Encouragement

If prayer were a commodity on the futures market, it would be the best investment anywhere. What's more, the dividends are phenomenal as we learn in today's inspiring podcast.

We dedicate this lesson in memory of Rabbi Zecharia HaCohen Wallerstein, osb"m. In his famous discourse "Azamra," Rebbe Nachman of Breslev teaches the importance of finding the good within ourselves. That's the only way we'll be able to find the good in others.

It's great to be an optimist, but life is even better for an optimalist; here's the difference:

To paraphrase the tire manufacturers, "where the rubber meets the road" is the nit and grit of life. This world is no picnic. The test of our "spiritual tires" is how well we hold up under the challenging conditions of real life. Today's lesson shows how to avoid negative emotions and to maintain a healthy emotional equilibrium.
 

Most people yearn for a comfort-zone existence. They don't like change and they certainly don't want crises. But the Almighty knows that we're capable of much more. Maybe we lack the courage and confidence to look for a better job or strive to go higher. What does the Almighty do? He throws us a crisis...

Here's a 90-second message to pick you up whenever you think that you're alone in the world.

So what if the world is round? It means that if you're flying high, don't be arrogant because tomorrow you might not be on top. And, if you're down, don't be depressed because you'll soon be up again. 

So many people suffer from stress and anxiety because of overload. Who says that life must be that way, so seemingly cruel and unfair? What law says that you must carry the weight of the world on your shoulders? Here are two minutes of encouragement.

Life's obstacles and difficulties are not punishments from Above. They're part of the Divine GPS that's designed to guide us along a better route that we might not have initiated or even considered on our own.

There are forms of Divine abundance that no money in the world can pay for. Divine abundance has a price tag, but it's spiritual. If a person prays profusely and does good deeds, he or she generates spiritual revenue that pays for a portion of the Divine abundance. Even though we must think that everything is a free gift from the Almighty, it's like a line of credit. What we use and don't pay for, we pay in the next world. What we use and do pay for, the credit remains for the next world.
Prayer generates Divine abundance. But sometimes it's not enough. Suffering, tribulation and disparagement – when accepted with emuna – are the tears that bring phenomenal treasures that we would not have attained under any other circumstance.

The world is utterly confused between narcissism, a definitely undesirable trait, and loving yourself, which is a key to your happiness, success and emotional health in addition to being the vital element in your relationship with yourself, with others and with the Creator.

Today's Emuna Beams News Roundup covers the events of the last three days, where trouble chases trouble. What can we do about it?