Seeing the good from way back

Emunah Bitachon Besimcha Monday, July 13 09: Slow and gradual steps closer to Hashem. Today we allow ourselves to see the good of all things in the past while at the same time making a mental note not to repeat the same mistakes as we did before. The mental note is done with a positive tone and with a goal to work better and improve ourselves the next time the challenge arrives. THANK YOU HASHEM for everything.

Emunah Bitachon Besimcha at 2:07pm July 13

Usually we do something about it. As in ACTION taking. Today we begin to utilize the process of thoughts and mind. We start with a mental note and as the days go one we will grow to doing something (ACTION) to help us see the next challenge better. THANK YOU HASHEM

Small gradual steps forward

Emunah Bitachon Besimcha Sunday, July 12 09: As we step forward, we are taking small gradual steps closer to Hashem. We begin by seeing the past events in our lives no matter how tragic, as potions of the good that Hashem has bestowed upon us. A good cry and/or Hitbodadot can really help move us to this next step. THANK YOU HASHEM for everything. "May our past be accepted as was, and today be seen for the good that it is!"

Sensless hatred

Emunah Bitachon Besimcha Friday, July 10 09: As we begin the 3 weeks of introspection let's look at one reason the beit hamikdash (holy temple) was destroyed. Sinas Chinam (senseless hatred). If we will work on giving the benefit of the doubt to others we must first begin with ourselves. This weekend continue to see the good in you, that is why Hashem created you here. "And Hashem created ... and it was good!" That includes YOU! Good Shabbos

Shimon Aaron Detwiler at 4:07pm July 10

"And in but a little bit the evil person is not; you shall reflect upon his place and he will not be there" ~ Tehillim 37:10

This verse is telling us to judge everyone favorably. Even if you see that someone is a complete sinner, you must hunt and search until you find some bit of good in him. There, in the place where this little bit of good exists, that person is not evil.

By focusing on this place of good, we judge him favorably and genuinely move him off the scale of guilt and onto the scale of merit.

This is most importantly applied to ourselves. When we focus on our own good points we move ourselves onto the scale of merit which gives us the strength and courage to remove anger and depression from in front of our eyes. Thereby giving us a different perception of the world. The perception of compassion, the opposite of Sinas Chinam. Every journey starts with our next step, finnding the good in yourself and focusing on that point is a GREAT place to start. Good Shabbos!

A day for gratitude

Emunah Bitachon Besimcha Wednesday, July 08 09: Today we will give gratitude to Hashem by saying THANK YOU HASHEM randomly throughout the day. Tomorrow begins the three weeks of introspection at the loss of our holy temple. Inward it is about what we need to do to get back on top. Number one thing to do is to find the good within ourselves and to talk to Hashem from that space. THANK YOU HASHEM

Putting into practice

Emunah Bitachon Besimcha Tuesday, July 07 09: Now that we have taken upon ourselves that during certain times of the day we will see the good in everything and have FAITH that its all for the good, now we put it into practice. THANK YOU HASHEM! This is not easy to do. It takes lots of practice. You will fall and feel like giving up, don't! Please Hashem give us strength to do this today, and help us get closer to you!

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Shimon Aaron Detwiler at 4:57pm July 7

The key is to not associate our commitment to emuna and avodat HaShem with the outcome. When we look to a certain outcome the yetzer will use this to cause discouragement --- which ultimately is a lack of spiritual awareness. As we endeavour to strengthen our good points and to focus on the good in the world around us we must do it for its own sake not for the sake of the "intended" outcome.

Emunah Bitachon Besimcha at 9:54pm July 7

The yetzer will come either way. As long as we stick with our commitment we will succeed. The yetzer will get stronger as we get better and we need to learn how not to allow the yetzer to alter our path, but we're not there yet. For now, accept yourself at the place you are at, see the good in everything as best as you can and begin the process of a slow growth

One step at a time

Emunah Bitachon Besimcha Monday, July 06 09: Wasn't so easy yesterday? I failed to do it all day too. HOW can we begin this vital step when our tapes are so strong from so many years of programming? HOW can we each day as is without analyzing it to death? HOW do I move past the negative thoughts? Since FACEBOOK only allows a few lines here, I will answer them in my comment below. Hope you (press) LIKE or even comment on my explanation!

