Dear Awesome Reader,

“Bringing someone to mind has the effect of arousing that person’s innermost powers.  We see that when one looks deeply and intently at another, one will turn around and return the glance, because the penetrating gaze awakens the core of the soul.  Thought has the same effect.”

The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Hayom Yom (Shvat 14).

When we care for someone, it is possible to bring them to mind by using our imagination.  If they are troubled or not feeling well, we have the ability to arouse that person’s innermost powers by thinking of them.  Perhaps thinking a prayer for them, wishing them well or imagining them in a better situation.

The effect of this increases when we actually say their name out loud and combine our well wishes with an act of kindness.  Followers of the Rebbe have the custom of putting coins in a charity box everyday as they bring to mind and speech whoever they are concerned for.  We have one in most rooms of the house and have a few coins put aside for this purpose.  When I put a coin into the “pushka” (charity container) as I hold someone in my thoughts, I am anchoring a compassionate thought into the physical act of speech as well as deed.

My hope is that by arousing their soul powers, combined with G-d’s compassion, they are strengthened in healing and a bettering of a situation.

And it all starts with imagination.

It is said of the Rebbe that before he was three years old that he envisioned in his imagination a better world – one with no suffering.  What the Rebbe brought to mind was a time of Geula, that time predicted in Jewish sources when:

There will be neither famine nor war, neither envy nor strife, because goodness will flow in abundance and all delightful things will be as available as dust.  The occupation of the entire world will be solely to know G-d.

Maimonides, Code of Law

And then as the Rebbe grew, he devoted his life to bringing what he imagined into the world. He always looked at people’s innermost self, their soul self and gave them guidance and courage from seeing that powerful place within them.

I’m not a Rebbe, but I know that I have the ability to use my imagination to help bring the world to its full completion of wholeness.  This process is unfolding rapidly. Using our imagination to help guide and bring ourselves to healing, as well as others, is so within our reach.

I invite you to use the power of your imagination to bring to mind loved ones (including yourself) and draw that “well- wishing”  into the physical world by syncing up the hiddenness of your prayerful thoughts with any physical act of kindness, such as charity.

Together we can bring what the Rebbe imagined and what Jewish sources prophesize when the switch is flipped and the light of G-dliness streams into the world.

With blessings,

Meryl                       

Dear Awesome Reader,

The real winner of the Powerball Lottery is …..all of us.

All of us hold the winning ticket.

Why do I say that?

Because of the real story behind the billion dollar jackpot.

Shlomo Rechnitz is not the one who won the 1.5 billion dollar ticket, but he is the one who bought one of the winning tickets. And he didn’t buy it for himself.  He actually is a wealthy gentleman.  But he knows that others aren’t as fortunate as he is and with one random act of kindness he tipped the scales for one very lucky woman.

Mr. Rechnitz spent $36,000 and bought tickets for all of the 18,000 people who work for him.  He had the lottery tickets sent via Fedex on Wednesday morning to be passed out to all his employees.

One of these employees, a senior nurse at the Park Avenue Healthcare & Wellness Centre in Pomona, California, had the winning ticket as a result of her boss’s generous heart.  A generous heart that inspired a random act of kindness that will make one person’s life that much easier.

This was not the first act of kindness done by Mr. Rechnitz.  Just recently, he came across 400 US servicemen in the airport in Shannon, Ireland.  They were eating prepared food out out of paper sacks.  He had, what in hebrew is called rachmanis, compassion and gave the commander money for each of the soldiers to buy themselves a $50 warm meal.

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Hello!

Happy Friday!

I’m really excited to share with you something new.  I just finished part one of a three part series called the “ Mind-body Soulution: Phase One : The Easy 3.” It’s very pretty if I say so myself 🙂  It contains lots of feel good pictures and a bit of humor to make you smile.  

Most importantly, it’s a guide to help you access your intuitive wisdom.  With guidance from your soul – something I refer to as “Soul Speak, “ you get direction regarding issues that you face on a day to day basis.  You receive greater awareness and clarity on your relationships, your health, your career etc. – you name it and your intuition has something to say about it.

