did you ever ask yourself, why do all plants animals and humans find the want to live, to reproduce, to thrive ? why do we all have these needs? if you look at the dry rules of physics, actually every material, every Atom wants to get to the minimal energetic level that it can be in. similar to water, that will always find the lowest point too slow too and stop at that point. if you consider this rule of physics that material always try to find the lowest energetic level possible, the most natural thing for every living Organism is “to die”. I know it sounds harsh but as far as the rules of physics and this is the lowest energetic level achievable for every Organism. think about how much energy any Organism needs to create to keep itself alive. if we look at ourselves, we need to breathe, we need to eat, we need to drink, and in the old days it took so much energy for us 2 just keep ourselves alive, the question is why didn’t we just die ? if everything in nature, is all about chemical reactions, and energetic levels, any beginner chemist will tell you that every chemical reaction will always look for the lowest energetic level to occur. but we are all aware of the fact that every Organism has an incredible force inside it that wants to live, and not only live, but also to reproduce. why do we have this need to reproduce ? if chemistry is the only factor let created life in this universe, as some tend to claim, such as those claim that evolution is what created life in this universe, even if you believe in evolution you can’t stop asking yourself, where does it find the strong need to live in reproduce? if everything is just about random chemical reactions, then the most natural state of life, even if it was already created randomly somehow, is to die.
but we can see as I put in this picture, that any form of life, has an incredible force inside it, that wants to grow, wants to thrive, wants to reproduce, and wants to live. and this is the force I’m talking about, the force of life.

Humans and animals thrived and reproduced since long before the invention of conventional medicine. What is the healing force that kept and keeps them healthy and alive for so many years?
how did they survive all these thousands of years or millions of years without medicine?
Of course, the answer is clear, every Organism has inside it mechanisms for self-healing. If you look at the animal Kingdom, wounded or sick animals for example, if you have pets, you probably noticed it, that a sick animal does not eat, it just rests and drinks a little bit of water. Until It heals.
Also, when you think about yourself, when you are sick, you lose your appetite, and you just want to rest.
Those are natural reactions of our body to heal itself. Our body knows that in times of illness, our body needs to rest in order to use its energy to heal the illness. And when we eat, for example, a significant amount of energy, is being used by our body to digest the food. that is why when we are sick we are not hungry, it’s because our body once to utilize it’s energy to heal itself and not to digest food. our body has enough reserves of energy inside it, to keep itself alive for many days without us having to eat. pain is also used by our body to tell us that something is wrong but also, to limit our movement, in order to let it fight the illness. when we take a pill to reduce fever or headache, we are in a way cheating our body, do you think that we are well, and then a significant amount of energy that the body needs to utilize to heal the illness , is going to other areas, such as digestion and movement.
Natural medicine connects to these simple understandings of how organisms Heal themselves and applies these techniques to humans in order to attain effective healing without the need medication.

One of the main principles we will touch many times in this course is what I call life rules.

Rules by which this world is managed. Some of them we all know: such as the rules of gravity, physics, and chemistry. There are other spiritual  rules that we have to learn and understand that the world we live in abides those rules,

 

Rule #1:

There is only one Source of energy in this universe.  This rule says that all the energy that is running this world is coming from the same Source. All life forms, including vegetation and inanimate, are different expressions of the same Source of energy. If we want to try to understand it better, we can think about electricity. The Source of all the appliances in our house is the electricity in the power station. However, when we plug various appliances to the outlet, we get different electrical energy expressions. When we plug a fan, we will get kinetic energy, and when we plug a toaster, we will get heat. It is clear that the driving force behind all of those appliances is electricity. (I know you probably have a lot of questions about this rule.      You can find more lectures and articles in my website that will elaborate on this topic. Many of them are free. What it means for humans is that all of us are different expressions of the Creator. You can also think about it like waves in the ocean. Each wave has a different shape and form, but in the end they are all – OCEAN. a wave can’t decide to be unique,leave the ocean travel on land. They are all different expressions of the ocean

 

Rule #2

The Source of life continually revives this reality. This rule means that the Entity created this world, did not create it, and left it alone for the next project. It is continually reviving our existence every waking second .there is no reality without the Creator that created it. He is a part of it and inside every atom and electron that turns in this universe.

 

Rule #3

The Divine’s purpose is to radiate as much health and goodness to all creations. This rule is hugely controversial, and we can spend the next year arguing about it , but at this point, please take it, at face value, and you don’t have to agree with it. Just know that Kabbalah’s philosophy is that there can’t be bad in the Creator, and if that is so, it means that the Creator cannot generate bad actions. We don’t see the good all the time because we are not in a level of consciousness that can understand that.  On that subject, you can find a lot more information on my website and various lectures on the web.

 

Rule #4

 

When we are connected to the Source of life in the right way, we will be happy and fill complete. This rule means that the reason we are suffering, whether the suffering is physical or mental, results from us not being connected to the Source. An example that can help us understand this concept a little better is of a person who walks down the street and sees a person poking another person lying on the ground with a sharp object. Our first reaction will be anger, maybe even rage on the offending person. But if a standby person will tell us that the poking person is a doctor and he is actually performing a field procedure on the injured person to save his life. Our feelings will right away change from anger to gratitude and empathy. It is a matter of how we perceive the reality around us. Therefore, the more we will understand how we can connect to the Source of life the more content and complete we will feel.

 

Rule #5

 

Sickness results from a blockage (mental or physical) that does not let the Source of life radiate inside us . Whether it is up to us or not, any blockage that is not letting the Source of life flow inside us will eventually cause sickness. We will elaborate on this rule in great detail later on in this course because it is the key for physical and mental healing

 

 

Rule #6 :

 

 The purpose of suffering, both mental and physical, is to change our lifestyle to connect to the Source of energy that revives this world. I know that there is a lot we can say here, such as :  “how come suffering is happening to small children, what did they do wrong, and how can they change their lifestyle? This is also a controversial topic. An ocean of ink was spilled on it since the beginning of time, but let’s try to focus this rule on what WE can do to change our lifestyle. When are body has an ache, it is telling us that something is wrong with its functionality.   For example, a stomach ache will tell us that the food we are eating is too acidic and does not fit the anatomy of our body. Similarly when we have a negative feeling, it is a red flag that we are doing something that prevents us from being connected to the Source of life. The suffering is signaling us to make a change in our life. It is not a form of punishment from the Creator, rather a form of action and reaction. If we put our hand in the fire, for example,  we cannot say that the fire was mad at us for doing that and punished us for that action. Similarly when we do an action that goes against the rules of life, we will experience suffering. The suffering is a reaction to our actions/ it is not a result of the Divine’s anger.

