to execute him he made a declaration, “I declare that this, is good” the minute the declaration came out of his mouth, a soldier runs in and stops the execution by saying “wait, this is magic dirt, that when thrown at the enemies in turns into arrows, and is more valuable than diamonds, because this dirt can save you.” Nacham is then taken out of jail and given a chest filled with gold and diamonds and sent on his way. Lesson: something happens in the universe when you declare that something is good. The experience of the same circumstance, with a different declaration can shift reality. Conclusion: When faced with a challenge (ie. a negative person), take it from the perspective that the challenge was sent to you for your training and development (ie. be a stronger person, or a more patient person, or teach you other lessons). Using the foundational principles can ground you and instill a sense of calmness that will affect you and your relationship with others. Example: everything comes from a higher source (G-d) and is for the best for our ultimate training and development. Task: Take a negative circumstance, relationship, situation, think about it from a place that this experience is for my ultimate development and reflect on what possible lesson you are meant to get out of this circumstance/ challenge; what good is there in this situation. Either think about this, or speak about it with another person.
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Review: Foundational Principles; Jewish wisdom gives us tools in regards to obtaining internal peacefulness and ability to gain inner paradise regardless of external circumstances. These principles can play out very powerfully in interpersonal relationships and break-thoughs in connecting with others. These principles (or Constant Mitzvot) are like “Cities of Refuge” that you can run to when facing negative thoughts or emotions. Do not be misled by the perception of your eyes or desires of your heart: (principle 6) we have a tendency to hear a negative commentary on our life and others, and important to remember that this is just not reality, rather it is powered by the self. Example: A conversation with someone in which they felt personally hurt, and spoke harshly, and the internal voice kicked in and said that this is someone I had failed. Just knowing that this negative feeling is not reality, can just take the weight off the negative emotion. *Note: right now, from Shavuot to the 9th of Av are days of extreme heat where relationships can be explosive and keeping this idea in your mind can help cool down the initial emotion. Know there is a G-d: (principle 1) There is no other power: (principle 2) G-d is one: (principle 3) Everything that happens is sourced by an infinite creator who is all powerful, all knowing, and all loving. There is no other power, no human being or life circumstance has power over my ultimate well-being. There is only one source, and the goal is for my ultimate well being and development and is always good. Applying these principles can impact you dramatically: Example: A recent conversation where the person on the phone made it clear that they had been really hurt and disappointed, and the response was an extremely loud negative voice. Even though terribly hurt and disturbed you can think: it is all happening for a reason for my ultimate training and development, it is all good, it is not this person but rather it is G-d who is communicating to me. During the conversation you can hold onto G-d and think that there is a reason why this is happening which will help you deal with the current situation in a much calmer light.
Principle #4 Love G-d: Understand deeply that G-d (the infinite creator) loves us more than we can comprehend, grants us with blessings more than we can ever deserve, everything he does is an expression of his ultimate love and an opportunity for us to fulfill his loving vision for us. If we over time dig deeper into ourselves that we are so fortunate and blessed, our experience of life will be dramatically altered. We live in a culture that is based on entitlement, and this principle goes in a different direction (I am so blessed, I am so fortunate, someone loves me). If we were in touch with the comprehension of the grand gift of life your day would be altered. Some Examples from a more extensive list called “See the Blessings in Our Life” Gift of Health: what would you do if someone offered you $500 million dollars in exchange for one eye? Top left heart valve Movement of body parts Brain Function Memory The ability to concentrate The Blessings of the Modern World: Modern Medicine, Immunizations, Human Rights, Child Rights Think of how modern medicine has allowed for “walking miracles” Gift of Relative Political Calm: We have not lived though what many generation of Jews have lived through. At any moment things can change and history has proven this. Our current situation is not normal, it is a tremendous blessing. Gift of Basic Needs: Food, Shelter, and Clothing. There are many societies today in third world countries where people live in shacks and have to do without food for days. But this is not just in the third world; there are a lot of homeless and hungry around the US. Gift of Environmental Calm: No major natural disasters Blessing of Technology: Any King during the Middle Ages would gladly change his possessions for a tiny studio apartment in Manhattan. If cold or hot, he could press a button; there is running water (hot and cold); phones; computers. It is amazing what we have access to. Blessing of People in our Life: We have people in our life who are here for us, and there are those that don’t have this, that they are alone. A mother who wrote a letter to her 2yr old child when she was giving her away to save her from the Nazi’s and to be sent to Israel and hid the litter in her daughter’s undershirt. “Dear Miraland, I am writing