I call it the “Mind-body Soulution” because it is exactly that – a solution from your soul accessed through your mind-body connection.  Phase One : The Easy 3 shares three simple, yet effective ways to begin to listen softer and hear more of your own inner GPS.  You’ll have greater health, clarity and joy and who doesn’t want more of that?

Sign up here.

Enjoy!

In the year 2015, I “played” with words – I paid attention to the words I used and what affect they had on my approach to things.  I used the word “play” rather than “work” with the intention of taking things less seriously.  I used the word “could” instead of “should” with the intention to feel into choice rather than pressure.

This play with words has worked really well for me. I’m enjoying the sense of freedom I feel from loosening my grip on words that cause more pain than pleasure.

For the year 2016, I want to up my play a bit.  I want to go beyond the words.

Yes, the words I choose do have an affect on my thoughts and emotions.  And yet, I notice that sometimes I can change the words coming out of my mouth and still be driven by a fear based energy that’s lurking behind the words.

The intuitive, Masami Saionji was given the ability to see thoughts after having a near death experience.  She says “the thoughts, words and emotions that human beings emit from moment to moment are constantly streaming forth from their bodies, forming creative fields that are visible in various colors, forms and shapes.  Some of the creative fields are hazy and cloudy in appearance and they hover around the person in indeterminate patterns.  Others are extremely tenacious, and they twine tightly around the person like a resilient string.

Emotions like happiness and affection appear in shining colors and they envelop the person in a halo-like radiance.  Emotions like worry, fear, and animosity reflect smoky colors, and they adhere closely to the person in a suffocating manner.  Each thought or emotion holds it own unique form of creative energy….”

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Flying has never been my favorite transportation. It may have something to do with being 30,000 feet in the air in a metal container. The consequences of a little screw being loose are just too scary for me to fathom.

Add turbulence to the equation and I’m not a happy camper.

On my recent trip from Chicago to Tucson, AZ  the flight was experiencing some turbulence and from the cockpit came the reassuring voice apologizing for the rough ride and letting us know that “we’ll go higher if it gets too bumpy.”

When I heard the words of the pilot, not only did I feel safer, but I recognized that his message could be used as a metaphor in regards to the bumps in life that are part of the human experience.

If it’s too turbulent down below, go higher – raise your elevation.

Life on this planet is full of bumps and rough weather.  It gets really turbulent at times – from flight difficulties ( we got to the airport at 5:30 am just to be told that we weren’t in the system), to the obviously much more serious issues that we are all well aware of.

But if you choose to raise your perspective to a spiritual elevation rather than stay below with the way the physical  situation is presenting itself, the ride is smoother.

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Dear Readers,

Currently, with my older children home for Chanukah break, the house is filled with music blasting from the computers. Yesterday, I came downstairs to the sounds of a beautiful song my son played on Youtube. The video featured a singer in a large stadium, filled to the brim with Lubavitcher Chassidim, dancing and singing along to a song about Moshiach. Almost instantly, I experienced a surge of joy, so powerful that I found myself dancing along in our own kitchen! As my kids looked on with astonishment (my husband is the exuberant dancer in the house), I wondered to myself — “Where is this deep joy coming from?”

I understood that joy of this nature, one that caused me to break-out and dance, as well as all the Chassidim in the stadium, is not something that is born from a superficial experience. Rather, it is an expression of one’s very being — the celebration of one’s purpose in life, and the joy that comes from it’s revelation.

It all started when I arrived in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York in 1990, from Berkeley, California as a young, secular Jewish woman (more about my journey).   I came to Crown Heights, the heart of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s home, knowing very little about most of the teachings of the Torah. I enrolled in a women’s yeshiva and although almost everything I learned was new to me, the most surprising concept to me was the Rebbe’s focus on Moshiach (the Hebrew word for Messiah).

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Dear Awesome Reader,

Words are power.  Words of kindness are like honey to the soul.  Words of criticism are like a knife to the heart.

The Lubovitcher Rebbe says that it is our task to “nurture the inner sanctity of every being on this planet, not by degrading it, conquering it or replacing it with something else, but by bringing its true, G-dly identity to the surface.”