To understand this concept better, let us look it lower form of life Organism will know such as a grapevine.

Let us thing together what a grapevine needs to grow and thrive. What does a Grapevine need in order to reach go potential that is enclosed in its genetic makeup.

 

There are certain physical conditions that a grapevine needs in order to grow healthy sweet, beautiful grapes.

1. The first one is sun too little sun would cause the grapes to be sour where too much sun can spoil them. adequate amount of exposure to sun is necessary for the Vine to grow
2. The second thing is rich soil the soil needs to have the right mixture of minerals that are needed in order to feed the plant and grow it’s to it’s full potential. if some minerals are missing , most likely, there would be dissects in the growth process for plant in its fruits
3. The third condition is temperature. whether it’s going to be too cold or too hot, it is going to affect the growth process of the Vine. temperature is a key factor to produce big, sweet healthy grapes.
4. Water in a sufficient matter is also critical to grow a healthy plant. I’m sure you know that you feel under water your plants or over water it bold can spoil the plants
5. Two more factors along the same line or clean air that is not polluted, as well as the proper spacing between the plants will allow them to grow and still feel their full potential.

So what does this example teach us ? It teaches us that every Organism has in its genetic code the ability to reach it’s full potential as a healthy thriving in productive Organism. However it needs to be exposed to the proper natural conditions in the proper moderation, in order for it to reach that potential

 

 

     

The world we live in today has so many choices for us. If you compare the variety of choices one can make Today to a person that lived just 50 or 100 years ago, you would think that everyone around you should live happily ever after.

We can choose our profession. We can choose where to live. We can choose our life partner. We can choose what to wear what kind of food we eat, and on and on.

Many of those choices that we are taking for granted today, people did not even DREAM of having just a century ago.

So can we say that people that live today are happier than the people that lived, lets say, 100 years ago ?

My grandparents, may their soul rest in peace, did not have much. They were holocaust survivors. They had to flee the country they lived in, without taking anything with them, they come to a new place,  new language, lots of hardships and challenges. But they were grateful and happy with the little bit they had. They were happy with the small perks that life gave them: Family, children, friends, grandchildren.

I wish I could be as content and happy as they were.

So, I think that  the general notion is that today’s people are not happier than those who lived in the past. 

Lets look at some statistics in the US alone:

• Divorce rate – over 40%

• 1 in 6 adults in the US is taking psychiatric medications

• Around 7% of all US adults have had at least one depressive episode 

 Why is this ? where is it coming from ? how come we are not happy with so much wealth and opportunities? not content with what we have? Why so many of us keep thinking that life did not treat them right. Why is there still so much suffering?

  Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag , The corner stone of modern Kaballa as we know it today, lived just around 100 years ago. Used to say that we have just two motions in life.

1. Seeking pleasure and comfort

2. Running away from misery

We don’t even move our little finger if not for these two motions.

Everything we do from the minute we wake up in the morning until we go to sleep is dictated by those two motions. Some of our motions are because we seek immediate gratification, such as drinking coffee in the morning or switching sides in bed And some if them are for future gratification, such as going to work.

I work not because I feel like it, but because I think that the money I will get from working will help me accomplish a certain degree of pleasure. Whatever that pleasure is, in my mind, it is bigger than the discomfort I have to suffer at the moment.

That is true as well for running away from suffering.

We do a lot, to avoid any type of suffering unless we know that our suffering will help us gain more pleasure later on.

Here we have to spend some time differentiating between two terms that often are mixed in our consciousness and causes us a lot of grief and misery in our lives.

 Needs one side and desires/ aspirations/wants on the other side.

 

You will often find yourself using the word need for something that is not really an existential need. Like: “I need a better car, or I need to buy a bigger house”. “I need more attention from my wife”. “My children need to have better manners. “

Need is a necessity required for our existence. Like: food, shelter, clothes, safety, those are needs. 

Where wants/Desires/Aspirations, are basically everything else that are not needs , that feel to us like they are needs. Those are hopes and ambitions to achieve or accomplish and acquire something currently not in our possession. The notion is that if we fulfill our wants/desires/aspirations, we will be happier

Lest try to take a closer view at the structure of our desires and aspirations

 

1. Materialistic desires and aspirations:

wants such as a bigger house, better car, newer phone, nicer clothes etc. this the simplest form of wants. They can be easily fulfilled once you have enough money.

How many times in our life you thought that once you have X money or buy something you will be happy. And you are happy when you get it,,…. For some time… until you get used to it or bored from it, and then you set yourself longing for a new target. 

 2. Emotional wants

 Those wants are much harder to fulfill. Wants such as: appreciation, visibility, respect.

We have to work very hard to acquire them, and often when we can’t accomplish them, feelings such as frustration, anger, and sadness are generated when we cannot fulfill these wants. 

 Oftentimes, we tend to get mixed between needs and wants. The feeling we have in our “stomach” is that we need be respected or appreciated for what we are doing,

For example, I “need” my kids or my wife to appreciate me. And if they don’t, I feel frustrated or anrgy.

These are not existential needs, these are mindsets we have in our brain, such as “a father needs to be respected” or that “the hard work I am doing at work needs to be appreciated”.  

3.  Social aspirations.

Wants such as fame, control and recognition. If you look at the history of humankind, you will find figures such as Napoleon, Stalin and Hitler. They wanted to conquer, control……. they wanted POWER.. Their desires were never fulfilled. The more power they had, the more they wanted. These desires are powerful, and often, people are willing to go to great lengths and even hurt others to fulfill them.

 4. Spiritaul desires

Let us explain this category a little because it can be perceived that I am saying here that spirituality is not a good thing.

That is not true.

The question is, what are my motives?

If I want to be spiritual for people to respect me or feel good about myself, this is a want coming from my ego. If a person is a spiritual guru but the motivation for his spirituality is fame, or money, that is not true spirituality. Many people are looking for meaning, but oftentimes this search for meaning comes from a desire to be somebody. To accomplish something that others will respect or appreciate. That is also a desire for meaning coming from our ego and not from a true search for “the meaning in our existence.

 

Lets try to better understand this “CREATURE” that is called desires.

We can already see that it has some characteristics that will help us identify and differentiate from need.