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Emunah Bitachon Besimcha at 11:31am July 6

Good Monday Morning to all. The reason its not an easy thing to do is because there is a step before this one that is vital to any CHANGES we are going to make on a daily basis. That change is the way we look at ourselves. Yesterday I proposed that we accept each day as is and to allow ourselves that with FAITH we can notice that it is all from HASHEM and it is all GOOD! This is a concept that will help us wake up every day and move along life with a better attitude. However, first we must accept who we are TODAY. As of today HOW much can we do with this concept? Some can do it all day and some can do it for half a day and even some can do it for one hour a day. You have to accept your current status otherwise we give up before we grow. Those who use the Shmiras Halashon chart (watching the words that come out of our mouth) take upon themselves an hour or two a day when they do not gossip, slander etc. What makes our lessons on Emunah Bitachon any different?

Today we will ask everyone reading this post to take upon themselves a chunk of time throughout the day to take upon ourselves yesterdays challenge. To accept each day as good, and to realize that with faith in Hashem all is good and for our good. Question now is HOW much time per day according to the place you are now in will you accept upon yourself? I take upon myself 1/2 day minimum. How about you?

Ask HOW not WHY

Emunah Bitachon Besimcha Sunday, July 05 09: Asking HOW questions will attract better results. We have a unique opportunity every day to change into a positive thought process. Step one, HOW do I move past the daily negative thoughts? Accept each day as is and allow yourself to have FAITH that it's all from Hashem and it's all for the GOOD. Please do not move past this vital step. Please send feedback and questions, help is on the way!

Getting closer to Hashem

It was a good day. I decided to start breaking open the Emunah discourse with a bit of important information to carry us through the next three weeks. Here is the post from facebookand the comments that followed.

Emunah Bitachon Besimcha Thursday, July 02 09: Let's begin the process of getting closer to Hashem by realizing that WHY is a stop word, and HOW is a go word. Why me? will never have a proper answer, How can I work things out gives us a path to work with. Today let us concentrate to stop asking Hashem Why, and begin asking Hashem... HOW! THANK YOU HASHEM

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Comments

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Shoshanah at 10:04pm July 2

How about why should I do this mitzvah over that one? Is that a why question we can ask? How else do you learn to discern which mitzvah to do at what time and when a given mitzvah takes precedence?

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Richard at 12:03am July 3

Maybe asking HOW can I do both would be the question?

Emunah Bitachon Besimcha at 3:48am July 3

Asking WHY does God do this or that? Why me? These Why questions - the one that takes us away from Emunah, Bitachon B'Simcha. How can I come closer, How can I move forward etc. Those are good questions. Emunah is a paradox not everything can be understood. Asking Why people die, why bad things happen, they do not have any answers. Asking HOW to handle it, how to move forward, that we can answer. We need to stop victimizing our WHY? and staying focused on the HOW

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Shoshanah at 5:00am July 3

Thanks. What does it mean that Emunah is a paradox?

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Shoshanah at 8:17am July 3

I hear not getting into victim thinking, however there is one value in asking why and that is to correct our ways. e.g. someone who had a stroke or heart attack (lo aleinu) who had lived a fast paced life with no exercise and unhealthy food, needs to learn how to live a healthy balanced lifestyle. In this case asking why shows all the lifestyle ... Read More

Emunah Bitachon Besimcha at 2:41am July 5

Dear Shoshana
Asking How after a heart attack is to take steps not to get there again. Asking Hashem why did I get a heart attack is futile and has no answer. Emunah means when we do not understand God/Hashem. Our father Avraham was told go take your son to the mountain, and before Hashem said in Yitzchok your son there will be nations created, how are both possible? That is the paradox of Emunah/Faith. After something happens it is possible to go back and say I understand why, if we want to... but until then what we do as we move forward is believe that Hashem knows what he is doing and we have faith that it is all for the good.
This process of believing is a hard thing to process, that is why we are teaching it here one step at a time. We are not father Abraham, but over time we may reach a step closer to have faith in Hashem even on his level of belief. Stick with us - there are more baby steps yet to take.

THANK YOU HASHEM!