Daily Lift by Rabbi Zelig Pliskin

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#384 View Challenges As Elevating

When you are faced with a challenge, you have many choices of how to view it. Some ways can cause more pain than necessary.

For example, your spouse might push your buttons more than anyone else. But you can look at this challenge as a vote of confidence from your Creator. You can say to yourself, "G-d believes in me. He believes that I can face this challenge and grow from it. If He believes that I can handle it, then I'm confident that He gave me the intelligence and emotional strength to deal with this."

Be the best person you can be. The more difficult the situation, the better person you become by acting in an elevated way. Our purpose in this world is to keep growing and developing our character. Without challenges... our growth is limited.

[Gail]

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#385 Duplicate Spiritual Greatness

It can take a long time until something is invented. But once one person has already broken through the creative barrier, others can easily follow suit and produce the same results. For example, it took many years until someone invented the first railroad train. But after one person invented it, many others built similar railroad trains. It doesn't take a genius to model the work of a genius!

The same principle applies to spiritual growth. There were people in previous generations who reached great heights. They were innovators in the field of Jewish metaphysics. Since we now have them as models, the knowledge of how to reach spiritual greatness is available to all of us.

Today, think of five great people you have met or read about. What qualities do you most respect in each one? As you reflect on these qualities, consider how you would apply these same attributes to yourself.

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#386 Elevate Your Outlook at Work

When you are working at your job, focus on how you are helping other people and fulfilling the commandment of "love your neighbor."

Moreover, your job is an opportunity to work on being honest and trustworthy in every transaction.

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#387 Show Children Their Greatness

Rabbi Yechezkel Levenstein wrote:

"The way to educate youngsters is to elevate them by pointing out the greatness they can achieve by utilizing their potential."

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#388 Emulate The Great

If you have to explain something to someone who needs many repetitions, imagine that you are Rabbi Praida, who repeated each idea 400 times to a slow student.

You personally might not yet have developed the level of patience of Rabbi Praida. But when you imagine that you are Rabbi Praida, you plug into his amazing ability to be patient.

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#389 Two Ways to Make a Situation Worse

An ill person can needlessly worsen his situation in one of two ways. He can mistakenly consider himself not to be ill, and fail to seek the doctors and the medicine he needs. The second is the opposite. His sickness might be severe, but he exacerbates his situation by considering himself even more sick than he really is and this leads to his giving up hope of ever being cured. He himself increases the damage of his sickness by his discouragement.

This is very important for a sick person to keep in mind. But it is also appropriate in the area of spiritual welfare. A person not aware of his faults and failings will not work on self-improvement. But if he over exaggerates the extent of his negative qualities and behavior, he will become discouraged and his discouragement will prevent him from improving.

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#390 The Awesome Power of Joyful Willpower

Your thoughts are the source of your willpower. The actions you take flow from your thoughts about them. Every step you take is through the use of your willpower. Every time you do anything, it is through the use of your willpower.

A person who uses his willpower to engage in meaningful goals will feel a great sense of victory and joy. This might be difficult initially, but in the long run a person who uses willpower wisely will live a life full of joyful accomplishments.

You have the ability to choose to be joyful when you use your willpower in positive, meaningful ways. There is tremendous power in mastering "joyful willpower," to joyfully do what is in your best interests to do.

[Naomi]

Quote:

You have the ability to choose to be joyful when you use your willpower in positive, meaningful ways. There is tremendous power in mastering "joyful willpower," to joyfully do what is in your best interests to do.

Powerful

[Naomi]

#388 Emulate The Great

If you have to explain something to someone who needs many repetitions, imagine that you are Rabbi Praida, who repeated each idea 400 times to a slow student.

You personally might not yet have developed the level of patience of Rabbi Praida. But when you imagine that you are Rabbi Praida, you plug into his amazing ability to be patient.

My Type-A personality certainly needs to emulate Rabbi Praida. 400 TIMES ... I do well with a couple of times ... much work to do for me!

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#391 Meaningful Goals Create a Meaningful Life

When you have meaningful goals, you create a meaningful life. Being goal-oriented gives you a direction. Goals create a focus for your efforts. Setting goals that you want to reach makes it easier to have the quality of zrizus. When a goal is very important to you, you are driven to do what you need to do to achieve that goal.

When you have clear goals, you can accomplish more than someone without clear goals. The most accomplished people in the world are experts at setting and reaching goals. Learn from them. All great people are great because they have made meaningful goals and took action to reach those goals. All joyful great people are among the happiest people in the world because they enjoy all that they are doing to achieve their meaningful goals.

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#392 All Action is in the Present

Everything that you have ever done in the past, you did in a present moment. Everything that you will ever do in the future, you will only be able to do in a present moment.

All your thoughts are thought in a present moment. All your feelings are felt in a present moment. And everything you actually say or do is said or done in a present moment.

Since you live your whole life in the present, moment by moment, it is wise to consider the wise thing to say and do in the present moment, in the here and now of that moment. It is also wise to prepare the wise thing to say or do in the future.

Someone who tends not to have zrizus might be thinking about how challenging it is to have zrizus. It's actually not difficult to have zrizus. Rather, it might appear difficult when you are not in a zrizus state, or when you are thinking about having future zrizus that you don't now have. But all moments of zrizus are just present moments, and when you are in that present moment of zrizus, it isn't difficult. Someone with a tendency to do things with zrizus will tend to look at zrizus as something he only needs to have one moment at a time.

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#393 Cheer Yourself On

Every hour on the hour, create an inner mental cheer for being alive. Hear an inner enthusiastic voice shouting, "It's great to be alive!" Imagine a stadium crowd cheering for your being alive.

When you control your anger or other character trait you're working on, see and hear the same immense crowd cheering for you!

