Navigate lifes challenges, improve yourself, be happy, succeed, uncover lifes secret, have the light of the heavens

shine on you, the power of mysticism energize you. You can expect any of these ideas and all of them from Avraham Tzvi Schwartz, author of many works on self-help and personal growth, and now moving his readers to a new awareness with his PiCK-ME-UPs. Avraham Tzvi Schwartz is part student, part teacher, part reader and part writer. He lives with his wife and children in Kiryat Sefer, Israel. PiCK-ME-UPs is his tenth book.

PiCK-ME-UPs Empower yourself, enjoy and enrich your life with ideas that fire you, inspire you. Learn how to create and reach for your biggest, happiest dreams. From the author of:

A Handful of Light The Need to be Great Hearts on Fire 4Keep Smiling Be Happy and Succeed Be a King Empowering Thoughts
Copyright 2008, A. T. Schwartz All rights reserved, including translation rights. This publication or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior permission, in writing, of the copyright owner. Small excerpts may be used for noncommercial purpose, on condition that the books title and author are mentioned.

Dedicated to Hashem

Thank you for granting me a wonderful life and family, beautiful wife Stella, a true eshet chayil, a woman of valour, daughters Roxane and Bianca, who see the beauty of Hashem and follow in the footsteps of Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel and Leah, and son Leon whose soul follows in the shadow of David and Joseph. Hashem, must be very proud of you all. I pray that every person who reads this beautiful book will be inspired and showered with the Creators gifts of love and light. Your humble servant, Grant ben David Levi

Dedicated with love to:

Eitan, Maris, Gabriel & Daniel

Wishing you every happiness and success, for now and forever

Contents
Contents............................................................................ 7 Preface............................................................................... 9 Introduction ................................................................... 11 Happiness....................................................................... 13 Smiling ............................................................................ 17 The Present..................................................................... 19 Appreciation .................................................................. 21 Love................................................................................. 24 Beauty ............................................................................. 26 Desire .............................................................................. 27 Pleasure........................................................................... 31 Wealth............................................................................. 32 Wisdom........................................................................... 35 Focus ............................................................................... 40 Thought .......................................................................... 41 Dreaming........................................................................ 47 Inner Worlds .................................................................. 48 Self-Improvement ......................................................... 52 Others in our World...................................................... 60

PiCK-ME-UPs

Interacting with Others ................................................ 63 Giving ............................................................................. 69 Looking Upwards ......................................................... 73 Prayer.............................................................................. 80 Difficulties ...................................................................... 83 Inspiration ...................................................................... 86 Intention ......................................................................... 88 Readers Comments ...................................................... 90

Preface
Abba Silver In the fall of 2006, Rabbi Schwartz and I began learning together on the phone twice a week during my lunch break. Thank G-d, we very rarely missed a week of learning. We have learned many different things together, both inside Torah books and out, discussing how to navigate the many challenges of life, all with the goal of improving ourselves as Jews and human beings in the service of Hashem. Even though we still havent met face-to-face (I live in New York and he in Israel), he has become one of my very closest friends. He constantly thinks about ways to improve his inner world and the inner world of others. He has taught me that by improving our inner world, our outer world automatically becomes more beautiful. This feeds back to further promote the beauty and growth of our lives. And so, the cycle continues, unifying the upper worlds with our reality. This is exactly this book, a collection of the meditations Rabbi Schwartz sends out daily to his subscribers. They are short but powerful thoughts blooming in the fertile soil of his inner world - a world steeped in all areas of Torah; thoughts to increase his inner strength, joy and purity of heart and to bring the light of G-d into his inner and outer life as well as those of others. They are often only two or three sentences, but potent; if meditated upon even once a day, slowly but surely transform a persons world, giving

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him or her clearer and cleaner glasses with which to look at himself, his fellow man and G-d s universe. Initially, he wrote these ideas for himself but by sharing them with others through his emails and now this book, we likewise may realize that we are big and not small, strong and not weak, flexible and not rigid, dignified and not lowly, using our influence to inspire others to greatness (pg. 57). The person who adds [to his achievements] little by little eventually has a lot.1 This teaching applies to our personal growth as well. Little by little, we reach our every goal (pg. 54).

