Daily Lift by Rabbi Zelig Pliskin

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#1169 The Quest For Joy

It is possible to talk about joy and then feel bad for not feeling as much joy as you would wish. But this isn’t necessary. You are in the process of learning the skill of experiencing more joy. You can feel good about having this as your goal.

The Almighty leads a person along the path that he wants to go.

(See Talmud, Makos 10b.)

Ask for Divine assistance in your quest for more joy. You will live a happier and healthier life. You will be able to help others be more joyful. And you will be more joyful when you pray and devote yourself to spiritual pursuits.

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#1170 Focus on Building Your Self-Image

Whatever you focus your attention on, you increase. This one principle is the key to mastering any trait and skill.

A person who focuses on building his self-image will eventually think like a person who has a positive self-image. He will feel like a person who has a positive self-image. He will speak and act the way a person with a positive self-image speaks and acts. I have elaborated on this in my book Building Your Self-Image and the Self-Image of Others.

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#1171 Focus On What You Do Want

Focus on what you do want. Make your goal explicit. “My goal is to increase my moments of joy.” This way, every single moment of joy is a successful moment.

Celebrate each moment of joy. Be grateful every time you experience joy.

Having this goal will place your attention on joy. Instead of feeling bad when you are not joyful, you will experience positive feelings about experiencing more joy.

Each moment of joy in your entire life is experienced one moment at a time. You can’t have more than one moment of joy in any given moment, but you can increase the number of joyful moments. How? By focusing on it.

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#1172 Your Creator Gave You an Endorphin Factory

When you experience joy, you feel good because your magnificent brain produces hormones called endorphins. These self-produced chemicals give you happy and joyful feelings.

Research on these biochemicals has proven that the brain-produced hormones enter your blood stream even if you just act joyful, not only when you really are happy. Although the joyful experience is totally imaginary and you know that it didn’t actually happen, when you speak and act as if that imaginary experience did happen, you get a dose of endorphins.

These chemicals are naturally produced by your brain. They are totally free and entirely healthy.

Many people find that this knowledge inspires them to create more joyful moments. It’s not just an abstract idea, but a physical reality.

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#1173 Joy is Created and Stored in Your Brain

When you are joyful, your brain has created that joy.

You might think that an external event or situation caused that joy, and may seek joy from something external. Thinking that joy is found only outside of you will prevent you from using the full potential of your mind. Yes, external events and situations can be a catalyst. But it is always in your own brain and mind that joy is created.

Every joyful moment of your life is stored in your brain. If you don’t recall a specific joyful moment, you might not access it to experience it again. However, that moment is stored in your brain. Memories of what you saw, heard, and felt when you were joyful are all stored in your brain. Some people find it easy to relive their joyful moments. They

Right now tell yourself, “My goal is to be a master at recalling my positive and meaningful joyful moments.”

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#1174 Portable Mental Computer

Your personal archives and library of joyful moments are stored in your portable G-d-given mental computer. So are your moments of courage, serenity, love for the Creator, and love for kindness.

Knowing that your mind can access the memories of joy and other positive traits makes the entire process of being more joyful much easier.

Just knowing this piece of information is insufficient, however. We must draw our mind’s attention to the joy that is already stored within.

As you continue to read this book and apply the exercises, you will gain a greater awareness of what you can do to improve your skill of creating more moments of joy, courage, love, and serenity.

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#1175 The Most Joyful Feeling in the World

The most joyful feeling in the world is the awareness that your Father, your King, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, is lovingly giving you the greatest gift possible: life this very moment. What a great consciousness! It’s awesome.

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#1176 "If I Were a Master of Joy…"

When you want to access a joyful state, ask yourself, “If I were a master of joy, how would I speak and act now?”

Since this method doesn’t ask you to feel anything you’re not actually feeling, it will be easier to speak and act the way you would if were a master of joy. This is the power of acting “as if.” I have found that people who once claimed, “I can’t just decide to be joyful when I don’t really feel joyful,” were able to benefit from this approach.

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#1177 Determination to be Joyful Today

We live one day at a time. To make joy easier to attain, decide to be joyful just for today. Tomorrow you can be determined to make that day joyful. But today you only need to decide for today.

