Daily Lift by Rabbi Zelig Pliskin

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Difficulties will occur in everyone's life. We are typically much more aware of our own difficulties than those of others. This can easily breed unwarranted envy. But knowing that everyone has challenges in life can make your own easier to cope with.

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#723 Learn From Your Experience

The essence of wisdom is to have a complete grasp of reality. A wise person knows the probable consequences of a particular course of action. Therefore, someone with experience in a particular is regarded as "wise" because he has personal knowledge of which actions produce which outcomes. Internalize the knowledge you have obtained from your experience; this will earn you the title, "a wise person."

Next time you find yourself in a painful or uncomfortable situation, tell yourself, "With this experience I am gaining more wisdom." If your mind ever takes you back to past painful events, view them as your personal "University of Wisdom."

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#724 Your Real Pleasure Potential

In physical matters, a person's desires are always greater than the actual potential for pleasure.

But in spiritual matters, such as studying Torah and doing good deeds, a person's pleasure will be commensurate to his desire for those things. The greater you desire them, the more pleasure you will experience!

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#725 View the World with a Benevolent Eye

A master artist looks at an entirely different world than someone who lacks his vision. We can all train ourselves to see more deeply. When you see the world as a place in which to do kindness, you see a different world. You see a world full of spiritual opportunities wherever you are and wherever you go.

Let this be your world.

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#726 Commit to Greater Diligence

Diligence enables you to master skills and excel in them. Think about one area of your life where you can commit yourself to greater diligence.

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#727 Fill Your Mind with Positive Thoughts

We cannot think two thoughts at the same time. Consequently, when negative thoughts arise, you do not need to fight them. Make an effort to think positive thoughts, and the negative thoughts will disappear.

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#728 It Takes Strength to Keep Silent

Why don't people like to remain silent when others insult them? Because they're afraid that others might think they're weak and unable to answer back.

The truth is, it takes much greater strength to remain silent when someone insults you. Revenge, on the other hand, is a sign of weakness. A revenger lacks the necessary strength of character to forgive.

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#729 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.

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#730 The Ingredient that Makes all the Difference

We all want to live happy lives. To live an authentically happy life, we need to be grateful for all the good we experience in life.

As a reader of the material in this book commented, "I had thought of all types of reasons why I wasn't as happy as I wished to be. Now I realize that I was missing gratitude. This is the ingredient that makes all the difference."

Gratitude is the fundamental attribute that is a foundation of being happy throughout our lives.

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#731 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.

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#732 Two People With Seemingly Similar Lives

Two people can have lives that seem very similar from the outside. They both can have what seems to be a good life. They have nice homes, plenty of food, a fine family, good jobs. Yet the quality of their lives can be polar opposites. One lacks gratitude. He is always dissatisfied and unhappy. He always focuses on what he considers to be missing. He always has complaints. He creates negativity wherever he goes.

The other has mastered gratitude. He lives a more spiritual life. He is always grateful and joyful. He always has a good word to say about others. He is a pleasure to be around. He is constantly in a state of well-being. He consistently makes others feel good.

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#733 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.

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#734 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.

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#735 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.

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#736 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.

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#737 What Am I Grateful For Right Now?

A student told me that his father had a habit that used to annoy him. It was a minor habit, but he found it irritating. His father would frequently say, "You know" when he spoke. As politely and respectfully as he could, he had pointed this out to his father. His father told him that he wasn't aware of this, and he would try to avoid it. But this habit was so entrenched that it wasn't so easy to just stop saying, "You know." As his father would say, "You know, everyone has such habits."

I suggested to the son that when his father said, "You know," he should think to himself, "What am I grateful for right now?" Let the habit of his father create the habit in his own mind of asking this gratitude enhancing question.

The son reported to me, "First of all, I have a tremendous amount of things to be grateful for about my father. In a short time, my mind would think of, 'What are you grateful for right now?' whenever I heard anyone say, 'You know.' Now I am even grateful that my father says, 'You know,' since it has made me a much more grateful person."

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#738 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.

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#739 Shabbos: A Day Of Gratitude

Shabbos is the ultimate day of celebration. Everything else that a person can celebrate in this world is minor and miniscule compared to what we celebrate on Shabbos. On Shabbos we celebrate the creation of the entire universe and everything in it.

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#740 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.

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#741 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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#742 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."

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#743 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."

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#744 Don't Take Things For Granted

A key element in why it's easy to lack gratitude is because human nature is to take things for granted when we get used to having them. To master gratitude we need to stop taking things for granted and to increase our thoughts of appreciation.

The Creator keeps bestowing His tremendous kindnesses on us each and every day when we are awake and when we are asleep, whether we are aware of them or not. There are so many things in our lives that we take for granted.

As an exercise, choose a day to not take anything for granted. Look at everything as if it were new. Look at everything as if this were the first time that this positive thing was happening. Look at all that you own as if you just bought or received them today. Look at what you have as if it were invented recently and you are one of the first people on the planet to get it.

Hopefully this exercise will give you the experience of what it's like to not take things for granted.

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#745 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?

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#746 Take A Breather

As you read this paragraph, you will be breathing. Be aware of your next breath. Every time you breathe, you can either breathe subconsciously or you can choose to breathe mindfully. And then you can choose to be grateful for each breath, which is what the Midrash suggests that we do. Since you breathe regularly throughout the day, the practice of being grateful for each breath will fill your day with gratitude.

There are courses on art appreciation and music appreciation. Breathing appreciation will enhance your life even further. Spend five minutes counting your breaths. This will increase your awareness of how often you breathe and will slow down your breathing.

When you breathe slowly and deeply, your nervous system relaxes and becomes calmer. Slow, deep breathing alleviates anger, tension, fears, and stress. These states are not conducive to clear thinking or happiness. As you breathe slowly and deeply your mind clears and you will be able to gain a broader perspective that is helpful in dealing with those underlying issues that have caused the distressful feelings in the first place. When you add gratitude, the process becomes much more effective.

I am often asked, "What is the one spiritual exercise that would help me connect with the Creator?"

"Breathing," I suggest.

"Breathing?" is often the incredulous reply.

"Yes, breathing! When you make breathing a spiritual experience, you gain a greater awareness of the Almighty's love and kindness. You appreciate that He gave you a need for oxygen so you would be constantly reminded that He is giving you what you need to stay alive.

We are all addicted to oxygen. Try to hold your breath for thirty seconds and the only thing you will be thinking of is, "I need my oxygen fix right away." This is a healthy addiction, and no one suggests that we give it up. So since you are breathing anyway, upgrade its quality. Be grateful for each breath. Begin right now with your next ten breaths.