Mishle 13.11

Introduction
I have two special sets of friends one, the people who so graciously receive PiCK-ME-UPs, making time in their busy lives to read their words, and even respond with generous feedback; and two, the precious ideas that run through my mind, encouraging and empowering me to meet everyday challenges and venture into new areas of activity and productivity. Through my daily email, these two groups have met, and this has gone so well the thoughts that inspire me have helped others so effectively that I can do little more than stand with open mouth, and breathe out grateful thanks to the people in my life who enrich it so, and to the Creator who sets endless possibilities before me. Where do PiCK-ME-UPs come from? From every area of life classes we attend, books and articles we read, the people around us, and everyday events. When we ready ourselves to receive such ideas, we gain a new, amazing wealth. The worst prison is no prison when we know how to attach ourselves to lofty thoughts, higher worlds. PiCKME-UPs have introduced me to this world. What I have found, I very much want to share with you. First though, I must mention individuals whose generosity and kindness have added so much to this project: In producing PiCK-ME-UPs, I owe humble thanks to: Mr. Grant Jackson for sponsoring this publication, Mr. Ivan

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Sacks who launched the dedications that grace my emails, and upholds them with his kind sponsorship; Mr. Abba Silver, my telephone chavrusa, for his friendship, going out of his way to write the preface to this book, as well as thoroughly working through its contents; Ms. Luciana Ceross for her care-filled, careful editing; and, of special importance, my precious PiCK-ME-UPs subscribers. Beyond the book, I take this opportunity to thank: Mr. Milton Weinberg for his outstanding help for more than 10 years; Mr. Eli Cohen, who generously agreed to be my partner in learning; Ms. Edna Freinkel for distributing, at her own expense, my Empowering Thoughts so widely in South Africa and beyond; Mr. Yehuda Lieb for being there in different ways; then closer to home, Rabbi Binyomin Goodman, my Rosh Kollel and friend at the Beis Ahron Kollel; my students in Kiryat Sefer; my dear parents, Leon and Shirley Schwartz; and last and first, my cherished wife, Chana, and children, who brighten my life with love and joy. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. May the Creator fulfill every one of your hearts desires, for the good.

Happiness
To be Joyous
We need to be joyous. With happiness, we empower ourselves we are healthier, wiser, we communicate better, and are more effective in all that we do.

A level we must reach

Happiness is a level we must reach we must achieve. On the other hand once we make it ours we may enjoy it forever.

Happiness and Wealth

Wealth does not lead to happiness, but happiness does lead to wealth. This is true of all types of wealth material wealth, physical health, as well as emotional and spiritual wellbeing.

Our Habit
Happiness depends on us thinking positive thoughts. But this is not yet enough. We have to make such thoughts our habit.

Work-Play
We need to take life seriously. At the same time, we know that life should be fun. Mostly, we resolve this contradiction by setting times for work and times for play. However, the

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ideal remains that we should have fun doing what we need to be doing.

To Radiate
We all admire the person with a quick tongue and sharp sense of humor. However, the ability to radiate warmth, love and affection towards the people in our lives is many times more valuable.

Formula for Happiness

Here is an amazing formula for your happiness: 1) Judge all others favorably. No matter how badly they behave, think of ways to justify their actions. 2) Regard everyone as your friend. Even those who you once called enemies, think of as misguided friends. Try even to smile at them and help them as a true friend would. And most important of all 3) Wish well on everyone. Wish for them the best possible day. Wish for them the most marvelous, complete lives. Want them to reach every success. Follow this formula, and see miracles in your life.

Smiling
A Smile
A SMILE all day, keeps our troubles away. A smile puts us in the drivers seat. For with our smile, we declare that everything is going to be just fine.

A Mirror
To look at the world around us, is to look in a mirror a mirror of our inner selves. And when, within ourselves we begin to smile, the world around us likewise, smiles along.

Something Good
When something good happens, we should smile and say thank you to the people around us and the heavens above. The Creator also likes to receive our thanks.

No Response
Not to return a greeting to ignore the one who says hello is a form of theft.2 Seemingly, then, when we greet others, we lay an obstacle before them. For if they dont return our greeting, they steal. One solution is instead of greeting them we can just smile. This way, they may treat it as our greeting or not. Our

Brochos 6b

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smile can simply be a sign of the pleasure we take from seeing them.

When We Laugh
When, ultimately, the truth of the world is revealed, those who have lived by that truth will laugh.3 Conversely, when we laugh, with a trust that the ultimate truth will come through, we reveal and bring a little more of that truth into the world.

Tehillim 126.2

The Present
Only Now
Focus, do your best; smile and enjoy your life. See your dreams coming true and be the person you want to be. Be in love with your world, amazed by its beauty. For, now and only now you are alive.

The Perfect Moment

Focus on now being the perfect moment, full of life, joy and energy and nothing else will bother you.

Focus
To focus on the present moment heightens our ability, our level of achievement, and our joy. We need to live our now now.

Hold On
The more we hold onto life the tighter our grip the more focused our concentration the more alive we are. Still, sometimes we have to let go a little.

What we need to do
We cant always do what is pleasant to do. Still, the satisfaction of doing what we should be doing compensates us for this many times over.

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Life
Life is a gift. We must live and share it with others. We must enjoy and love it. We must learn and understand it. We must stay on top of it and conquer it. And, we must say thank you.