Everyone would like to be joyful, but not everyone is willing to do all that they could to actually create daily joy. In general, the more determined you are to reach a goal, the more time and effort you are willing to invest. Since you are reading this book, you are already showing a strong interest in increasing your joy.

Some people argue, “I’m just not the determined type. I start many things but don’t follow through. If something seems like too much effort, I give up right at the beginning.”

When something is truly important to you, you will have much more determination than usual. This is especially true when you greatly enjoy doing what you are determined to do.

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#1178 Joyful For Being Alive

When I suggest that people choose to be joyful in any present moment, some people argue, “If nothing special is happening, how can I just choose to be joyful? It won’t be real joy.”

People who win a major lottery prize are able to celebrate because they think this prize will give them happiness. Being alive is the ultimate thing to celebrate. As long as you are alive, so many options are open to you.

Developing the ability to choose to be joyful just because you are alive is a skill like any other skill. When you practice enough times, you will experience it on a biochemical and neurological level.

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#1179 Joyful Breathing

As you read this sentence, you are breathing. Throughout the entire day today you will be breathing.

The Sages have taught us to be grateful for each and every breath. This is based on the last verse of Tehillim (Psalms) that says our entire soul should praise the Almighty. The Hebrew word for soul is neshamah, which is similar to the Hebrew word neshimah, breath.

The more frequently you focus on your appreciation and gratitude for each breath, the greater will be your sense of daily gratitude. You can easily add the word “joy” into your new habitual practice.

Since every breath you take is always in the present moment, focusing on gratitude for a breath will also focus your mind on the present moment. This is especially important when you are worrying about the future or being upset about something in the past.

Right now you are still breathing. Great! Now say, “I am joyfully grateful for each and every breath.”

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#1180 Unique Joyful Moments

Every living person is unique, from his genetic makeup to his personal history. Since you are unique, your past and future moments of joy will be unique to you. You have your own unique style of joy in the present, too.

Some people think about the joy of other people. Then they say, “I’m just not a joyful person. I’m not as outgoing and friendly as some joyful people. I would feel strange to act like some of the joyful people I’ve seen.” Realize that you only need to experience joy in your unique way.

Some extroverts are joyful and some are not. Some introverts are joyful and some are not. Some loud people are joyful and some quiet people are joyful.

Anyone who isn’t joyful right now can choose and decide to create more joy in his own unique way.

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Wish People a Joyful Day

It's nice to have a nice day. But it’s great to have a joyful day. Wish people a joyful day. Compare the standard “Have a nice day,” with “Have a joyful day!” What kind of a day would you prefer to have?

It would be incongruous to say, “Have a joyful day!” in a dull tone of voice with a sad look on your face. So allow yourself to experience joy when you wish others joy.

What will happen when you regularly wish people a joyful day? Experiment and see.

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#1182 Take a Joy Walk

Walking is one of the healthiest and simplest exercises. When you walk briskly, you breathe more deeply and your mind clears. Your brain produces healthy biochemicals that make you feel better and enable you to think with greater clarity. Walking stimulates creativity, and you might think of better ways to reach goals. Many people take walks to come up with solutions to challenges.

You can utilize your walking time to increase your level of joy. As you walk briskly, repeat to yourself, “With each and every step, I am feeling more and more joy. With each and every step, I am feeling more and more joy. With each and every step, I am feeling more and more joy.”

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#1183 Bake Joy Cookies

If you know how to bake cookies, I suggest that you bake “joy cookies.” If you don’t bake cookies yourself, you can ask someone else to bake them for you.

Whatever cookie recipe you use, shape the dough into three shapes: a letter J, a letter O, and a letter Y. This, of course, spells the word “JOY.”

As you prepare the cookies contemplate what it is like to experience joy.

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#1184 Joyful Dreams

Before you go to sleep, you have a great opportunity to condition your mind to be more joyful by programming yourself to have joyful dreams. Simply repeat the words, “Joyful dreams,” in a calm and peaceful tone of voice.

You might also suggest ideas for a joyful dream. With patience and persistence, you will eventually see results.

