Showing posts with label hitbodedut. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hitbodedut. Show all posts
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Friday, April 5, 2013
The Unconscious Mind...the Emuna Mind
I'd like to think that how I view myself and how I respond to life is coming from a conscious place, and that I am fairly in control. However, I am learning that the conscious mind is only a small part of our greater mind. In fact, our unconscious throws a lot more weight in terms of our thoughts and feelings than we realize.
Ah, yes, the unconscious mind. This was the cornerstone of Sigmund's Freud's psychoanalytic theory. Formed in our childhood, this 'dark' side of the mind harbors a lot of repressed emotions and memories, negativity, and things we are simply not aware of. And people will unknowingly act on that negativity or the positivity that resides there.
And this could explain why a seemingly well-adjusted guy has trouble maintaining a job or has difficulty staying in a healthy relationships. If in his unconscious, he really believes he is a loser and unworthy of love, this is what he will keep attracting in to his life. The unconscious mind will be expressed!!
Now what? If I've had a lot of hard knocks in life, all these negative experiences are probably swimming in my unconscious mind, waiting to explode, or worse is actually bringing more negative experiences into my sphere. C'mon there was my emotionally abusive father, difficult incidences at school, and yo, there's constant negative messages about Blacks in the news, in the movies, there's misinformation about Jews, there's a lot of crap out there!!
I don't know about y'all, but I find this horrifying!!!
Ok, there are websites that go on and on about this, and they're all quite fascinating. And some suggest meditation and positive affirmations to re-program our unconscious mind. And that's all great. One website had the fascinating perspective that positive affirmations don't truly remove the painful feelings and might just be a lame whitewashing attempt over true pain. Interesting point!!
Well, in Jewish Breslov Chassidic thought, hitbodedut is stressed big time. Hitbodedut is basically talking to G-d. It's taught that in order to change ourselves, we must imagine the change and we must express this desire in words OUT LOUD.
The world was created with Ten Sayings. Hashem 'spoke' and the world was formed.
We, too, can create with our speech. But it begins in the mind.
The Jews were in Egypt for 210 years. That means they were enslaved for decades upon decades. They had surely adopted a slave mentality. Low self-esteem, depression, misery might have been as common as their daily staple. Yet, there was a glimmer of hope. In their minds, they believed that G-d/ Hashem would save them through a Deliverer. (Remember the Ten Commandments movie. I don't think Moses looked anything like Charlton Heston, but I do love that film!)
And because they believed, this truth became manifest. Not only that, but on the night of their great exodus from Egypt, G-d commanded them to do a sacrifice, a korban Pesach. They were to slaughter the sheep, the god of their enemy. Why was this celebratory act done while they were still in Egypt, still in the mire of that 'dark' place?? I heard a beautiful vort explaining that before a person can actually be free, they have to first imagine themselves free in their mind.
I call this the Emuna Mind.
The Emuna Mind connects to the good that G-d wants to give us. And the Emuna Mind needs speech to exist. G-d doesn't want to see people enslaved, languishing in ghettos with low self-esteem. He doesn't want genocide. He doesn't want the oppression of spirit. When we look around the natural world, we can see how much G-d loves Life, Health, Kindness and Abundance. It's all over the natural world, and it's all over the Torah.
The negativity in our unconscious is most likely going to take us away from that life, love and abundance. I don't need to analyze my unconscious to know that. My unconscious is my Egypt, where my enslaved mind hides. I know 'cuz I've had hard knocks!! And so have you.
Jews are commanded to remember the Exodus from Egypt every day. Egypt is a difficult place to leave. Most of the people chose to stay and did not leave with Moses. And once in the desert, even the brave that left often thought of returning to the familiar comfort of enslavement.
G-d took us out of Egypt. And He does so every day.
But He is looking for our desire to leave.
By speaking honestly to G-d, learning about the good He wants for us, imagining that good manifesting in our lives, and expressing that through our speech, we can revolutionize every cell in our minds, in our bodies and every cell in the whole world to create our Exodus from Egypt.
G-d bless!!
Check it out:
http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-the-difference-between-the-unconscious-and-the-subconscious.htm
http://www.lifetrainings.com/Your-unconscious-mind-is-running-you-life.html
Ah, yes, the unconscious mind. This was the cornerstone of Sigmund's Freud's psychoanalytic theory. Formed in our childhood, this 'dark' side of the mind harbors a lot of repressed emotions and memories, negativity, and things we are simply not aware of. And people will unknowingly act on that negativity or the positivity that resides there.
And this could explain why a seemingly well-adjusted guy has trouble maintaining a job or has difficulty staying in a healthy relationships. If in his unconscious, he really believes he is a loser and unworthy of love, this is what he will keep attracting in to his life. The unconscious mind will be expressed!!
Now what? If I've had a lot of hard knocks in life, all these negative experiences are probably swimming in my unconscious mind, waiting to explode, or worse is actually bringing more negative experiences into my sphere. C'mon there was my emotionally abusive father, difficult incidences at school, and yo, there's constant negative messages about Blacks in the news, in the movies, there's misinformation about Jews, there's a lot of crap out there!!