What we do
What we do how we live our everyday is more important than what we have. What we have = the material total of all we have done. Still, what we do = every element of our life.

Taking and Giving

To live, as the Creator wants us to live taking pleasure and giving pleasure leads to the highest success of all.

Connecting
More important than striving for future goodness and beauty, is connecting with the goodness and beauty that surrounds us right now.

Appreciation
Harder Moments
During our day, we have easier moments and harder moments. The trick is to enjoy the uncomfortable times as well. These too are Creations gifts to us.

The Magnificence
We need to learn and teach others how to enjoy the magnificence of Creation. But first, we need to appreciate it ourselves.

The Crown
The crown of success is the sincere thanks we give to those who have helped us. And most important of these thanks, is the appreciation we express in our own hearts.

A Privilege
To be alive is a privilege. To live in this world is a further privilege for, it is a place of amazement, of intense pleasure. Still, we only reach the ultimate privilege by getting to know the Creator of it all.

Thanks
Focus on the goodness around you and bring goodness into your life. See the blessing around you and draw

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blessing into your life. Give thanks for the abundance around you and watch that abundance grow.

Such a Moment
A beautiful sunset can inspire a moment of appreciation and happiness. Exciting music can likewise inspire such a moment. What we need though is to train our minds to appreciate and feel happy with every aspect of our lives.

Somehow
When we think of the millions of things that could go wrong in our lives, and yet somehow each time they keep going right, we have to stop and say, Thank You.

Glow
When we focus on the people or objects around us, we will see them glow. This glow is a product of the life force that starts them off and keeps them going, a spark from the Creator of all.

Appreciation
We appreciate the Creator at different levels. There are the wow moments of our lives. Then there is the appreciation that comes as we understand His ways with ever-greater depth. Of the two, the second is the more valuable.

Acknowledge
A gift we receive and even benefit from is still only half a gift until we acknowledge the one who gives it to us. Only

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when we thank our benefactor with our mouths and our hearts can we enjoy it to the full.

Know it, Believe it

He starved you, and (then) He fed you4 If we would only appreciate what we have before we lose it, we would save ourselves much pain. Similarly, if we would believe in miracles before we need them, we would likewise save ourselves as well as those we love much pain.

If Life
If life is a challenge, we should take on the challenge. If life is a celebration, we should celebrate it. If life is a gift, we should say thank you. And if life is all three, we should do all three.

The Gift
We cant just focus on the gift how to best use and enjoy it. We need to give thought also to the One who gives us the gift.

Devarim 8.3

Love
To Love
We need to love the people around us. We need to love the Creator. Moreover, we should join these two loves with our love for ourselves to be all a part of the greater One.

Feelings of Love
We should send out feelings of love, acceptance, admiration and affection to those who most annoy and upset us. This produces the most marvelous results especially for us.

Powerful Love
Wrapping beautifies a gift, but the love behind it, the wish to see others receiving and rising, is what empowers it. Such a love is so potent; it works even without any gift at all.

I love
I love my life with its ups and downs, I appreciate its beauty. I love the people in my life despite, or maybe, because they are so different from me. I love my Creator every moment He gives me is an opportunity to grow skywards and reach a new happiness.

Love
We love others by giving to them, giving of our strength, our wealth, our time and our thoughts.

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Likewise, we love our Creator by giving to Him, giving of our strength, our wealth, our time and our thoughts.

Feeling and Doing

More important than feeling love for others, is doing those actions that lead to feelings of love. More important than feeling inspired, is saying those words that lead to inspiration. More important than feeling great joy, is thinking those thoughts that make us happy.

A Gift in Secret
Really, it doesnt matter so much if the person you give a gift to knows you gave him the gift or not. For, more important than what he thinks of you, is what you think of him.

Beauty
See Beauty
Focus on beauty, the culmination of all good attributes.5 See beauty in the world around you, the people in your life. See beauty in yourself, in the opportunities that await you. See beauty in this very moment.

Glory and Beauty

See the glory and beauty of the Creator in the world around you, and the glory and beauty of the Creator within yourself.

Cool
To remain cool and friendly on the outside, while turning our scream for help to the heavens aloneaah, now thats an accomplishment.

The highest beauty radiates from those who conduct themselves in refined, kind, loving ways.
5

Desire
What we want
We need to want what is good, what is beautiful, what is magnificent. For it is what we want, what we really want, that we receive.

Returning
Teshuva, returning to our Creator, is aligning our desires with the Creators desire for us. The more we want what He wants, the closer we come to His inner rooms.

Want to Want
It can be tough to want to live as we need to live. Still, we can want to want to live as we need to live. This too will improve our lives.

