The road to happiness comes gradually.
It’s a Step by Step process.
It requires reminding yourself - and thinking deeply about - three vital points, which will provide you with a double measure of comfort after the heartbreak.
Step One 🔸:
Acknowledge where you are at spiritually, admitting that _*In truth, without a doubt, I am very far from G-d, I am broken and abominable, etc."
But hey,
This is only one side of you: your body and animal soul!
There is another side to you - _*There is a real part of G-d within me… a divine soul*_
Although the divine soul is felt only minimally on a daily basis - this in no way means that it does not exist.
What naturally follows next is -
Stage Two 🔸🔸 of the process:
Compassion
For your divine soul!
Since you are so distant from G-d, your poor, captive divine soul deserves to be greatly pitied!
Imagine a prince, the beloved only child of the king, captured by human traffickers and forced into slave work in a dark and filthy coal mine…
It’s an objectively horrid situation for anyone to be forced into - how much more so for the pampered, sheltered prince❗
This is how a divine soul trapped inside a human body feels. With every sin and additional separation from G-d, she suffers more. This is not her natural habitat.
But do not wallow in pity and sorrow for too long…
Immediately move on to the next step of the process -
Stage Three 🔸🔸🔸:
Contemplate ways that you can assist your divine soul and ease her suffering!
Focus your energy on freeing her from captivity and returning her to her father's house.
There are ways to make her happy and feel at home, even while she is still stuck inside your physical body.
~~~~~~
Home 🏡Sweet 😁 Home 🏡!
This expression means something else to each person.
What does it mean for you?
When you can toss your handbag and heels aside and slip on a pair of slippers…?
When you can quietly sip a cup of coffee and enjoy a piece of cake…?
Or perhaps it’s simply when you are greeted by your love ones with warm, joyful welcome-home hugs.
Your divine soul, too, misses her home very much…
What was so special about her home?
"There she was included in G-d’s light and united with Him in the closest way possible"
Is it possible to somehow allow her to experience this pleasure here, in this world, where she is imprisoned inside a body⛓️🕴🏻⛓️❓
Yes!
Every time you fulfill a commandment:
Helping out another,
Thanking G-d after eating a meal,
Washing your hands for bread,
Charity,
Lighting Shabbat candles,
… Or any other mitzvah,
You dress your soul in her comfy 'home clothes', making her feel comfortable and welcome in the environment she finds herself in.
This is especially so when you pray!
Praying allows your soul to connect with G-d and cry out to Him in pain regarding the state she finds herself in: in exile, separated from G-d, her source.
Prayer enables you to sympathize with the great pain your soul is experiencing. It’s a great opportunity to beg G-d to help you make your soul feel comfortable and safe by enabling you to provide for her needs.
This kind of prayer is extra powerful:
The Alter Rebbe states that it is combination of
*Teshuva* - repentance
And
*Kindness*!
But isn’t repentance for sins?
How could praying for your divine soul be a form of repentance?
The founder of the Chassidic movement, the Baal Shem Tov , taught that every single mitzvah and good deed is a form of repentance.
The Hebrew term for repentance, Teshuva, means "to return" and this is exactly what such prayer accomplishes. It returns the piece of G-d within you to its Source and Origin.
And therefore- Teshuva (repentance) is relevant to every Jew without exception. It is imperative that we involve ourselves in prayer and good deeds as much as we can, since this is what comforts your divine soul and connect her back to her source