After upgrading the joy in your dreams, you can condition your mind for more courage, kindness, and serenity by suggesting to yourself, “Brain, please create more dreams of courage, kindness, and serenity.”

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#1185 Feel One With Others

Everyone knows the Torah verse "Love your neighbor as yourself." (Leviticus 19:18)

But the second half of the verse is equally crucial: "I am the Almighty."

This teaches us that we are to love others as ourselves because we all have one Creator. Therefore we should feel the joy of others and, similarly, empathize with their misfortunes. This is the essence of all our obligations towards our fellow man.

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#1186 Generate Love for Others

The root cause of all negative behavior toward others is "sinas chinam" - feelings of dislike.

On the other hand, the attribute of feeling love for other people generates all forms of positive actions and behaviors. When you plant a small seed, a giant tree bearing delicious fruit will grow. The seed of love for others is a cause whose effect is everlasting bliss! Our forefather Avraham lived with this reality and therefore felt this state of bliss whenever he did acts of kindness for others.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if you felt bliss every time you did an act of kindness for someone? Imagine the uplift and surge of warm energy!

Tonight, before going to sleep, visualize yourself feeling blissful for doing acts of kindness. Eventually you will see kindness in your dreams... and in your everyday reality.

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#1187 Mentally Bless Others

I know an individual who has the ability to help others see what is good about themselves. I asked him, "What thoughts go through your mind when you meet someone?"

"I always mentally bless people with success in what is important to them," he replied.

When you wish people success in your mind -- even though others don't know what you are thinking -- you radiate positive energy. King Solomon wrote: "As water reflects a face back to face, so one's heart is reflected back to him by another" (Proverbs 27:19).When your heart and mind generate positive energy, others feel good about themselves and about you.

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#1188 Don't Do Unto Others

Be aware of what you would not want others to do to you.

Every time someone says or does anything you find distressful, immediately add it to your mental database of things you are committed not to do to others.

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#1189 Share Joy With Others

It is a Torah commandment to be joyous. The type of joy that is obligatory is that which you share with those less fortunate -- such as orphans, widows, the homeless and the poor. If, however, someone closes his doors to others and utilizes what he has only for himself and his family, then his joy is not the joy of a mitzvah, but joy of the stomach. It is a badge of shame. (see Maimonides, the Laws of Yom Tov 6:18)

Today, when you find yourself in a state of joy, think of someone who could use an emotional boost -- and then say or do something to increase that person's level of joy.

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#1190 You Need Self-Love To Give Love

"Only a person who inwardly feels good about himself will be able to fulfill the commandment of love your neighbor."

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#1191 Maintain Your Self-Respect

Regardless of how anyone else values you, you still have the ability to maintain your self-respect. Anyone who sincerely works on being a good person has virtues that make him valuable.

Never judge yourself based on anyone else's opinion of you. Ultimately it is your mind which determines how you will consider yourself. Even if you rely on someone else's judgment, it should be your own conscious choice.

Develop an objective view of your strengths and weaknesses. Work on growth and improvement. At the same time, realize that your intrinsic value is innate and can never be taken away from you.

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#1192 Lessen Sadness' Side Effects

One technique for overcoming feelings of sadness is to stop your thoughts for a few minutes and just feel the bodily reactions you are having. Experience the tension in the muscles of your head, shoulders, arm, and stomach.

"Sadness" is merely the word that describes your inner reaction. Focusing on your body's reaction frequently causes those reactions to subside.

This experiential technique is also effective for alleviating feelings of anger and anxiety, and can be used for relieving tension headaches.

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#1193 Feel Gratitude In Proportion

The Talmud states that we are obligated to make a blessing over misfortune, just as we make a blessing over the good.

What is the meaning of "just as?" When someone does you a favor, you feel grateful. The greater the favor, the greater your feeling of gratitude.

"That," said Rabbi Yitzchok Blauser, "should be the attitude towards suffering. When you suffer a little, realize the Almighty is sending that suffering for your benefit. When you suffer more, realize He means it as an even greater benefit. In proportion to the amount of suffering is the ultimate benefit to you."