Passion
To be passionate about something means that that something affects every aspect of your life your speaking, walking, eating, sleeping, etc. Its fantastic, and wonderful. Choose then something important to be passionate about.

With Intention
We should not perform our acts of generosity and kindness with intention for the rewards they reap. Still, when we recognize and know that our every act of giving enriches us beyond all measure, this makes our act greater.

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Powerful Thought
We need to see what we want, and want what we see. Only with powerful thought do we produce powerful, effective prayer. We should say what we want, and draw it into reality with our words.

Need to Want
We need to want love, awe and happiness. We need to want wealth, strength and wisdom. We need to want integrity and kindness for ourselves, and our world. With our thoughts and prayers, we create it all.

Small, Large
We should pray for something small and something large. Mostly, the small item will come to us easily. Then, we should meditate on the idea that everything next to the Creator is super-small, and thereby bring the large items into our lives as well.

A Part of the Whole

The Creator is all, and we are a part of that all. Thus, when we synchronize our dreams and desires with His dreams and desires for us, we are in harmony with this all and can draw it into our lives.

When we like what we do

We perform best when we like what we do. Still, our choices are often limited. Therefore, when we weigh up our various options, we need also to look for that which is fun and interesting.

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Large Prizes and Small

Life hands out large prizes and small ones. We all want the large prizes, but often are too scared to pursue them. So we settle for the small ones, giving our hours and weeks, our thoughts and worries, to achieve them. But really if were making the effort anyway we may as well aim for the large ones.

If you want
If you want money, focus on money, until it fills your thoughts, until it fills your prayer, and enters your reality. If you want children, focus on children, until they fill your thoughts, until they fill your prayer, and enter your reality. If you want wisdom, focus on wisdom, until it fills your thoughts, until it fills your prayer, and enters your reality. If you want spirituality, focus on spirituality, until it fills your thoughts, until it fills your prayer, and enters your reality.

Our Greatest Power

Our greatest power is desire. The more we want something, the closer we are to getting it. In the material world, we realize our desires by taking action. But in higher, spiritual worlds, energy resides within concepts, and we enrich ourselves here with the power of thought and imagination. The point here is that since what happens in upper worlds affects what happens in lower worlds (and vice versa), we

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change our lives from above just as well as we adjust them from below.

Whatever we want
We can be whoever we want to be. We can do whatever we want to do. We can have whatever we want to have. We just need to put our mind and heart to it. Also, we should take care not to want what we shouldnt want.

A Holiday
Close your eyes, and, for a few seconds, think of pleasant places. Its as good as a holiday.

Pleasure
Enjoyment
The more we enjoy the world around us, the more the world around us is ours.

Higher Pleasures
Really, we were made for pleasure. So, why do we suffer? Our hidden potential demands that we become greater people people who can appreciate and enjoy the higher, heavenly pleasures that await us. To become such people we must pay a price in exertion, stress and pain.

From our circumstances

We empower ourselves when we take pleasure from our circumstances, no matter what they are. And we empower ourselves even more when we take pleasure from the One who places us in these circumstances.

Learned Pleasures
A lower pleasure loses its taste when we get to know a higher pleasure. Sometimes, its worthwhile to learn and attach ourselves to this higher pleasure just so that we can free ourselves from the lower pleasure.

Wealth
Hungry
Were happier with food on our tables, money in our pockets and debt-free living. Still, specifically when we are hungry, we are most creative. Our need gives our lives that special, extra edge. We need then to embrace our poverty as well.

Push-Button I
A spiritual push-button to wealth is gratitude, an outpouring, enthusiastic, ongoing gratitude, a thanksgiving that comes from the deepest part of the heart.

Push-Button II
A spiritual push-button to wealth is belief. We need to see that the same force that gives us our precious hands and feet, our eyes and ears, our intelligence and emotion, can give us whatever else that we want.

Push-Button III
A spiritual push-button to wealth is asking. We need to see, as clearly as possible, exactly what we need, when we need it and why we need it, and then express our wish in words.

Independently Powerful
These three push-buttons are independently powerful. We need to pick the one that most suits us, and then use it

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together with the other two, to launch ourselves to the highest heights.6

Fabulously Wealthy
Many fictional stories center on fabulously wealthy individuals, and, as we read them, we think to ourselves this is not real. But, in truth, our lives also center on a Creator who is endlessly powerful, and in terms of health, wealth and success can give us whatever we want.

Goodness
The Creator, who is the source of all power and wealth, is also the source of all goodness. Thus, in drawing closer to goodness, we draw closer to His power and wealth, the power and wealth we need to achieve our life wishes.

All We Receive
All we receive we receive that we may enrich the lives of others. And the more we enrich others, the more we enrich ourselves.

Only We Decide
What benefit do we have from admiring what we dont have, as well as at the same time disregarding what we do have? Ultimately, only we decide the value of the items of our lives and how much pleasure they will give us.

