Spiritual Growth

Logic and intellect see things through physical eyes. Just as physical gravity brings an object down, logic and intellect knock a person down. Their interpretation of events is negative and pessimistic. On the other hand, emuna sees through spiritual eyes. Spiritual gravity lifts one up. Emuna is beyond the brain and beyond the realm of negativity. With emuna, there is truly no despair.

Few people are able to understand what they see. To paraphrase the old saying, they're in a big area with oak and pine trees all around them but they don't see that it's a forest.
Divine Direction is the Creator's active determination of every detail and occurrence in the world. The more we enhance our emuna in Divine Direction, the more we improve our spiritual eyesight. This lets us see the Creator personally directing our lives. Few things are more rewarding.
There are five main ploys in enhancing our emuna in Divine Direction. These ploys are:
Realizing that We Don't Run the World – Hashem does
Learning to be Happy with Our Lot in Life
Appreciating Life's Countless blessings
Remembering the Many Salvations we have seen in our lifetime.
Looking for the Divine wisdom in every creation
Let's examine them, one by one.

In this clip from the holy Western Wall in Jerusalem, we learn the true meaning of emuna and how to expedite Moshiach's arrival. Do we really love Hashem? The more one loves someone, the more one thinks about them. Let's ask ourselves how often we think about Hashem. Once a week? Once a day? Once an hour? More frequently? That's likely the first and most important question of self-assessment.

Fitness trainers have an expression: “Get it right!” Any exercise, from simple breathing to the most complex routine, must be done in the best possible form to ensure optimal performance, gain and benefit to the body. Just as doing exercise is a workout for the body, doing mitzvas is a workout for the soul, making the soul strong and healthy. In that respect, good spiritual form is important for fulfilling a mitzva, so when it comes to observing the Torah, we have to "get it right" too.

The evil inclination never rests, so we can't either. If we don't do something every day to strengthen emuna, we won't have the emotional stamina to withstand the the major challenges that face each of us today.

Why do we have so many difficulties in life? Is this how a loving Father in Heaven should treat His children? Why COVID 19, financial difficulties and all the grief? In answering these questions, we learn two important principles of spirituality: first, the distancing principle; the second, the end-of-year cleanup. Both are the tribulations we all suffer from, but with a closer look, they're a manifestation of the Creator's absolute love for each of us, as we learn in today's lesson.

Today's lesson is a practical lesson in Kabbala, how the seven Divine spheres of G-dliness manifest themselves in the spiritually aware soul on a daily basis, thereby directing affecting health, wellness and overall quality of life.

Spiritual awareness enables us to hear and understand the Creator's personal messages to each of us, as the elements of our environment relay to us all day long. A lack of spiritual awareness is like being in a foreign country where you don't understand the directional signs...

Spiritual awareness is one of life's most vital assets, but surprisingly few people have it. Spiritual Awareness is the key to tranquility. Once we become spiritually aware, we easily overcome anger, stress, anxiety, and depression and we pave the way to phenomenal personal growth.

Emuna is not only believing in Hashem, it's believing in ourselves. Here's what belief in yourself means and how it so dramatically improves your life and your realization of maximum potential.

Today we learn the 2nd of the 13 Principles of Emuna, Divine Unity. This principle is not only the core of our belief system, but the key to inner peace, no matter what turbulence surrounds us. 

How would you like to have an adequate income of all the money you need whenever you need it? Today's podcast is a signed check from our sages; take 3 minutes to hear about it, and G-d willing, you too will have a plentiful income.