1. A need is something that, once fulfilled is disappeared. A hungry person that eats will not feel hungry anymore.
2. A desire is NEVER filled. The more you feed it the bigger it grows.
3. Another trait of desires is that they will be accompanied by a negative feeling if they are not met. Such as anger, sadness, frustration etc.  

 

In the Jewish ancient scripts of Talmud [written about 1500 years ago, there is a phrase that says

“A man is leaving this world with only half of his wants fulfilled.” 

 

The meaning of the phrase is that our desires and aspires can never be completely met. Every time we reach a certain goal, a certain peak that we think : “there we will be happy”, We find out after a short period of time that we want something new, we want more. There are very few people that feel content with their lives and don’t need anything more. 

 Why do we keep wanting more than what we have?

 To answer this question, we need to take a small detour and learn a few concepts in Kabballah that will help us understand this nature of ours that does not let us rest 

 All those are also connected to what we are talking about here. When we consider aspires and desires as needs, these negative feelings that we feel are coming up since our desires are not met.

We have to learn what is a human being from a spiritual perspective.

 

1. The lower part of our essense is our body.

Like any other living creature’s body, the body is kind of a machine,

a  vehicle for our soul in this world. Through our bodies, we can act.

Any action we want to perform has to be done by this interface. Even spiritual actions, such as listening to music, praying or meditating, are being done by our bodies and senses.

  The body is also the source of our materialistic needs.

The body is designed in such a way that it is always in need. It needs air, food, and water to survive. We can ask ourselves why God Created us that way, why our body is so NEEDY ? all it takes for us to stop living is a few minutes without air. 

 The Body’s nature is that it always wants something. Food, desire for reproduction and other forms of pleasure. 

 2. The soul

The soul is animating our body similarly to a person animating a coat that he/she is wearing. Kabala is saying that each and every organ that we have in our body there is a spiritual organ in our soul that is animating it. So we have spiritual arms, spiritual legs. spiritual heart etc. the function of our spiritual legs is to take us where we want to go, and the function of our spiritual arms is to do the work we need to perform and the function of our spiritual heart is the feelings we feel and more. That is why spiritually, the heart is ALSO the center of our soul. This topic by itself is a very long course that we can expand on but, for now, lets try to understand this concept. There is a soul, the soul is also combined of two general parts (in fact there are more, for the purpose of this course, talking about these two parts is going to be sufficient)

The reason we are never content is that our true desires and aspirations are coming from our spiritual nature, which is the core of our essense , and that is our soul

Since we are always trying to fill it with fillings from this world, fillings that fill our ego and not our true nature. The soul is never content. 

The sages were comparing it to a princess that married a pesant. 

No matter how much the pesant will try to satisfy he princess, she will never be happy becuase he cannnot even start to comprehend what will satisfy the princess. and with the poor means that he has , he cannot make her happy. 

That is why we are never content, becuase as long as we don’t fill our soul with:

Love, Giving, Mercy, Appreciation, Undertanding, Compassion, Gratefulness, Support, Patience,….

All the things that our creator is giving us every minute of the day  

It will never be content !!!!

 

 

 

In order to understand ourselves better, we need to learn the our spirirtual essense according to KabballahWe have to learn what is a human being from a spiritual perspective.What parts are we constructed from. What are the “algorithms” that are managing our consciousness? When we understand this structure, it will help us SEE the connection between the suffering we experience and the prospected pleasure and help us cope with situations in a better way.

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1. The lower part of our essense is our body.

Like any other living creature’s body, the body is kind of a machine,

a  vehicle for our soul in this world. Through our bodies, we can act.

Any action we want to perform has to be done by this interface. Even spiritual actions, such as listening to music, praying or meditating, are being done by our bodies and senses.

The body is also the source of our materialistic needs.

The body is designed in such a way that it is always in need. It needs air, food, and water to survive. We can ask ourselves why God Created us that way, why our body is so NEEDY ? all it takes for us to stop living is a few minutes without air.

The Body’s nature is that it always wants something. Food, desire for reproduction and other forms of pleasure.

2. The soul

The soul is animating our body similarly to a person animating a coat that he/she is wearing. Kabala is saying that each and every organ that we have in our body there is a spiritual organ in our soul that is animating it. So we have spiritual arms, spiritual legs. spiritual heart etc. the function of our spiritual legs is to take us where we want to go, and the function of our spiritual arms is to do the work we need to perform and the function of our spiritual heart is the feelings we feel and more. That is why spiritually, the heart is ALSO the center of our soul. This topic by itself is a very long course that we can expand on but, for now, lets try to understand this concept. There is a soul, the soul is also combined of two general parts (in fact there are more, for the purpose of this course, talking about these two parts is going to be sufficient)

The soul is combined of two parts 

The higher soul and the lower soul

The animalistic soul or the lower soul:

Thel lower soul has two main functions: 

1. The source of energy that animates our body. basically all the vital functions of each and every cell in our body. every chemical reaction, every physical movement, is controlled by the lower soul. That is what the chinese call “Chi“. And they discovered as well as other cultures, that the Chi, which is the lower portion of the lower soul, is controlling our livelihood. Therefore, if you have a problem with one of the organs, or a pain somewhere are another issues , and you go to a Chinese healer, they will look for the Chi that controls that organ and try to treat it from the Chi. meaning the energy of life that controls that organ. 
2. Another, more elevated functions of the lower soul,  is also the source of our egoistic wants, desires. and aspications a I mentioned in the preior article. “Where are we running to?”, Desires and wnants such as: love, respect, appreciation, control, etc. The lower soul is kind of an interface between the divine soul and the body. The lower soul is our spiritual workspace. The term spiritual workspace we will explain in more detail throughout the course “Divine Reflection” , however, for now let’s just say that all of the spiritual work that we are doing, meaning, trying to make a change in our lives against our nature, is done in what is called the Lower soul. I will give a small example. Let’s say I talk to a friend and I find out he won the lottery. On one side I am happy for him, on the other side I am jealous of him. If I work on myself to put the jealousy aside and truly be happy for him, I do spiritual work against my egoistic want to have what he has. These egoistic wants come from the lower soul, and my feeling of happiness for my friend is coming from the higher soul or the divine soul. The work I am trying to do on myself to put aside these feelings of jealousy and that “FIGHT”is happening in the lower soul. 

 

The Divine soul, or the Higher soul, is a part of the creator inside us.