We find these three spiritual keys in the daily prayer (Shmoneh Esrei), each one occupying a section of its own.
6

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A Means
Money is always a means. The question is though, a means to what? If we want money so that we can lord over others, or indulge lowly lusts, then its bad. But if we want it to help ourselves and others to take more pleasure from the beauty of Creation and draw closer to the One who gives it all to us, then it is good.

Our Health
We need high levels of energy to absorb new information effectively, to think deeply, pray powerfully, and even to laugh joyfully. We maintain these levels of energy when we look after our most precious asset our health.

Insurance
The best health insurance is to express sincere, heartfelt thanks to our Creator each time we leave the bathroom. The best life insurance is to praise and thank the Creator for the beauty and magnificence of the world.

Wisdom
Stupid Mistakes
We make stupid mistakes all the time. Its part of our reality. The question is then, how do we turn them to our advantage? How do we climb them towards our dream? There is a solution. We just need to find it.

Our Best
To try to do the right thing is to do the right thing. To try to do our best is to do our best.

Solving Problems
First, we need to say, He-she-they are not to blame. We need to understand why that is so; and then focus on solving our problem. First, we need to say, All is for the good. We need to understand why this is so; and then rise to the challenge.

Going Uphill
When the going is uphill, we should change gear. We should turn our eyes upwards, and say a prayer. If we cant do this, we can take a short rest or a long walk whatever will best recharge our batteries.

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With Wisdom
With wisdom the Creator founded the world.7 We should focus on being wise wiser than we have been until now. For, wisdom is the foundation of all. With wisdom, we enhance our lives.

Wealth or Wisdom
Wealth is a tremendous tool. With it, we can accomplish so much. However, it also creates problems, obstacles that slow us down. This makes wisdom the better of the two. For, wisdom is fully portable a wealth that lies within us.

A Spiritual Being
We shouldnt look at ourselves as physical beings who manage to maintain a spiritual connection. Rather, we should think of ourselves as spiritual beings clothed in physicality.

Regular Meals
People eat regular meals, even though they dont always know how the food benefits them. Similarly, we must consume spiritual nourishment, on a frequent, ongoing basis and even though we dont always know how it benefits us.

Mishle 3.19

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Healthy Helpings
Healthy helpings of spiritual foods motivate and empower us, invigorate and beautify us. Moreover, we can consume them freely without worrying about unneeded calories.

To Discover
We may study all the details of creation, and we may experiment with the various paths along which the world runs. Still, we have a long way to go before we can know the Creator. Therefore, to discover the truth and beauty of it all, we must keep searching.

Right or Convenient
Throughout the day, we make choices. In general, our choice is between doing what is right, as opposed to doing what is convenient. We need to remember though, that from what is right we mostly profit, while from what is convenient we mostly lose.

Managing Resources
The more an investment manager respects his clients funds, the more money he can expect them to entrust to him. Similarly, the more we respect the talents and abilities the Creator gives us, the more we will see them grow.

With Respect
Treat all others, people and objects also, with full respect. Never make fun of them, even in your thoughts. For, these things have a way of hurting us in return. In addition, they

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are all the Creators works, as well as being steps we need to take to reach our final goal.

Above Ourselves
We must rise above ourselves, exist separately from our bodies and our physical needs, seeing ourselves from above. We must look at our whole, and not just at the parts. This way, we get a true view of ourselves, and the paths we need to follow.

Paths and Gates

With all our hearts, we must walk the paths of wisdom, aiming as we do so to pass through gates of new understanding and insight, and reach an ultimate greatness.8

Spiritual Treasures
To pursue spiritual treasures is safer than to pursue material wealth. It arouses less resentment and jealousy against us.

Light and Dark

The world is made of only two elements. We can call them light and dark. Light is all that is good, the blessing that

The Beis HaMikdash is called ,Levanon. This the Vilna Gaon (Shir HaShirim ch.3) explains is made of two parts, ,Lev, a word having the numerical value of 32 and therefore representing the 32 paths of Chochma, wisdom; and Noen, ,which has the value of 50, representing the fifty gates of Bina, understanding and insight.
8

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enters this world. Light, we may understand, contains even the Creator Himself. Dark is all that limits, blocks out and turns back the light. Our task is to seek out the light, and absorb it within ourselves, and our lives.

To Know
To know the Creator is a lifetime project. To succeed we have to add to this knowledge every single day. Still the rewards make the efforts well worthwhile.

Favors or Orders
What is better, asking for a favor, or giving orders? Asking for a favor every time. For the other person, it preserves his dignity. For us, it produces superior results.

Focus
Push Buttons
Our actions are push buttons. Positive actions release blessings into our lives. Negative actions release curses. Pressing the same button continually creates a mountain of blessing or curse. Therefore, we need to press the right button.

