Daily Lift by Rabbi Zelig Pliskin

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#1219   Clarify Job Details In Advance

The Chafetz Chaim frequently said that before you hire someone to do a job, clarify in advance the agreed-upon conditions. Be specific about the exact amount you will pay, and what his obligations are.

By clarifying as many details as possible in advance, you will save many needless difficulties and quarrels.

(Chafetz Chaim; Sfas Tomim; Rabbi Pliskin's Gateway to Happiness, p.260)

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#1220   The Thoughts You Think

The thoughts you think create your feelings and emotions. The thoughts you think are the key factor in what you say and do. The entire quality of your life is totally dependent on the thoughts you choose to think. Choose thoughts of gratitude. You will be tremendously grateful that you did.

(From Rabbi Zelig Pliskin's book: THANK YOU! Gratitude: Formulas, Stories, and Insights: Artscroll Publishers)

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#1221   A One Sentence Formula for Becoming Grateful

Here is a one-sentence formula for becoming a grateful person: Think, speak, and act like a grateful person does.

There is no mystery on how to become a person with the attribute of gratitude. Think gratefully. Speak gratefully. And act gratefully. When you consistently do these three things, you are consistently grateful. And even before you are consistent with this pattern, every little bit of thinking, speaking, and acting this way makes you more grateful than if you wouldn't have thought, spoken, or acted this way.

(From Rabbi Zelig Pliskin's book: THANK YOU! Gratitude: Formulas, Stories, and Insights: Artscroll Publishers)

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#1222   You Will Notice What You Look For

Make it important to be grateful. Then you will notice more and more things that others do for you. You might wonder why it is that more people are doing more things for you. In reality, it could be the same amount as before. Just that now you notice it.

Now you will notice smiles that make you feel better. And you will be grateful for those smiles. You will notice when people offer you food to eat or something to drink. You will notice information that people share with you because they feel you will benefit. You will notice minor acts of kindness that would not otherwise have registered on your mind's screen of consciousness.

(From Rabbi Zelig Pliskin's book: THANK YOU! Gratitude: Formulas, Stories, and Insights: Artscroll Publishers)

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#1223   Picture How Great You Will Feel

See yourself being a master of gratitude in the future. Mentally picture how this will help you feel joy the moment you are awake and are grateful for being alive. See how you can be grateful and happy for each breath. Realize that when you master gratitude, you will see a happy face every time you look into the mirror. See how your entire quality of life will be improved. See how other people will tell you that they enjoy being around you because you are such a happy person.

(From Rabbi Zelig Pliskin's book: THANK YOU! Gratitude: Formulas, Stories, and Insights: Artscroll Publishers)

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#1224   Your View Of Yourself

View yourself as being a person who is grateful and fervently wants to keep upgrading his level of gratitude. This will lead to more words and acts of gratitude. This is who you are and it is an integral part of what you do.

"But what if I'm not really a grateful person?" some ask. Right now, make a verbal or written list of ten things you are grateful for.

Once you do this, you are a person who has expressed gratitude. Therefore you have a right to begin to view yourself as someone who is already on the pathway to being a grateful person.

Every grateful statement and action will strengthen your self-image of being a grateful person. This will lead to even more words and actions of gratitude and your positive self-image in this area will become increasingly solidified.

(From Rabbi Zelig Pliskin's book: THANK YOU! Gratitude: Formulas, Stories, and Insights: Artscroll Publishers)

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#1225   Be Grateful for all Your Skills and Talents

The Almighty has blessed each of us with our unique mixture of skills, talents, and inner resources. Be grateful to Him for each and every one. This gratitude enables you to maintain humility at the same time as you recognize and appreciate those gifts. Humility does not mean that you deny the gifts you were given. Rather it means that you have a high level of gratitude.

(From Rabbi Zelig Pliskin's book: THANK YOU! Gratitude: Formulas, Stories, and Insights: Artscroll Publishers)

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#1226   Gratitude For Your Memory and Brain

"I am grateful for my memory." How often do you hear people saying this? Do you hear this more frequently or do you hear something like this, "I can't remember. I'm always forgetting things. My memory isn't what I would like it to be."

Hopefully after people read this section, they will develop the habit of consistently being grateful for what they do remember. And they will express this gratitude so frequently, that others will also develop the habit of expressing gratitude for their memory. And many more people will hear those people expressing this gratitude, and they too will express their gratitude.