Think about it like a small nuclear generator that is inside us. This part is eternal, it doesn’t die when we die.. This part is pure goodness. It wants to transmit grace and love, help others, it is the source of goodness in us and in the universe in general.It is also a part of The Uniity. That means that when that part is more dominant in our life, we feel more connected to everyone around us. We feel that all of us (humanity I mean) are one.

The divine soul is constantly trying to push us to do the divine will. One part of it is always looking up to connect with the source, the creator, and take actions in the same Spiritual motion (to be explained later) as the Creator..The other part is constantly looking down to radiate grace to others. The divine soul cannot operate in this world alone, it needs an interface (like the Windows program on our computer, we cant operate the computer directly on machine code. We need an interface to work with , that is the lower soul. The higher soul is also complete it has no needs and wants. In is coming from a place of giving, same as the creator and a source of radiation,…. emission. 

There is term in Judaism called “the battle over the big city” this is the constant fight on our conciseness between the lower and the higher soul. The fight between our altruistic true nature and our egoistic wants of our lower soul.

Every decision we are taking in our daily life has this daily battle between these two souls. But since the lower soul is connected directly to our body and animates it, it is the dominant most of the time. And the higher soul is emitting on us kind of from a distance. It is the voice of our conscience. Often time its emission is blocked by the wants of the lower soul.

The reason we are never content is that our true desires and aspirations are coming from our spiritual nature, which is the core of our essense , and that is our soul. Since we are always trying to fill it with fillings from this world, fillings that fill our ego and not our true nature. The soul is never content.

We are trying to fill the wants and desires of the lower soul instead of the will of the higher soul.   The sages were comparing it to a princess that married a pesant. No matter how much the pesant will try to satisfy he princess, she will never be happy becuase he cannnot even start to comprehend what will satisfy the princess. and with the poor means that he has , he cannot make her happy.

That is why we are never content, becuase as long as we don’t fill our soul with:

Love, Giving, Mercy, Appreciation, Undertanding, Compassion, Gratefulness, Support, Patience,….

All the things that our creator is giving us every minute of the day  

It will never be content !!!!

 

 

 

 

To understand this complex situation, we need to first focus on the meaning of word holyday is: what is a holiday and why do we have so many expectations from holiday times?

1. For many people, a holiday is as it sounds, a holy day. A day that has connection do the Creator. A day that has an important meaning. Let’s look at the significance of the word holy. What makes something holy? There are holy people, holy objects, holy places, holy events. The element that makes anything holy is the bond, the connection between people and the Creator. It is an action that gives earthly, natural, regular objects, people, places and events, connection to the Divine. An invisible bond that connects something from our Nature to the Creator that created us. In case of an object, it is an object that is used to perform spiritual ritual that has a connection to the Divine. In case of a place, it is a place that has a special connection to the Divine, a place of worship. In the case of a person, it is a person that has a higher bond, a higher level of connection to the Creator. And, in the case of a holiday, it is a day where a certain ritual is conducted that has an important meaning to the connection between us, humans and our Creator. It is a day full of meaning, full of gratitude for our existence. A day that commemorates a certain event in our faith. A great miraculous event, something unnatural that happened, something above space and time that showed the entire universe the grace of Lord. And we want to commemorate it , we feel obligated to do so. We feel it is our responsibility to commemorate this holiday, we feel that we need to give thanks to the One that brought us to this universe and gave us life. And we do not wish to disappoint him. We want to make sure it is meaningful. We also hope to establish a higher level of spirituality, a higher level of connection with the Creator. It is a day full of spiritual expectations, aspirations, and desires. There is also an element of fear and respect to the Lord. It is that fear that we are not going to perform well. The fear that we are not going to give this important day the right attention and respect. Those are a lot of emotions that are floating in our mind: Expectations, fear, desires, and aspirations for elevated spirituality. An urge to make sure the Lord is content with our performance. It is in a way like an actor or a singer before a big show, or an athlete before a big competition. They want to make sure the show or the game is successful. They do not want to disappoint their audience or their fans. That kind of mindset creates a mixture of feelings. Excitement and optimism on one hand, stress, and anxiety on the other hand.
2. The second element of the holyday is not so Divine and has not much to do with the religious part of the holiday. It lies on the social aspect of the holiday. We celebrate holidays with friends and family, and in any society, there are social codes of behavior that create certain rules of conduct that elevate the level of stress and anxiety in each and every one of us during the holiday times. If we are hosting a holiday event at our house, we wish for the house to be at its best shape possible before the event. We invite friends and family members that we have not seen for a while. We want to give them the best impression of us. We want to show them our family cell at its best performance. The house needs to be clean and presentable. Oftentimes we neglect the maintenance of the house throughout the year and suddenly before the holiday, we must fix stuff, paint, replace old furniture, clean carpets, replace burned lightbulbs, refresh the external and internal looks of our house. Organize it. All those extra activities needed to be done in a short period of time right before the holiday. These activities are taking their mental and financial toll on us. There are many arguments between couples about different topics, such as, how well the house needs to look, what needs to be bought, cleaned, and replaced. There is also the inter family politics. That is strongly present. Who to invite? Who did we go to last year? how many people to have over. Do they get along with each other? Where are we going to reside them? What do they like to eat? How judgmental they are of us? What would they think about us if we did not do X, Y, Z. what would they say or think if we invite or not invite certain people? Oftentimes we find ourselves inviting people that we do not necessarily wish to invite, but we feel obligated to do so because our significant other is asking us to do it, or because they invited us before, or because they have nowhere else to go to during the holiday. There are dozens of such factors, considerations, compromises and social considerations, that are floating in the air, it is a hurricane of different considerations that are flying around us and we are trying to put all the pieces together to calm down that hurricane and find the exact balance what will create the desired outcome.
3. The third factor is our expectations from the family reunion. We wish for everyone to get along. We want our family members to be happy during the event, we do not want them to fight, we want them for one evening to forget about all their frustrations, anger, past arguments, we want them to have a good time and put everything behind. However, often it is an unrealistic expectation. Deep inside we know it, and we have an internal fear that all hell is going to break loose during the event and all the underlying emotional charge will float during the event like a clogged toilet and I don’t want to expand here the visual description what happens in that case.
4. The last factor is financial. I think that a significant portion of families overspend beyond their budget before the holidays whether they are inviting or being invited. We buy gifts for family members, co-workers, friends, significant others. We buy new clothes, decorations. It is a financial burden that oftentimes takes a big toll on our bank account long after the holiday is over, and that by itself is enough to elevate our level of Anxiety and Stress, and it is an accelerator for so many arguments before the holiday.