Let Go - Take Hold

Let go of resentment. Take hold of affection. Let go of indifference. Take hold of enthusiasm. Let go of sadness. Take hold of joy. Do it now!

Focused Action
Whatever we do during the day, whether at work or play, whether we think hard or relax, pray, bathe, eat, etc., we should have in mind one central intention, namely that our activities help us become the person we want to be. We should make focused action our way of life.

Concentrate
The more we focus and concentrate, the more certain is our achievement and success. The less we focus and concentrate, the more certain is our failure.

Thought
Premeditated
A premeditated action is more powerful than an impulsive action. We need to stop, think, and then do. Thus, we add success to our lives!

A Source of Light
We need to think of ourselves as a source of light to focus on the light within us to have it fill us with a sense of peace and contentment to have it radiate beyond us, enriching and giving joy to others.

To Know
To know the Creator, we should study, pray and do acts of kindness. In addition, we should spend quiet time with ourselves, learning how to think.

Extraordinary
Heavenly inspiration can turn a dull, ordinary day into something extraordinary. With our thoughts, we can tap into the heavens and draw down just such an inspiration.

The Right Thoughts

We torture ourselves when we dont think the right thoughts. We must learn and train ourselves with and

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without outside help to look at lifes challenges as exciting and enriching.

Jailhouse
Our main struggle needs to be breaking out and going beyond our own limiting thoughts. The jailhouse of the mind is the truest prison of all.

Concentrated Efforts
We should try doing just one thing at a time. The higher our focus our concentrated efforts the higher is our rate of success.

Heavenly Power
We need to focus on the Creators power, His ownership and total control of the universe, His kindness and compassion in sustaining it all. Thus, we bring a little of this power into our lives.

Time
Prisoners in jail do it, so why cant we? We benefit in awesome ways when we spend quiet time thinking.

Too Much
Sometimes, our problem is that were doing too much. We should think through our long and short-term goals, and then give them only as much time and resources as they need. This is true too, when it comes to worrying about our goals.

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Bring Out
As we think about the greatness of the Creator, we bring out the greatness in ourselves. As we think about the strength of the Creator, we bring out the strength in ourselves. As we think about the genius of the Creator, we bring out the genius in ourselves.

The Power of Thought

No matter how much we think, we can always think some more. Look at the Creator: He is all thought, and with His thought, all creatures and beings, from the smallest to the largest, come to exist. This is the power of thought and we too have access to such a power.

Free Thought
No one tells us what to think. Our thoughts are part of our free choice. There is, however, a dynamic which affects this choice. This is, the more we use and cultivate this skill, the stronger, bolder and more inventive we become.

What We Think
We should take care of what we think, especially when it comes to long hard thinking. For, what we think, we do and what we do is what we become.

Make Space
We need to make space within our thoughts, within our being, for the Creator of all. For, the more space we make for Him, the more He fills us with power, insight and the ability to enjoy our lives to the full.

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An Image in our Mind

An image we create in our mind is as real in many ways, as any other concept for instance friendship, love, or even 2+2=4. The trick though is to hang onto our images, until they become a part of what we are.

Creative Thought
Giving is more satisfying than receiving. This is true regarding our inner lives as well as in our outer world. We gain much more from creative thought than from simply copying the ideas of others.

The Great
I am great! When the spirit of Greatness resides within us, fills us, then our thoughts and deeds, likewise, become great. We must however, take care to protect and respect this gift within us.

A Golden Throne
Picture a great, golden, glistening throne as it floats through the air, with none other than the Creator of all sitting on it. Now, see yourself as a young child sitting on the stairs of this throne, absorbing the light and love that fill you.

Boring to Fun
How do we turn a boring activity into fun? By doing it with full focus and all our energies. Thus, we connect with the electricity and life force of this activity.

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With Thought
What we do with thought with focus and intent always outweighs what we do without thought.

Planting Thoughts
With a seed in fertile ground, we can produce all types of marvelous vegetation. Similarly, planting thoughts in upper worlds produces wondrous orchards and fields, blossoms and fruits, beautiful flowers and fragrant herbs.

Positive Thought
With positive, creative thought, we produce beautiful heavenly growth. With ugly thoughts however, we produce thistles, thorns, and even poisonous creepers.

Different Levels
Not only the ground nurtures seeds; animals and humans do the same. Likewise, with the heavens, our words and deeds affect what happens in the worlds above at many different levels.