(From Rabbi Zelig Pliskin's book: THANK YOU! Gratitude: Formulas, Stories, and Insights: Artscroll Publishers)

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#1227   Blessings Before and After Eating

The goal of each and every blessing we make is for us to increase our level of gratitude to our Creator. It helps to say in your own words before a blessing, "Now I am going to express my personal gratitude to my loving Father and powerful King, Creator and Sustainer of the universe for His kindness to me."

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#1228   Gratitude For Being Alive

The most precious thing you have is being alive. Since you are reading this, it's obvious that you are alive right this moment. And therefore you have the number one thing that can fill you with gratitude.

"But my quality of life isn't all that I would want it to be!" is the thought that prevents many people from experiencing the joy of being alive and the feelings of gratitude for life.

Wanting the quality of your life to be better and taking positive action to make this happen is no contradiction to being grateful for the precious gift of life. This way you have an inner feeling of joy for being alive and this positive energy will give you more inner strength to create the kind of life that would be better for you. The first thing we say when we wake up in the morning is the one line statement that we are grateful for being alive. In Hebrew it is Modeh ani… That's amazing, isn't it? The first words we utter each day say that we are grateful. This sets the tone for the entire day. "Today I will be grateful from the first moment when I wake up."

(From Rabbi Zelig Pliskin's book: THANK YOU! Gratitude: Formulas, Stories, and Insights: Artscroll Publishers)

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#1229   Drinking Water Gratefully

Thinking about gratitude when I was drinking water, I realized that drinking water slowly and repeating to yourself, "I am grateful for this water," creates a great experience.

Before we drink the water, we make the formal blessing over water. In this blessing we acknowledge the "King of the universe" that everything that exists in the world is because of "His word." We realize that the water we are now drinking is a gift to us from the Creator of it all. And not only is He the Creator of everything, he is the Creator of this water that we are about to drink.

Then as you drink the water, drink it very, very slowly. And as you are drinking the water slowly, keep repeating in your mind, "I am grateful for this water. I am grateful for this water. I am grateful for this water."

(From Rabbi Zelig Pliskin's book: THANK YOU! Gratitude: Formulas, Stories, and Insights: Artscroll Publishers)

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#1230   Exercise: "I Am Grateful To My Creator."

"I am grateful to my Creator."

People who have resolved to repeat this for five minutes a day for an entire month have found the tremendously positive impact that this exercise will have on all aspects of their life.

This is one of the most important messages you can tell yourself.

Living with this gratitude elevates you. You become a more spiritual person. You become a more joyful person. You become a kinder and more compassionate person. You become a calmer and more peaceful person. You become a person who lives in greater harmony with others.

Right this moment, imagine the joy you would feel if you were to feel an intense sense of gratitude to your Creator. Allow yourself to begin to feel some of this now.

In what ways might your envy of others be similar to this?

(From Rabbi Zelig Pliskin's book: THANK YOU! Gratitude: Formulas, Stories, and Insights: Artscroll Publishers)

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#1231   First Hand Reports of Applying a Gratitude Exercise

I told a group of people to repeat, "I am grateful to my Creator" five minutes each day for a month. Some of the results were:

* "At first I found it difficult to keep this up. This gave me a jolt. The Creator is giving me life each moment of each day and He gives me the air I breathe. Why is it so hard for me to express my gratitude? This self-rebuke gave me a strong feeling of motivation. I was committed to use the power of repeating messages to myself to build up this gratitude.

* "I realized that I would only be able to repeat this for five minutes at a time if I would sing it with a tune. So I would sing this five minutes each day. It became my favorite song.

* "The first day when I heard this, I found myself having to wait for something to start. I began to feel frustrated. Then I said to myself, ‘This is a perfect time to repeat, "I am grateful to my Creator" for five minutes.' It totally transformed the waiting into an uplifting experience. Throughout the month, I chose potentially frustrating moments to practice this. After a while, the stirrings of feelings of frustration became a trigger to begin my exercise."

* "Someone saw me smiling while I was waiting in line at my local supermarket. He asked me if anything special is going on in my life. "There are a lot of special things that I'm beginning to become more aware of," I replied.

* "By repeating, ‘I am grateful to my Creator,' I began to realize that everyone who is kind to me in any way was sent to me by my Creator. I increased my gratitude towards those people and I increased my gratitude to the Creator of it all."

