The formula to move past 💱sorrow and pain and reach a state of contentment is:
A conversation with yourself; talking to your heart 🫀
Firstly acknowledge the reality that you find yourself in:
“All those shortcomings and failures - are all true 👍. I really am in a negative state and I have done all those lowly, disgusting deeds - - -
But I didn't make myself 🙆♀️.
God created me this way.
He set up my circumstances to be exactly as they were and He created my personality - with all my flaws and shortcomings.
Here it’s ok to feel pain, to cry 😰😫:
But why ⁉️ What for ⁉️
Why did G-d mix goodness 🌖 into evil 🌘?
Why did G-d take a piece of His divine light and energy 🌟, send it far, far away - all the way to Planet Earth 🌍, and clothe it in the skin of the snake 🐍 (a nickname for the body)❓❓
No normal person would send his son into a pit 🕳️ full of snakes and scorpions 🐍🦀...
Unless there is a very deep and worthwhile purpose 😊☝️.
The Alter Rebbe writes here that he will expand more on this theme in the last chapters of the Tanya. In the meantime, he gives us the idea in a nutshell:
It must be that the function of this plunge ⬇️ ⬇️
Is to bring you up - ⬆️
Higher than where you were previously ⬆️
In truth, there is a great profit ⚡💰⚡resulting from the soul's descent into this world
But surprisingly 💥
The one who benefits is not necessarily the soul.
It’s primarily the body ♀️🧍🏻 and the animal soul who gain!
The purpose and mission of the soul is to elevate you body by
Repairing 💓
Refining 🧡
And polishing ✨💖✨
All parts of the person - the good, the bad, and the in-between -
So that the light of your soul shines through your body, your personality, your thought process, the words you say - every bit of you!
How do you repair and elevate a body?
By speaking and thinking about Torah and fulfilling what is written in it.
After all, the soul itself - was already perfect and always remains in that state.
When you fulfill a commandment, you reconnect your divine soul with her source but you don’t change her. She was and is pristine .
What you do accomplish is:
You elevate your body, the emotions you put into the mitzvah, and any part of creation that came in contact with the good deed.
For example:
🔸 When you give charity -
Your hand,
The coin,
All the energy you invested to earn this coin...
And your body that did all the work -
All become holy!
🔸 You give someone a ride in your car -
The body that drives the car,
The car and all its components - metal, glass, gas, etc.
The people involved in the production of the car...
The food they ate in order to work
Those who grew the food for them -
All become holy!
And so it continues forever ...
When you understand this incredible concept 😍,
Of course you’ll want to do as much as you can to elevate more and more parts of the world to holiness, transforming them
~From nothing~✖️
Into sparks of infinity ✨:
This becomes the focus 🙏 of your life: to connect your thoughts 🧠 and words 👅
With G-d’s thought and words.
💎 The first step towards true joy 😁is to contemplate and internalize the fact that you did not create yourself, nor did you choose your circumstances - your upbringing, your personality, the hardships you underwent. There is a reason you are in a dark and lowly state - but you didn’t do it to yourself.
Once you accept that, you can continue on to the second point mentioned by the Alter Rebbe: G-d set up all that transpired to you - for a purpose.
The goal is to repair and elevate the deepest and darkest parts of yourself: your thoughts, the way you communicate to others, your reactions, and your actions!
💎 Infusing yourself with a Torah mindset enables you to connect with G-d and search for the purpose of all you went through. Doing mitzvot elevates your body, your actions, and your possessions into holiness.
This is the way to achieve peace of mind and true joy 😁💛😁.