 

 

 

 

In this session we are going to touch and important learning that is going to help us cope with the stress around the holiday and make the right decisions that will generate a calm, happy holiday for us and our loved ones with the minimal amount of stress and anxiety.

If I can put one word here that is common to all the contributing factors to our high stress level the word is EGO

To understand that we need to see how our Ego is  to our mental wellness in each case. But before we will do that lets first understand this creature that is called Ego and where is it coming from?

Our ego is the part of our consciousness that separates us from the rest of the universe, separates us from other creations. It is what defines our unique existence in the world around us.

However, there are a few things that our Ego cannot detect.  Our ego, or what is called in Kabballah, our animalistic soul or the lower soul, is the element of our soul is the driving force for our livelihood. We are a created as a merge of body and soul. The soul is a part of the Divine, a piece of Divinity implanted in each one of us. This spark of life, the force of life, the force of our existence is the engine that moves our body. If we want to understand it better, we can think about like a person wearing a coat.

As the person moves his or her arms the coat moves along with the person’s motions.In a similar manner our animalistic soul controls our body. Our body Is a vehicle of the soul to perform actions in this universe. Each limb and organ in our body has a spiritual parallel in our soul.

This soul of ours has two main parts. One part is what is called in Kabballah that Divine soul,  or the higher soul. That is a spark from infinity being placed in us. It is our conscience, our guide, the good angel sitting on our shoulder telling us to do the right thing. Telling us to help others, to be kind, to give, to love. It has the qualities of our Creato: radiating goodness and grace to everyone around us. This part of the soul feels unity with Creator and all the other creations in this world. It knowns that everything is actually One. And we are all connected to one other.

The other part is called the Animalistic soul or the lower soul. This part oversees our earthly existence. It is the part that revives our body puts life in every cell of our body. In Chinese medicine it is called Chi. But this part is what gives us also a separated identity from the rest of the creations in this universe. However, the animalistic soul is more complex that just having the need to keep us alive, to make sure we are breathing eating and drinking. The lower soul is in charge also of our animalistic urges. However, for humans this soul is more complex that the one animals have. We have desires such as bodily pleasure, eating, drinking and sexual pleasure similar to  our animal friends, but also desires that are unique to humans such as a desire for respect, appreciation, recognition and control. The main spiritual driving force of our lower soul is completely opposite than our Divine Soul. Instead of giving and transmitting grace, this soul is ALL about receiving. The lower soul always looks for what we can absorb from our surrounding, whether these are earthly materials such as air food and drinks, or spiritual or mental materials such as respect, appreciation , control , and affection.

Like an energetic sponge it absorbs energy from our surrounding. And an element of it is what we call in our language Ego.

Every moment of our consciousness and our subconsciousness there is a constant “fight” between the lower soul and the higher soul, between our animalistic soul and our Divine soul. And every decision we make, throughout the day, and we make thousands such decisions EVERY DAY. Only one can win the fight every time, either the higher soul or the lower soul. And you can already guess who the big winner in most cases is.

That is true, our animalistic soul

Why am I telling you all this ? first of all because that is the truth, this is our true nature, and that is our spiritual structure , and if you wish to learn more about that you can take our full course, Divine Reflection, to learn so much more about this topic and to get great tools to deal not only with the holidays but with every challenge in your life.

The other reason, more relevant to our learning here is to use this knowledge to cope with our holiday’s challenges. And now, we are going to take all the reasons we talked about in detail in the first session and look at them through the eyes  of our Ego, our Animalistic soul, and learn why each and every concern we have: our stress, anxiety and anger are ALL coming from this element of our soul.

That does not mean at all that we are bad or egoistic. That is  a necessary process for our emotional evolution and our spiritual growth which needs to happen. We just need to understand that we are inside a growth process. And with the right tools we are going to come out of it, not just with a happy and Joyful holiday times, but also more elevated spiritually and more mentally mature and complete.

I would like to start from the second factor we talked about. The social factor since the first factor is a little more complex to understand, but we will get to it in the end. So let’s take a few elements from the social factor and observe them from the eyes of our ego, to learn  how they are affecting our stress and anxiety level and how it causes increased friction around family members during this time of the year.

Hosting a holiday dinner:

Last sessions we mentioned that we feel a desire to give the people were are inviting, the best impression of us. That impression encloses the way our house looks, our holiday clothes, the quality and variety of the food we serve. The general atmosphere. The question is, why do we feel obligated to put out a show for our guests. What is the deep reason behind it? Because if there were no social rules , and each culture have different rules. We would probably serve a significantly more modest meal, and not consume so much energy in the way our house looks inside and out.

The reason is because our Ego or our Animalistic soul is looking to receive something in return to the investment in this event.

Now, I am generalizing here, I am not saying all of you are like that, don’t take this personally, I do not know any of you in person, however, I am trying to open your mind to some new ideas and concepts that will help you understand yourself better. So, what is our animalistic soul look for in return for this “investment” meaning the holiday? In professional terms it’s called ROI (return of investment). Our Ego is asking itself “what is my ROI here?”.

Know, that most of this process is being done subconsciously and in a fraction of a second, and that is why so many times it’s so hard to grasp it and stop it before it even happens. Moreover, we don’t even understand sometimes why we behaved a certain way. How many times you find yourself wondering, “why did I do that, why did I behave like that, it is not like me, I am not this kind of person” but still you did it, you behaved in that manner

So if I had a magical remote control that had the ability to pause an event in my life and play it in really slow motion. And also this magical remote had a button that translates the thoughts of my Ego. What would that Ego say?

My Ego would say: “What in it for me? Why should I bother so much to please these guests?” And the answer to the Ego’s question is different from one person to another. One Ego would say that it is looking for recognition. I am pressing the Ego translation button now: “OK I will do all this effort and spend all this money and time, but you (dear guests) have to appreciate it, you have to recognize my effort and you have to thank me, or at least be thankful internally . I need to see that YOU recognize my efforts, that is my ROI, I invested time, money and energy, and YOU need to pay me with Recognition in return”. For others, it’s not about recognition but control. They like to be in control for the holiday to be the way they want it. They like to decide the time and place. Which guests are going to be invited. If I was using the remote on this kind of Ego. The Ego would say. “I don’t like people telling me how to celebrate my holiday. I would rather suffer and pay for the event, as long as I can decide on the time, the food, the guests and so on”. The reward here is control. Our animalistic soul is getting paid with plenty of control. Its a game of gain and loss. And, as long as there is more gain than loss to feed the urges of the Animalistic soul. Our Ego is going to be happy.