(From Rabbi Zelig Pliskin's book: THANK YOU! Gratitude: Formulas, Stories, and Insights: Artscroll Publishers)

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#1232   "I am Full of Gratitude Today"

I would like to suggest an exercise for a day when you feel adventurous enough to try this out. For an entire day, respond to anyone who asks you how you are, "I am full of gratitude today."

You might even say, "I am full of gratitude today," to someone who didn't ask you how you are.

The first thought that goes through someone's mind is usually, "What happened special today?"

This gives you an opportunity to think about what happened special today. Each and every day there is always something special to be grateful for. The one factor that is always there is the fact that this day you are alive. By virtue of being alive today, today is special and you are entitled to be full of gratitude today.

(From Rabbi Zelig Pliskin's book: THANK YOU! Gratitude: Formulas, Stories, and Insights: Artscroll Publishers)

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#1233   Spread A Little Cheer

When you are cheerful, you spread your good feelings to others. This enables them to gain from all of the benefits of being in a good state.

Remember how you felt when you were spontaneously cheerful. See what you saw. Hear what you heard. And feel what you felt.

Access this state whenever you interact with people - and they'll appreciate it!

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#1234   Proper Prayer

Imagine what it would be like to speak to the wisest, most powerful being in the universe.

Realize that when you pray, you are doing just that. As you talk in prayer, nothing else in the world exists for you but Him and you. Talk to Him with the ease you talk with your father. At the same time, maintain complete awe and respect.

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#1235   Joy Removes Envy of Others

When you personally are happy, it doesn't make any difference what others have. So the way to counteract envy is to increase your own level of joy.

By mastering joy, you will become free from envy.

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#1236   Being Free From Anger

Hillel the Sage was able to remain patient even when someone purposely tried to provoke him. He felt no irritation whatsoever about any matter. There was no arousal of anger at all. This is what it means to be completely free from anger.

The level of Hillel is the level we should each strive for as regards to not getting angry. Of course it is not easy. But the first step is to increase your motivation and be totally resolved to conquer anger. Then feel joy with every drop of improvement!

(see Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto - Path of the Just, ch.11)

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#1237   Problems Bring Us Closer

Many people express gratitude to the Almighty for being saved from desperate and problematic situations. But surely they'd have preferred that the problem would have never have arisen in the first place!

This, however, is not the proper attitude. The purpose of all problems is that they should serve as a means for a person to become closer to the Almighty. Both the problems - and the solutions - are part of the Divine plan to help elevate you.

The next time you are faced with a problem, think for a moment: "This problem enables me to become closer to my Creator."

(see Rabbi Yeruchem Levovitz - Daas Chochmah Umussar, vol. 1, p.17)

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#1238   Keep Focused in Prayer

Keep your focus on the meaning of the words you say when praying. Listen to what your mouth says. Do not try to force out distractions that disturb you from concentrating on your prayers. Rather, overcome those by thinking about the meaning of what you are saying.

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#1239   Grow Ever Higher

A person constantly goes from one level to the next. If you're not going up, you're going down. It is impossible to remain on one level.

In what ways can you go up today?

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#1240   Purchasing Power

Every time you need to buy something and you have the money to purchase it, feel pleasure and gratitude that you have the money you need.

When waiting in line in a grocery store, instead of focusing on how slowly the line is moving, focus on how fortunate you are to be able to buy the food you need. Thank G-d that the food is available and you have the money to buy it!

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#1241   Recall Your Successes

Right now, think of a challenge that you handled well. What did you think, say, and do that enabled you to handle it well?

There have undoubtedly been many challenges that you handled smoothly - and it might not have registered in your mind that you were handling a challenge at all!

As you remember your successes, you will feel more confident in your ability to handle challenges in the future.

From now on, every time you deal well with a potentially difficult situation, consciously add it to your mental data base. This will serve as a valuable resource for the future.

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#1242   Everything is for the Best

One concept that will make the most difference in the emotional quality of your life is... the awareness that all the Almighty does is for your benefit. There is no greater wealth than mastering this attitude. When you reach this level, you will not be broken or become sad regardless of how the Almighty sets up your life. You will accept whatever happens with love.

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#1243   Plan for Difficulties

Before difficulties arise, think in advance about what could go wrong, and then try to work out potential solutions. By devising a variety of solutions, you will be prepared to cope in a productive manner with whatever contingency may arise.

Today, think of one potential difficulty that might arise in your life. Brainstorm with yourself and think of five possible solutions.