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#394 Mastering the Habit of Taking Action

People who are lazy and habitually procrastinate lose out in all areas of their life. They ignore their health. They don't take care of their financial obligations on time. They don't study when they should study. They waste a lot of time. They tend to be late to things.

The antidote is to become a person who consistently takes action with joyful zrizus. You gain tremendously in all areas of your life when you make and reach goals, when you do what you say you will do, when you take care of things on time, and when others are counting on you. You gain spiritually and materially.

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#395 Believe You Can Become an Action-Oriented Person

If you presently find it difficult to believe that you can become an action-oriented person, you will benefit greatly from a teacher, mentor, friend, or coach who believes in you and your abilities. Having someone you respect believe in you is inspiring and motivating. You will gain a stronger and deeper belief in yourself.

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#396 Create the Taking Action Habit

Create the habit of taking action right away. To make anything a habit, you keep doing something many times. The wise person doesn't wait until a new habit becomes a habit. He acts the way he would act if he already had the habit. And then automatically his actions become a habit.

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#397 Think Before Taking Action

Action will enable you to accomplish and achieve. But something must come before taking action: thinking.

Think first. Yes, think big and think bigger, but always think first.

Taking action without thinking will lead to many avoidable mistakes and errors. Taking action without thinking first will lead to unnecessary quarrels and arguments, hurt feelings, and misunderstandings.

Taking action without thinking will lead to wasting much time and energy.

Taking action without thinking might get you far, but it's likely to get you far in the wrong direction.

When you spend time thinking about your options and about consequences, you will be able to learn from each experience to think even better and wiser next time.

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#398 Think and Act Your Wisest and Best

The quality of your choices will depend greatly on your mental state at the decision-making moment. Your choices will be different if you are at your wisest and best.

When you are at your wisest, you think more clearly. You weigh your options more skillfully. You give greater thought to the possible outcomes of a specific course of action. You realize when something is not a good idea. Since your quality of thinking is at its highest, your decision will be the best choice that you can make at that moment.

When you are at your best, your talents and skills represent your best efforts. Remember your best moments and utilize this to create your wisest and best ways of thinking and acting.

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#399 Plan Your Day

At the beginning of each day, ask yourself:

[1] What are my goals for today?

[2] What are the five most important things that I need to do today and what is their order of priority?

[3] What new Torah knowledge do I plan to gain today?

[4] What acts of kindness can I do today?

[5] What one trait would I like to excel in today?

[6] What positive change am I resolved to make or maintain today?

[7] If today were my last day, what would I make certain to do?

[8] How can I gain by looking at today as the first day of the rest of my life?

[9] What would you like written on my tombstone? What do I plan to do today in that area?

[10] What is important for me to remember today?

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#400 Review Your Day

At the end of each day, ask yourself:

[1] What were the major events of my day?

[2] What was my greatest moment today?

[3] What have I done today to further my major goals?

[4] What have I done today for self-improvement?

[5] What Torah knowledge have I gained today?

[6] What acts of kindness did I do today?

[7] If I made any mistakes today, what have I learned from them, and what can I do to prevent similar ones in the future?

[8] What positive traits and strengths did I express today?

[9] Based on my experiences of today, what do I want to remember to do tomorrow?

[10] As I am falling asleep, what positive self-suggestions can I tell myself, and what positive visualizations can I see, in order to upgrade my brain for tomorrow?

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#401 Your Mind Can Choose to Enjoy What You Do

One of the most self-empowering ideas for a happy, fulfilling life is that it's up to your own mind to choose to enjoy what you do. You have a tremendous power to develop this attitude.

If you need to do something that seems uninteresting and boring at first, ask yourself, "How can I find a way to enjoy what I need to do?"

Brainstorm. Enjoy the challenge of thinking of a number of ways to make the task more meaningful and fulfilling.

Ask yourself, "What are some of the ways that I can think about this task (or project, goal, or job) that will enable me to enjoy what I am doing?"

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#402 The Benefit of Building Up Your Zrizus State

When you are in an energized and enthusiastic emotional state, you feel like doing much more than when you are a low energy, down state. Some emotional states are conducive to taking action, and other states aren't.

Your emotional states are the sum total of your breathing rate, brain waves, blood pressure, energy level, heartbeat, hormones, immune system, muscle tension, physiology, and tone of voice.

Because every state you experience is stored in your magnificent brain, I advocate naming your best and most resourceful states. When you do this, you will find it easier to access those positive states.

The next time you find yourself in a "zrizus state," say to yourself, "This is my zrizus state." Be aware of your thoughts, mental images, and feelings when you are in this zrizus state.

[Naomi]

Naming our best and most resourceful states of being is a great idea. Meditation and relaxation techniques employ one's rate of breathing, brain waves, etc. Such a good method to recall our past good emotional states. However naming them would appear to imprint them in a more significant manner.

Interesting ... I like #402 ... building my Zirus State

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PKRAUSE

is that word spelled right???

just wondering

dgrimm60

What word dgrimm?

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#403 Serene Zrizus

Some people become overwhelmed when they feel they have too many things to do and they don't have enough time to do them. This overwhelmed feeling causes them to move more slowly than they usually do. Their minds becomes unclear. It's hard for them to focus and concentrate. Instead of becoming more efficient at what they have to do, they act way below their standard competency level.

What is the solution? Serene zrizus!

What does it mean to have serene zrizus? It means that you take action, and you do so with full speed ahead while remaining calm and tranquil inside. You move as fast as is appropriate for the specific situation and circumstance. But you have peace of mind.

You might not have previously associated zrizus with serenity, but now you can. Your mindset acknowledges that you will do everything that you have to do and that you will have an inner calm. Although you might move quickly, inwardly you are at ease.

A key benefit of having serene zrizus is that you think clearly. You think about what you need to do, and you remain calm as you take action.