Another person’s Ego is looking for respect. That Ego wants others to respect it. The Animalistic soul of this person is longing for respect from others. It wants people to show them respect by coming over to their house.

There are other egoistic desires of our Animalistic soul that are trying to feed on during the holiday season.

Also, a little more complex is the urge to see the whole family united and happy. Sometimes the feeding  of the Ego is not coming from outside visitors it is coming from inside us

If I am the father of the family, and everyone is coming over to my house and everyone is happy and getting along, what does it tell me about myself?

Maybe that I am a good father, that I succeeded in raising good children. In this case the feeding is internal. My Ego has created a certain image of me in my mind and Is  wants to feed it with this family event. My ego wants a proof that I am a good father.

 

Those are just some of the examples of the desires our Ego wants to feed off.

In some of us its stronger than others. But it exists in every person.

But don’t worry, we said that there is a Divine soul in us as well. And that the desires of the Divine soul are opposite to the Animalistic soul. The divine soul wants to give, to radiate, to help, to make people happy. Of course there is a part in us that truly wants to have a great holiday, just for the sake of making people happy. Having quality time together. Getting to catchup with everyone’s life and wellness. It is not an egoistic act it is an act coming from our Divine soul.

So how can we tell the difference between the two? In both cases there is a good feeling accompanied with the act. If my guests are happy at dinner because they are grateful for the dinner, I made for them. There is a part in me that is feeling happy inside me that I was able to make them happy. On the other side, if they appreciate me for what I am doing for them, I am also happy, because my Ego is feeding off their appreciation. So how can I tell the difference ?

The difference is what happens to me in each case if my guests are NOT “performing” to my expectations.

In the case of my Divine Soul,  where I am trying to make them happy but lets say there is an argument at the dinner table, I might be feeling sad for not being able to make them happy. But in the case of feeding my Ego with appreciation, I will develop anger at them I will have negative thoughts and feelings toward my guests. My Ego will say  “how dare they come here and argue at my table, how can I get appreciation from them if they argue like that ? my ego is getting angry at the guests. The ego is not able to absorb the appreciation it is waiting for,  and that will generate feelings of anger and frustration.

 

And that my friends, is an extremely important distinction. The way for us to identify which part of our soul is controlling the situation is by analyzing our thoughts and feelings.

If we feel frustrated, angry, stressed, anxious, impatient, irritated. That means that our Ego, or our animalistic soul is in control. It is waiting to feed off the people involved in the event but it is not getting what it is seeking for. Our  Ego is not being fed.

When the divine soul is in control, we are not angry at people, we are not angry or disappointed from ourselves or from others, we do not feel anxious or stressed.

We might experience sadness, if we intended to make people happy and it did not work out , however, we are not going to be angry or frustrated or irritated by these people or by ourselves.

I hope I am able to get the message through. Let’s take another example and analyze it using what we just learned.

Divine Soul = positive thoughts and feelings,

Animalistic Soul = Negative thoughts about others and/or ourselves.

Let’s say that I want to invite my siblings for holiday dinner and my wife wants to invite her siblings as well. I am beginning to develop negative thoughts and feelings toward my wife. And I will give her multiple reasons why that is not a good idea.

“Too many people “ , “We don’t have enough room for everyone” “They don’t get along” “ It’s going to be too expensive” and so on. Those are words that I am saying to my wife to avoid this situation

Inside I might feel anger, frustration, lack of motivation to invite them, maybe stress or anxiety from the amount of money I must spend on a bigger event with so many more people than I planned to.

If I experience negative feelings toward myself or my wife, that is a RED FLAG that means that my Ego is in the driver’s seat

Let’s say that in my case for example, I want a peaceful and quiet dinner, some quality time with my siblings because I missed them ,and I enjoy their company and I do not want to share my attention during that evening with others. I do not want to try to please others, I wish to spend my time in a known and familiar family atmosphere. My Ego is being fed from the old familiar family gathering. And I cannot get the same type of feeling with my wife’s siblings. My ego wants to have its enjoyments in the old and familiar way. And my wife’s siblings are “bothering” my ego to receive its enjoyment the way it wants.

So I am getting angry at my wife, I am getting restless and irritated. All of those are symptoms of my Ego not being fed with what it wants. That is a great tool to help me identify the problem and analyze it.

If my Divine soul was in the driver’s seat, I would have a totally different attitude toward the situation. My divine soul would say “ That is a great opportunity to make more people happy, the dinner table is going to be more alive, more children are going to be around and play together. There is an opportunity for my siblings to get to know my wife’s siblings better and form stronger relationship. There are wonderful people on both sides, they should get to know each other, they can really bond well. “ those kind of thoughts are going to fill me with good positive feelings.

Now I have a tool that can help me identify who is in the driver’s seat

And if I see that my animalistic soul is driving my car. I need to stop the car. Go to a quiet place, think about it, kick that ego out of the driver’s seat and let the Divine soul enter. I need to rewire my mindset before I continue to drive.

If you identify a situation like that,  you can say to yourself : “My Divine soul is not in the driver’s seat. I need to stop on the shoulders of the road and change drivers. I need to rewire my mindset”.

These kind of mental practices will help each and every one of us make so much better decisions during the holidays and radiate peace, calmness and joy around the house.

In the next session we are going to touch the financial aspect of the holiday.

Ow, I am not a financial advisor and I cannot give you tips for how to budget your holiday better, I think there are many more skilled and more talented coaches that can help you with that.

However, I can help you to look at the financial situation from the eyes of your Animalistic sou or your Ego and our Divine Soul.

In the time before the holidays , many families are spending thousands of dollars in presents, food, clothing, house repairs and such.

Lets first start with some practical tips to prepare ourselves for the event, however, as I said in the last session, the purpose of this short seminar is not to give you financial advice, but to make you change your mindset as far as your spending goes for the holidays through the eyes of our Divine Soul.

