Author Archives: Daily Dose Of Emuna

Today’s daily dose is dedicated L’iluy nishmat Akiva Moshe ben Dov Ber Schor z’l.  May his neshama bask in the Divine radiance together with all of the tzaddikim who have departed from this world, Amen.

Some of the studies coming out of the science world indicate that our emotions physically reside in a section of the brain.  They are placed there by us and it is our choice to change them as well.  We can think differently and as a result feel differently.

It is a matter of rewiring and rebooting the way we think, and this takes training.  Training of the mind to think and react differently to the bitter circumstances that we may be enduring.  In essence, we can literally think our way out of negative thinking patterns.  The lesson here is that we are in full control.  Thoughts belong to us as we allow them to be.

Let’s look at this more closely.  We govern the way we think, and therefore, we determine the way we see life.  We paint our lives whatever color we choose to see it in.  Our life critically depends on the way we view life and how we respond to life and its struggles.  Our level of happiness affects the choices that we make and the way we respond to Hashem, others and to ourselves.  The conclusion: happiness is a given choice available for everyone to grab!

We make happiness and happiness makes us. This is very different from the way we were trained to think.  It was once believed that happiness is something that is influenced by the outside, maybe even luck.  It was never believed to be a mental choice.  However, this certainly supports the reason why people who seemingly have everything are not happy. They ‘have it all’ but choose not to see it so.

Acquiring the trait of living happily is a life-long goal.  We are summoned to develop our capacity to think, feel and live happier lives.  The pathway to achieving happiness is not decorated with spontaneous people or occurrences that will magically appear in our lives and bring us joy.  Happiness is the feeling that stays with us long after the circumstances that seemingly made us happy have already passed.

BS’D

Today’s daily dose is dedicated to the refuah shleimah of Nasan Karpel ben Devorah Basha, a baby who has heart and lung problems.  May he be completely healed amongst all of those sick and suffering in Klal Yisrael b’karov, b’rachamim, Amen!

There is another opening to join our Shabbat tehillim group.  The perakim are עג’-עט’/73-79 inclusive.   Please let me know if you wish to read these perakim every Shabbat (anytime from candle lighting until motzei Shabbat) for the zechut of Klal Yisrael.  Tizku’ l’mitzvot.

Being that we have been discussing the slight downfall that may occur after the High Holidays, it is relevant to speak of the importance of happiness.  How do we attain true joy and keep it?

I read a beautiful saying: “Happiness is the process of bringing life to the point of understanding why what happened, happened.” This certainly contains within it a strong point of truth which includes accepting what happened to us as being necessary or at least relevant and beneficial to our future.  This incorporates with it a feeling of fulfillment in life; sensing wholeness within ourselves.  It is a clear definition of the purpose of living.

Achieving sincere happiness requires an unfolding process which happens in time.  It takes time to discover what it is that really makes us happy.  Throughout the stages of life, it becomes clearer to us that happiness is closely linked to the greatness of our soul.

In fact, the pursuit of happiness affects every aspect of our lives on every level of our being.  It impresses on our emotions, relationships and on all of our life’s decisions.  The world is obsessed with the attainment of true lasting contentment.  There are endless surveys, statistics and experiments to measure happiness comparing one to another.  The conclusions of these reports are clear:  money and power are not connected to the essence of joy.

So where and what is this coveted thing called happiness?  Is it simply the absence of depression?  Or maybe a matter of being satisfied?  The definition must be crystal clear in order for us to use every moment of our limited time here in this world to conquer it.  Why spend a life of delusion chasing what we think will bring us happiness?  Even more so, how can we protect ourselves from giving up on our hunt for real happiness?

It is our obligation to answer these questions and figure out how to embark on this journey and remain focused on the goal: a life of unshakable happiness in spite of shaky occurrences.