In a Moment
Here are two ideas, which when we keep them in mind, free us to reach for new, unexplored heights: 1) Everything we have, our wealth, health, our family and friends, and even our lives, we can lose in a single moment. 2) Everything we have always wanted, dreamed of any type of physical pleasure every kind of

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spiritual treasure could all be ours in a single moment.9 For, knowing that nothing in our lives is permanent grants us the greatest freedom of all.10

Shredded
A writer will delete his words, and rewrite them more clearly. A composer will trash his score, and compose it in a new, different way. An artist will rip up his sketch, and redraw it with more care. And similarly, at times, the Creator must tear our hearts in twoThis too, we know, is for our good.

These two thoughts parallel two vital attributes we should be acquiring, (1) fear of the Creators absolute power, and (2) trust in His loving kindness.
9 10

Based on Daas Torah, R Yeruchem Levovitz, vol. 3 pg. 25

Dreaming
Living a Dream
We need to have a dream and believe its truth. We need to see our dream as real, and more importantly as affecting the type of person we become. Thus, we live our dream right now.

Behind Gates
Behind electronic gates there awaits us all that we want, health, wealth, wisdom, happiness, love, recognition, etc. Where is the remote control that opens these marvelous gates? Its in our hands.

How Brightly
How brightly can we dream of light and love, of revelation and happiness for ourselves, for our world? How often and long can we dream? How real can we dream? We need to give more to our all-important ability to dream. It may just be our greatest act of creativity.

Thoughts of Revenge
Thoughts of revenge may give us a certain pleasure, but they leave us the smaller for them. Besides, we could use this same time for positive, productive, energizing dreams.

Inner Worlds
Source of Existence
We think deeply about the Creator, and we connect with the root of all roots, the source of all existence. For a few moments, we leave this world and enter a powerhouse of reality. Moreover, the Creator waits for us to enter this world.

Investing
The more we invest in and build the world around us, the more beautiful and pleasurable we make it. And similarly, the more we invest in and build our inner world, the more beautiful and pleasurable it becomes.

Within Yourself
Build a palace within you. Furnish and decorate it any way you want. Change this all as often as you want. Adjust the view you see from its windows from seas to mountains, from forests to lakes. People your inner world with anyone you want young children, elderly sages, historic personalities, sources of inspiration. Make your inner world a fun place to visit, and visit it often.

Handsome Homes
To make our homes handsome and comfortable, we are ready to put in time, effort and hard-earned cash. To make

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our inner worlds handsome and comfortable doesnt cost us any money; but it does cost time and effort.

More Important
Instead of plotting and planning, fretting and regretting what happens to us, we should rather spend more time building our inner world. For, it is the more important of the two worlds our home for eternity.

In the most beautiful way

We need to build our inner world in the most beautiful way possible, to fill it with harmony and peace, construct within it a palace for the King of the world, and appoint ourselves and others as His ministers.

Fill it
Fill your inner world with handsome homes, tree-lined avenues, lush parks, etc. Moreover, construct a library that holds all you have learned, understood and incorporated into yourself.

People it
People your inner world with the friendly, happy men, women and children you know. Let them also enjoy the wonders of your creation, the world you build in your mind.

With the greatest

People your inner world with the greatest personalities of our history. Listen to classes by our teacher, Moshe, or the

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strumming and singing of King David. You can even discuss world events with the Creator Himself.

Strong, Fit
In our inner world, we can see ourselves as strong, fit, with lean, flexible bodies eating healthily, sleeping well, and having plenty of energy for ourselves, and others.

Our Children, Our Students

In our inner world, we can see our children, and our students, standing tall, conducting themselves in elevated, refined ways, succeeding and enjoying happy lives.

Our Enemy
In our inner world, our enemy stands at our door, wearing shabby clothes, begging to pay off his debts to us, and pleading that we forgive him; and we in our goodness, grant him his appeal.

Friendly, Positive
In our inner world, people are friendly, positive, healthy, happy, striving to know the Creator and loving their neighbors in the best possible way.

The people we are

Who we are in our inner worlds is who we will eventually become in our outer world.

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Planting seeds
A seed we plant in the ground, a seed we nourish, hoeing the ground around and watering it, will eventually break through as a beautiful tree or plant. Similarly, an idea we nourish and sustain in our inner world will eventually break through to our outer world. We need only to continue feeding it. Nevertheless, we shouldnt see our inner world simply as a prayer for the future. Rather, we should make it our reality right now.

More Time
In our outer world, we have many problems that sour our lives. In our inner world however, we can set things in such a way, that all is good, grand and sweet. Now, while we must live in our outer world, this doesnt mean we cant increase the time we spend in our inner world.

SelfImprovement
The Best Me
We need be no more than anyone else is, nor any less. We just need to be the best me we can be.

A Garden
Life is like a garden. The more effort we put into it, the more beautifully it grows. But if we abandon it, weeds and thorns will overrun it. Where do we get the seeds ideas and inspiration to make our garden flourish? We need to look to the One who is the landscaping artist of it all.