So here are some practical guidelines that will help you prepare for the holidays in a better way. I recommend for you to do it together with your significant other, to make an effective impact. Oftentimes we make financial goals for ourselves that our partners do not agree with, are are not mentally available to take actions , and it ends up being a failure because there was no mutual agreement on the path. So sit down with your partner and plan in head of time

1. Estimate how much money you will need for the upcoming holiday. You can do that based on past years, look at your credit card bills and find out how much did the last holiday really cost you. Based on your income decide on the sum of the budget.
2. Open a savings account for the holidays and deposit every month a certain amount based on your budget. This is something that is already too late to do for this year, but next year is right around the corner and it is an opportunity to start that savings account.
3. Take the money you need for the Holidays in cash and use your holiday spending from the cash box. It is easier to follow and stick to the budget when we have the amount in cash, we can gage better how the fund is running out and make a cut on our spending where neccesary. We tend to overspend using credit cards. Paying with money has a psychological effect on us, we feel that it is literally coming out of our pocket where with credit cards , we feels like its someone else’s problem or that we get a feeling that we can deal with it later, but not now. The problem is that later becomes now becomes now at some point, and we end up with big credit card debt that are very hard to catch up with.
4. There are great new apps in the market for monitoring spending, use the technology to your advantage. There are apps that give you realtime monitoring of your spending based on the different categories you set in the app. I personally use an app called “Riseup”. But there is a variety of apps out there that can help you with that, do some research and decide which one is best for you.

 

Ok Now lets go back into our little car where we have two drivers fighting over the drivers seat and look at our spending in the eyes of our drivers and see what and why we are spending our money over.

Ok now lets get back to our soul search  Let’s take a few examples

Clothing.

Many of us have enough clothing in our closet. But we still find ourselves spending a great deal of money on clothes and shoes. Some of it comes from the thoughts that it is fun, and a good opportunity to refresh our wardrobe with new exciting clothes, there are many good sales around the holidays, and it is a good opportunity to buy something new. Also, wearing new clothes gives you a feeling of a fresh start. A feeling of something new and exciting. A feeling of festivity. These thoughts are good and positive and if you can afford it, there is no wrong in doing so.

The problem begins when you can’t afford it and you feel obligated to buying new clothes, because that is what people in your community, or your family cell are usually doing and you don’t want to feel different or odd. So, if you already have clothes that are respectful enough for the holiday, why are you then buying new ones? You are a reasonable person. You are in control of your life and spending. Why do you find yourself spending on something that you cannot afford and is not necessary? Something that will put you in debt and bring you a lot of grief, many months after the holiday is over?

The answer  is that your Ego is in the driver’s seat.

I am just giving one example here, please don’t take it personally, that might not be your specific case, but I hope with that help you will to find the element of your ego that is driving you to make such decisions.

So let’s say that your animalistic soul is seeking respect from your neighbors and your community. Let’s dub you Ego: “I need to be respected, no matter what the price is, I can’t stand the thought of anyone in my community thinking less of me. I don’t want them think I am not successful. So I am willing to go into debt, just not to be perceived by the members of my church as less succesful and not win their respect”.

This type of Ego is feeding on respect, or acceptance, or appreciation, or Honor, or Control. Those are different manifestations of the Ego’s will to absorb energy from its surrounding.

A person that has his Divine soul is the driver’s seat will think: “It could have been nice to buy new clothes but I need this money to provide to my family for the rest of the year with more important things like, food, education, and everyday clothing. If I buy clothes for the holiday, it will put a great stress on me, that could hurt my relationship with my partner , and that in turn will hurt my children as well. Anyways the most important aspect of the holiday is not the external, superficial things. It is about celebrating among family and friends. It’s about worshipping God and giving gratitude to the Lord for our life, our health, and our wealth. Maybe next year, God willing,  I will be able to afford it”

This is just one example but you can use it for any time you encounter a financial problem regarding over spending during the holiday season.

I want to warn you to be careful, because the Animalistic soul is very treacherous. It has sooo many excuses to give, that will make it look like we are actually doing a good thing, we are giving and not receiving.

For example: “ I have to buy my son an Xbox, he has been waiting for that present for a long time, I am actually doing something good” That is a trick that your Ego is playing on you to make you feed it.

Yes, its true that your son wants a new Xbox, and its true that you will make him very happy if you but him that. And if you can afford it, that is totally ok. However, if you cannot afford it , and it has a big price to pay later-on, for example you will have to be away from home long hours at work and not be a part of your son’s life as a result of that. Is that really a good choice for your son?

Also what are you teaching him? That its ok to overspend what you don’t have? What is going to him when he grows up? You need to teach him financial responsibility.

Moreover,  are you buying him that present, because your ego does not want to deal with the negative attitude you are going to get from your son? Or that you don’t want people to think that you didn’t buy him that present because you don’t have enough money?

Or maybe because you can’t stand the thought that you are not good dad?

Maybe your Ego wants to know that you are a good dad. And If you don’t but that present , your ego will not be fed with your inner thoughts that you are a good dad, or that you are successful.

Think about it deeply , what is your REAL interior motive to buy that game even though you cannot afford it? Is it really better for your son to have that game rather than have a sane parent without stress that is mentally available for him?

I cannot make that call for you , but YOU owe it to your son, not even to yourself. The key here is to understand the simple equation Negative feelings means the  Animalistic Soul or your Ego is in the drivers seat.

The negative feelings are a manifestation of your Ego not getting what it wants. Its like a baby that dropped its pacifier, and it crying and crying, and there is nothing wrong with it, just that it wants to suck on that pacifier. That is how our ego works as fell, as long as you feed it, it is happy, the second you stop, it starts screaming and kicking and crying until it gets what it wants

 

On session one, we have been discussing the meaning of the word Holy and what makes something holy. We said that Holy is when we give an object, a place, or a person a meaning of connection to our Creator. We are using earthly natural materials and through rituals and  prayer we  elevate the spiritual level of that object or placeand make it holy. We also said that A person becomes holy when they have a special much stronger bond or connection with Creator.

Oftentimes, we feel a great deal of stress because we feel the need to please the Lord. We feel that we need to be strong, elevate our spirituality, give thanks to the Lord. And when that does not happen we fall into negative feelings such as self-guilt,  disappointments, failure, and other similar feelings.  We feel that we are too superficial, not connected enough, not worthy, lazy.

I will share with you some of my personal internal thoughts, between me and myself in that regard  as an example:

“How did I fall again into my evil selfish nature, how did I disappoint the Lord again. Why can’t I seem to change my bad habits? Why can’t I be a loyal servant to the lord. How can’t I see that it is all from above. I got angry again, fighting with my wife and children. I know its all from the Lord to show me that I am not connected but I keep making the same mistakes. I keep disappointing him.