this letter and in just a few hours I am going to have to give you away, I just wanted you to know, if we do not find each other, and you find yourself lonely one day, know that you were loved tremendously.” Because of the letter, she was the only child who knew her name. Gift of Our Strength: Gift of Making Great Choices in Life: Accomplishing Meaningful Projects: Exercise: write down 100 things you have done well. An amazing exercise to look at what you have done and seeing that it is a blessing and a gift because such accomplishments would be impossible without the gifts and blessings in your life. Rabbi Wienberg’s Exercise: Make a list of the blessings of your life and write them down (a tremendous power in a personal blessing versus a communal blessing). Choose the top 30 of the greatest blessings, then choose the top 10, then take these blessings and put them in order of priority. This exercise focuses you on what you have over time, then when you really need to focus on what is important, it will be much easier. Example: A woman, after 20yrs of marriage, she divorced based on infidelity. The woman was devastated and facing tremendous pain. She took the blessings that she could focus on, and although it didn’t change her situation, it did make it so that she could face her challenge much easier. Gratitude Question: A man who found an abandoned baby and decided to feed him, clothe him, and take care of everything and basically saved his life. The man also came across a man who had recently been released from prison and he gave him things to get back on his feet. Who is has more feeling of gratitude? The child that has no recollection of any other life or the man that was released from prison and knows life can be tough and experienced it. The child should have a greater feeling of gratitude, because the child would not have survived were it not for the actions of the kind man, but practically speaking the one who is more likely to have feelings of gratitude is the one who has 2 experiences to compare, a life with and a life without. *Unfortunately we are conditioned to focus on what is wrong, and we are like a child who is given so much but we just don’t notice it, but we have an opportunity to focus our attention to real richness which will give us perspective through our challenges. *Reality is that that everything in our life is a tremendous gift, and if you focus on it you will have awe over everything that you previously took for granted. This awe is so powerful that when challenges come our way, we have more stamina to handle them. Hand of G-d in our life: Find an example in your life where the odds of something happening are just so great, that it is clearly something else at work. Some might call it a coincidence or serendipity, but it’s the hand of G-d. Blessings in Disguise: What has been a difficult time, somehow turned out to be the best thing that could have happened.
General Examples: A woman who out of the blue, lost her job and she was shocked and upset. She didn’t know about these principles (everything that happens is ultimately for our benefit and happens for a reason). She walked around thinking that she was a failure and went down the path of her negative voice. The next day was 911, her entire office was destroyed. Had she not lost her job, she wouldn’t be alive. A person can have such negative feelings, but if you focus on the blessing to begin with and recognize that everything is a gift even if it doesn’t feel “good” and you do this over time, you will come to a point where you will internalize the benefit of experiences without being privy to such clear examples. A woman who was employed at a school and was told by the Principal, late in the year, that she would not be hired for the next school year. Being so late in the year, her chances of getting another job in time were ruined. After a long conversation, and looking at these principles in her life, she focused on the fact that G-d has a plan and a reason for everything, which is for the best. It turns out that if she would have been fired a few months before, she would have applied for and obtained a job in the exact same position that she currently had held. It turns out that she does consulting for schools, running seminars, wrote a book, and is doing much more than she could have ever imagined and it was all because she didn’t get the same kind of job she had before. Sometimes things don’t happen so quickly and clearly, and in this case the woman really struggled for months to try to figure out what to do, it just happens that hindsight you can see the benefit. A person applied for a green card and had an interview that would determine whether she was eligible to stay in the US or not. This person said, “I believe that the person who will interview me has no power over my ability to stay in this country or not, G-d will decide.” Knowing there is an infinite power that has been involved in your life and recognizing that know he has the power over your decisions can enable someone to walk into an interview (be it a date, a job interview, or anything else) with a certain calmness that you don’t have control over the outcome, but that you are placing yourself in the hands of G-d who has the power to determine the outcome. There are outcomes that we are supposed to push, but there are those that we are to say that we have done our efforts and now the ultimate result will come from G-d. Conclusion: You can use gratitude when faced with challenges from other people, life circumstances, and uncertainty about the future. To be able to refer back to blessings that you have right this minute or have had in the past will enable to you be able to face your challenge and confidently look to G-d. Nothing that I want in the future would be helpful if I didn’t have what I currently have (Ie. Memory). Anything that I could want pails in comparison to what we already have.