We can do this with our words – by appreciating someone else’s qualities and choosing to say so, by offering a compliment to another, by extending a word of gratitude even to a stranger – we are bringing to the surface their G-dly identity. This increases G-dly energy and light in the world.

In honor of the upcoming holiday of Chanukah, may we all merit to see the G-dly spark in ourselves and others and in doing so bring the Miracle of Light to the world permanently.

As the Geula ushers in a time of peace, G-dliness, and goodness, the energy of the opposite – hatred, disunity and war gets ushered out.  Intuitively, these opposing forces of light recognize their demise and therefore in this physical realm, they appear to be strengthening.  But with our mind’s eyes open to the spiritual reality, we can recognize that it is darkest before dawn and therefore, just before the immense G-dly light of Geula shines forth, the  gross “realities” of destruction rear their heads for one last attempt to destroy that which is life.

One way to combat the darkness and those who hate, bully and murder is to show strength, unity and joy.  A few months ago, Jewish singer, Gad Elbaz did just that. In response to the terror attacks on French journalists and Jews, he united Jewish, Christian and Muslim dancers in a solidarity song of joy and brought it to the streets of Paris.  He enlivened the well- known song “Hava Negila” which translates as “Let’s be happy” and amidst the fear and heightened tensions, spread light and courage.  He said “it’s all about people taking a stand and refusing to be bullied ….”

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A few years ago, in an attempt to stay awake at the Passover seder (leaving Egypt takes a really long time), I was browsing the summaries of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s talks in the Toras Menachem Haggadah. What caught my eye was the Rebbe’s teaching on how to see the oneness in G-d’s creation. In this world of diversity and concealment, the beauty of the Rebbe’s message of unity can not be shared often enough.

The Rebbe explains that the divine purpose of Judaism is monotheism – to demonstrate how the varying aspects of this physical world are unified expressions of one G-d. Since G-d is truly one then “we can reveal how even the tiniest detail of this world is significant because it contains a spark of the Divine, and its inner identity is nothing other than an expression of G-d.  We can embrace people as they are, encouraging them to come to an awareness of the truth by themselves, and support their efforts to become better people.” The Rebbe continues that the way to do this is to nurture the inner sanctity of every being on this planet, not by the degrading it, or conquering it, but by bringing its true, G-dly identity to the surface. (Likutei Sichos vol. 20, p.218).

The Rebbe embodied this approach to the world by demonstrating kindness, concern and respect for anyone who came in contact with him.  For years, the Rebbe personally welcomed thousands of people, from all walks of life, to share their worries and hopes on the “Sunday dollar line.”  Each person came before the Rebbe at 770, the Rebbe’s synagogue in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, to exchange a few words and receive a personal blessing and dollar to give to charity.  The lines were long – I can personally attest to that, having spent many Sundays waiting six hours and sometimes longer.  The Rebbe was in his 80’s and stood the entire time. When questioned once whether he tired from standing for so long on his feet, the Rebbe smiled and replied “When you are counting diamonds, you don’t get tired.” We see how the Rebbe embraced and valued each person as they are, and encouraged them to serve G-d in their own unique way.

In 1991, after the riots in Crown Heights, the Rebbe was visited by David Dinkins, the mayor of New York City.  The mayor asked for a blessing of peace between the two peoples, the Jews and the Blacks.  The Rebbe responded “Not two peoples, but one people, under one administration and under one G-d.” (Toward A Meaningful Life by Simon Jacobson). Through seeing the unifying divine in each person, we are able to bring people together to create a more peaceful, G-dly world.

As the prophecy of Geula is revealing itself, when “there will be neither envy nor strife, because goodness will flow in abundance etc.”, we are witness to seeing greater unity amongst people.  The Rebbe’s message to CNN that it is “on our part to do something additional in the realm of goodness and kindness”, hastens this time. Websites encouraging compassion and acts of kindness to strangers are abundant — Kickdarkness.com and Lifevestinside.com are just two of many.  

Enjoy this video by the chassidic reggae singer Describe, which reflects this sentiment.  It is from his We R 1 album which was released in honor of World Kindness Day 2012.