He probably gave up on me. I am a disappointment. I wanted this holiday to be elevated spiritually and I find myself again arguing with my wife and children and messing up the holiday spirit on silly stuff “

These are some of my personal thoughts that are coming through my mind, when I am getting into an argument with my family.

If you recall we said in there is an equation we can use, or a red flag to let us know that our Ego is in the control. The equation was that negative feelings mean that our Ego is in the driver’s seat

So, if I have these kind of thoughts and feelings, does that mean that my Ego again is in the Driver’s seat? That my animalistic soul is in control?

How is that possible I am talking here about my will to please the Lord, not myself. That is the least selfish act. I am not doing it for myself.

So how does that Jive with the equation than we just learned?

And I am telling you brothers and sisters, it jives. This equation is an axiom. If I have negative feelings, my Ego is in control.

Lets’ go over four learnings that will show you that this is true in this case as well.

If you wish to expand on that topic, you can watch our course Divine Reflection where you are going to get much more information and tools how to cope with negative events in your life You can find it on Udemy or Our website www.divinereflection.info

. If you wish to use in these learnings Jesus where I mention the Lord, you are welcome to do that as well.

So here are four rules that are going to help you understand that even in these sensitive cases your ego is in control and you need to change your rewire you mindset to resolve this problem and reduce the self guilt and stress during the holidays.

1. God’s love is infinite. The Lord does not love you more when you are a loyal servant and less when we you follow your evil nature. You need to think about Divinity more like then sun. The sun shines to all directions and radiates warmth regardless of where you stand. It is up to you to stand in the right place to be able to enjoy the warmth of the sun. The sun is going to continue to radiate infinite warmth regardless of your actions. When you stand inside a room with closed blinds, you are not feel the warmth of the sun as much. You did not disappoint the sun by closing the blinds. its just the rules of physics. In a similar manner, of course with a big difference here, the sun is not an intelligent entity, however, it is as good as we can understand it with our human mind. If we don’t feel the Lord because of our actions, that does not mean that the lord is giving us more or less, or that he is thinking about us more or less, it’s just that we put on ourselves mental barriers that do not let the grace of the Lord shine on us.
2. So many times, we tend to humanize God. Because we are humans, and we cannot think in a non-human way. Everything around us has a beginning and end, time and place. We cannot grasp infinity and we cannot grasp a dimension without time. It is like asking a fish to understand jealousy. There are things that we just cannot understand, and we are trying to use our limited perception to understand things that are beyond the capacity of our thought. So, if we are thinking that the Lord is angry with us because of something we did, that means that before that he was happy, and now he is angry?. He changed his feelings because of us? We are treating the Lord like a person and demeaning him. That also means he is not infinite. If he is disappointed because of something we did, that means that he is unhappy or sad, is he missing happiness? That is just not logical. Our Lord’s happiness depends on our actions? If that is the case that means that he needs us, and if he needs us he is not almighty, God fornid. Try to think about it more it terms of action and reaction. If you put your hand in the fire you will get burned, the fire is not disappointed in you because you did it. Its just a reaction to your action. The good lord created in our word physical as well as spiritual rules of action and reaction, for us to be able to develop ourselves, learn, grow, elevate our spirituality, connect with him, for our own good. Those are rules of action and reaction. We are not changing God. The reward and punishment given to us is a reaction to our actions. We feel it, not the Lord. And the terms used in the bible such as God’s anger, are there for us to be able to better understand the Divine will, to understand what path we need to choose with our human limited capacity.  
3. There is nothing outside of the Divine will. That means that no matter what we do, no matter how bad we think it is, it is still inside the Divine will. Can you think of a situation where lets say I do something completely outside of my nature, let’s say that I, God forbid, stole from someone, and the Lord would say “Sagie, you caught me by surprise, I did not expect that”. That is like saying that the Lord does not know everything, that he is not almighty. Moreover, is it not logical to think that there is possibility for me to do something outside of the Divine will. Therefore, even when something bad happens, when we do something bad or even evil, or there is an event where others are behaving in a certain manner that is not in the right path, it is STILL, inside the divine will. There is no scenario in this universe, no action, no power, no event that is outside of the Divine will.
4. There are no coincidences. Everything happens for a reason. Every event, every creation, every mosquito, every rock and of course every person is here for a reason. To say that something here is not for a reason, means that the Lord does not have rational.

So now after we went through the 4 learnings, which I am sure some of you already know.

Lets try to analyze an event and see how I can use these four learnings to understand that if I fall into negative thoughts, stress, anxiety, sadness, anger, it is actually my Ego, or animalistic soul.

Let’s say that I was speaking with my daughter during the preparations for the holiday and we got into an argument and I got angry and I was yelling at her. Let’s even say that I said things that should not be said.

Let’s analyze this event see what we can learn from that.

After I calm down, I begin to fill myself with guilt feelings. “how could I be so insensitive. Instead of elevating the holiday spirit I am fighting with my daughter, creating a negative atmosphere, and over something so silly, like at what time they should come for dinner” What kind of servant I am to the Lord? Instead of spreading happiness, joy spirituality, love, I am spreading anger frustration and sadness. The Lord must be very angry at me. He is very disappointed in me.”

• What is happening here? Did I just disappoint the Lord or did I disappoint myself (learning number two)?
• Who is angry at me, the Lord with his infinite love and patience (learning number one), the one that does not get angry nor happy (learning number two)?
• Did this event happened to me without a reason (learning 4)? Did I surprise the Lord with my reaction? He did not expect that (learning 3)?

So if it all happened for a reason, and I did not disappoint the Lord, or made him angry, then what am I beating myself up for? It’s because I have this image of how I should be, what kind of servant I should be to the Lord and I did not reach my own personal goal or image. I am not as good as I want to be. My Ego wants to feel that he is great, good, giving  and righteous. and me Sagie is not letting my Ego enjoy this image of the perfect servant it, the Ego wants to see. It enjoys this image that it is glorified and I am taking It away from it so it is angry with me. I am angry with myself.

Should I apologize to my daughter? Of course, should I try to change my ways? Of course. Should I feel sorry for hurting her feelings? Yes. Should I try to correct the situation? absolutely.

But I should not sink into sadness, stress, and negative feelings. I should learn from it, grow, evolve, change my ways, and understand that I am only human, and I will make more mistakes, as long as I learn from them and evolve and get closer to the Lord that is ok. The Lord’s love for me or my loved ones is not affected by that event whatsoever.

So cheer up, get back on your feet and move on.