I don't know about y'all, but I find this horrifying!!!
Ok, there are websites that go on and on about this, and they're all quite fascinating. And some suggest meditation and positive affirmations to re-program our unconscious mind. And that's all great. One website had the fascinating perspective that positive affirmations don't truly remove the painful feelings and might just be a lame whitewashing attempt over true pain. Interesting point!!
Well, in Jewish Breslov Chassidic thought, hitbodedut is stressed big time. Hitbodedut is basically talking to G-d. It's taught that in order to change ourselves, we must imagine the change and we must express this desire in words OUT LOUD.
The world was created with Ten Sayings. Hashem 'spoke' and the world was formed.
We, too, can create with our speech. But it begins in the mind.
The Jews were in Egypt for 210 years. That means they were enslaved for decades upon decades. They had surely adopted a slave mentality. Low self-esteem, depression, misery might have been as common as their daily staple. Yet, there was a glimmer of hope. In their minds, they believed that G-d/ Hashem would save them through a Deliverer. (Remember the Ten Commandments movie. I don't think Moses looked anything like Charlton Heston, but I do love that film!)
And because they believed, this truth became manifest. Not only that, but on the night of their great exodus from Egypt, G-d commanded them to do a sacrifice, a korban Pesach. They were to slaughter the sheep, the god of their enemy. Why was this celebratory act done while they were still in Egypt, still in the mire of that 'dark' place?? I heard a beautiful vort explaining that before a person can actually be free, they have to first imagine themselves free in their mind.
I call this the Emuna Mind.
The negativity in our unconscious is most likely going to take us away from that life, love and abundance. I don't need to analyze my unconscious to know that. My unconscious is my Egypt, where my enslaved mind hides. I know 'cuz I've had hard knocks!! And so have you.
Jews are commanded to remember the Exodus from Egypt every day. Egypt is a difficult place to leave. Most of the people chose to stay and did not leave with Moses. And once in the desert, even the brave that left often thought of returning to the familiar comfort of enslavement.
G-d took us out of Egypt. And He does so every day.
But He is looking for our desire to leave.
By speaking honestly to G-d, learning about the good He wants for us, imagining that good manifesting in our lives, and expressing that through our speech, we can revolutionize every cell in our minds, in our bodies and every cell in the whole world to create our Exodus from Egypt.
G-d bless!!
Check it out:
http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-the-difference-between-the-unconscious-and-the-subconscious.htm
http://www.lifetrainings.com/Your-unconscious-mind-is-running-you-life.html
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Pray for Everything!!
Hat tip to Azamra.org
Pray for everything
You must pray for everything. Even if your garment is torn and you need another, you should pray to God to give you something to wear.
Do this for everything: make it a habit to pray for all your needs, great or small. Your main prayers should be for fundamentals: that God should help you to serve Him and draw closer. Even so, you should also pray for minor things.
God may give you food and clothing and everything else you need in life even without your asking for them. However, you are then like an animal. God provides all living creatures with their food. But if you do not draw your needs through prayer, your livelihood is like that of an animal. A man must draw his vitality and all his needs from God only through prayer.
Is it beneath your dignity to pray even for something minor? You must pray for everything, even the most minor things.
Sichot Haran #233
Teachings
Pray for everything
You must pray for everything. Even if your garment is torn and you need another, you should pray to God to give you something to wear.
Do this for everything: make it a habit to pray for all your needs, great or small. Your main prayers should be for fundamentals: that God should help you to serve Him and draw closer. Even so, you should also pray for minor things.
God may give you food and clothing and everything else you need in life even without your asking for them. However, you are then like an animal. God provides all living creatures with their food. But if you do not draw your needs through prayer, your livelihood is like that of an animal. A man must draw his vitality and all his needs from God only through prayer.
Is it beneath your dignity to pray even for something minor? You must pray for everything, even the most minor things.
Sichot Haran #233
Teachings
Sunday, November 21, 2010
My Sunset Chats
G-d is here.
I am seeking Him out!
and finding Him in everything that happens in my day.
Like a parent to a child, He is constantly sending us guidance, advice, and comfort.
We have to believe that there are messages for us to receive.
And surely, we can send our own messages to Him.
Better than an email.
Faster than an SMS.
Through prayer.
In our own words.
Talk about everything and anything that you are going through.
G-d is seeking you out as well.
Seeking a relationship with you.
"Talk to Me!"
What are you hoping for?
What are you thankful for?
Why are you angry?
What doesn't seem right?
Sigh. Groan. Move!!
Give thanks for the good we have in our lives.
Hashem is constantly looking to give us good.
His good.
"Even if you can't open your mouth at all, just the fact that you stand there putting your hope in G0d, lifting your eyes upwards and forcing yourself to speak and even if you say no more than a single word the entire time-all this endures forever... (Likutey Moharan II)
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