Review: Questions from Last Week: When you are facing a challenge and you pray for clarity and you are not getting it, what do you do? How do you respond to the tests, with the knowledge that everything is for your ultimate benefit, yet not know what that benefit is? Example: you have to make a big decision (ie. where you are going to live or where going to go for a job) You have a few options open but just not sure as to what to do. From the Jewish perspective we believe that we have access to clarity but there are things that get in the way. Three blocks to clarity are: 1) Eating non Kosher foods; 2) Creating harsh judgments on others; 3) Holding onto negativity or a negative emotion. When it comes to a challenge that you want to resolve but not sure how, take a step back, ask G-d to help, try and notice what you can do to have greater clarity. What factors are keeping you from being calm? (Coffee? Food?) What factors are in your way to a quiet place where you can just allow yourself time and space to get an answer? Consider the Tripod of Objectivity whereby you speak out your problem with: a mentor (someone who gives to you and you receive) a friend (someone who you give to and receive from) and a student (someone whom you give, they receive). There are two perspectives on this alternative. First, it is good to have given yourself some time to think out the problem by yourself, so that you can avoid someone else’s agenda and you can focus on what is important to you. Also, although these labels may not precisely “fit” a relationship that you have with another person, think of if from the perspective of giving/receiving. Through this process two things might happen, you might be able to work though your problem and get clarity while you are speaking. Or, it might be that you just needed to clear your mind a bit to allow “room” for the answer to come. It is likely that you might have to try this a couple of times. When you are getting frustrated because something is taking too long to come to you, remember that Talmud says that proper review of Torah wisdom is a review of over 100 times. The idea is, when something doesn’t happen immediately, just stick to it. Suggestions for overcoming a sense of entitlement (blocks to opening yourself to gratitude). 3 Reasons why people do not focus on gratitude: 1. They are so busy pursing physical desires and accumulating wealth and materialism; they are too distracted by what they have because they are focused on getting more and more. 2. We are so accustomed to what is there, that we don’t even notice the blessings 3. People are distracted by adversity, and thereby forget that there are blessings. Answer: Anytime you want to shift your perspective or change your attitude: Pray; Learn (ie. learn about the how the body works); Find an exercise that stretches the muscle you are trying to change (ie. a gratitude list, saying thank you to someone) flexing the muscle of gratitude). Fifth Principle: Have fear and awe of G-d: understand deeply that our life is lived before the ultimate audience, G-d. Our choices matter and have real consequences, individual, communal, and global. What I do, even if all by myself and lights are out, I am making choices that are significant. From the Jewish perspective, we have tremendous power that post people are not even aware of. Torah tells us that every human being has tremendous power, and we specifically are a nation of princes and princesses and we are expected to act in terms of the power and the responsibility commensurate to this power, and our actions have consequences. Examples of our Power: Mainamoides: every Jew must see themselves when they are about to make a choice as on a scale between good and evil and the next choice can tip the scale for the entire universe in either direction. All moral decisions have this power. This information is meant to empower you, and shouldn’t be used by your lower self to drag you down. (Think I have a power, and what I do matters, and I want to carry myself with that in mind). If my choices matter, and what I do in my day and my life impacts the entire world, the next question is what is my contribution supposed to be? This principle focuses us on the fact that we all have a mission to accomplish, and therefore has the potential to take you away from negativity by focusing on accountability. At the end of our life, we will see 2 “videos”: one is our whole lives and all of our choices, then we will see a second one, the life we could have lived if we made all the right choices. We will be held accountable for the choices that we made. This principle is a call to act and clarify our purpose. Questions: How do we attain clarity? Think of when you had clarity, what was it like? How did it come to you? Clarity often comes in a certain pattern on how you access wisdom (ie. on the Subway). Chuspidic Masterminding: involves being open, prayer, and patience. This will be covered in the next session. How do you know if clarity is truly clarity? If you reflected deeply and asked G-d to show you, clarity and you can even ask about how you thought you had clarity didn’t turn out to be clarity you will have it. However, sometimes, because of the blocks that we put on clarity we should seek to check it against the Tripod of Objectivity, or those that live a life of Torah, sometimes as part of our journey G-d gives us clarity in order for us to make certain choices and interacts with our free will and things can change (ie. 2 people get married, one Jewish and one not, received a new clarity saying that she should get divorce). There is great wisdom available to us, that the more you learn the easier it is to get to get lasting clarity. Course Review: This series was intended as an exposure to how Six Principles can impact our lives in a direction of obtaining inner peace and more harmonious relationships. These weeks were not intended to bring about inner calm or break-through, but they were intended to expose us to insights to help us consider principles as possibilities for greater change. Reviewing these principles: 1. Do not be distracted by perceptions of our lower self; know that when we experience negative, think it is just a thought a voice, not reality. This could place us in a position of calmness which can enable us to deal with the situation differently. 2. Know there is a G-d; 3. G-d’s Oneness; 4. G-d’s Power; everything that happens is from one source and for one reason, for our ultimate growth and development. Whether experience it as pleasurable or not. a. Example: make a decision and years later turns out as a mistake. That can turn someone completely off, but if think that if you truly walk with G-d you recognize that everything is for the best. You can have tremendous peace. b. Every experience is custom made for my personal growth and development. The recognition that there is no other power that can take anything away from you is extremely liberating from negative thoughts. 5. Love G-d; focus on the blessings of our life. Know more than there are things that I want, there is so much that I have already. In this context, you can trust that whatever challenge you are facing right now, you can get. The one who has brought me up to this point, can take me to my final destination. 6. Fear and Awe of G-d; realize that I have tremendous power and impact on the world, and I can either sit and busy myself with negative thoughts and feelings or I can focus on my job in this world and get up and do it, one small step at a time.
Next Course: Preparing Spiritual Business Plan: purpose is to internalize these principles and implement them to turn into a greater level of inner peace and harmony with others. This material can transform us into people that we are no longer affected by negative people. Next 10 Part Series: beginning July 7th right before Rosh Hashana. Take principles and show you how to bring them into your day to day life. Goal is to prepare spiritually for the High Holidays. At the time you ask for resources you can have in your hand exactly what you need and what you want to accomplish.
Inner Paradise Fall 2009 Teleconference RecordingsInner Paradise Six Constant Mitzvahs Oct 20 2009 Rebbetzin Tzipora Harris
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