Exertion
We can exert ourselves physically and mentally with work, or spiritually with meditation and prayer. But, regardless of what we want, we must exert ourselves.

A Line
Being committed to higher ideals connects us to higher worlds. Thus, when we stumble and fall, we have a line to hang onto, and again, pull ourselves up.

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Before
Move away from evil, and do good!11 Before we can grasp what is beautiful and empowering, we must let go of what is ugly and depressing. We must identify our feelings of distress, anger, jealousy, etc. and replace them with calm, happy thoughts. Then we can start doing great things.

Motivation
The higher our motivations are, the more powerful are our actions and the greater their effect in this world and the next.

The Truth
Once we identify the truth, with as much clarity as we can, it becomes much easier to do what we need to do.

A Poor Measure
We must learn to ignore the ways that others the world around us look at and treat us. Its a poor measure of our personal worth.

Their Prestige
To honor others for their prestige and achievement does not mean we are putting ourselves down. We can honor others,

11

Tehillim 34.15

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and, at the same time, build and boost our own selfrespect.12

A Lift
When we feel down, we should focus intensely on our highest goal. This will lift us to its heights.

Our Importance
Wearing the right clothes gives us importance. Still, adopting the right attitude achieves this even more effectively. Our importance starts with our thoughts.

The Ultimate Product

The ultimate product we create with our lives is ourselves. We can do no better for ourselves, and the people around us than to become loving, inspired and joyful people.

Little by Little
The person who adds [to his achievements] little by little eventually has a lot.13 This teaching applies to our personal growth as well. Little by little, we reach our every goal.

Importance
To be important, we need to give importance to all we do.

Moreover, the act of honoring others itself, adds to our self-respect, as Pirkei Avos (4.1) teaches: Who is respected? The person who respects others.
12 13

Mishle 13.11

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Untapped Resources
We all have untapped resources financial, emotional and intellectual resources with which to improve our own lives, as well as the lives of others.

Peace
The ultimate way to achieve harmony and serenity is by acting pleasantly, as we learn: When the Creator takes pleasure from a persons ways, even his enemies make peace with him.14

Undeveloped
We shouldnt complain about what we dont have. Rather, we should complain about all we do have but have not yet used all we have not yet developed as we could.

A Beautiful World
We need to take responsibility for our world. For, beautiful people create a beautiful world; and beautiful deeds and words create beautiful people; and beautiful thoughts create beautiful words and deeds. Its all up to us.

Step Up
Our every action regardless of what it is should be a step up, a step that gives us a clearer understanding of our world, and a new closeness to the Creator who owns it all.

14

Mishle 16.7

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To Move Upwards
When things are not going as we feel they should go, it could well be that its time for us to move upwards to strive towards the next level of personal growth and achievement.

His Limousine
We should be the Creators limousine, acting purely for Him, using the roads He wants us to ride, reaching the destinations He wants us to reach. Acting like this empowers us greatly, and brings us to new heights.

Super-vehicles
Be a bus, large and friendly, with room in our heart for all people for all their concerns and worries. Be a truck, strong, determined, carrying any load with firm patience. Be a motorcycle, zipping through the traffic, fulfilling your duties with flexibility and speed. Be a limousine, dignified, majestic, using your influence to inspire others to greatness.

Smug
Beware of self-satisfaction, of feeling smug. It leads to expensive mistakes errors we cant afford to make.

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Cleansing
We need to remove the heaviness on our hearts caused by ugly actions, ugly speech and ugly thoughts. Then we can reach those heights that are really ours.

Our Enemy
Our own anger is our worst enemy. It kills others and it kills us if not in full, then in part. Moreover, it kills our most precious assets the moments of our lives. We must work at removing it from ourselves.

Mistakes
Dont beat yourself up! We all make mistakes. This is a part of our nature, of our makeup. Moreover, our mistakes show us that we can still improve; we can still grow. As such, there is no reason to kick ourselves and feel bad about them.

Nobility
To have the quality of nobility is to remain calm, dignified and even joyous no matter how much mud they sling at you to maintain self-esteem no matter how many times you stumble and fall.

Greater
Together with greatness, comes greater responsibilities, greater challenges. Its not that easy, but the rewards make it worthwhile.

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Recipes
To read a recipe book from cover to cover would be for most of us a waste of time and extremely boring. It would only become meaningful once we started making the recipes. Similarly, its all very well giving a few moments to inspirational thoughts. Still, its only when we give a few more minutes to think about them and incorporate them into our lives that they come alive.

Rage
Its not enough for us to control our outward rage; we need to extinguish it from within us as well. For the whole reason others upset us could well be for just this reason that we learn to be tolerant, or in other words, great people.

Higher Levels
Revenge is sweet, to bear a grudge quite normal. Still, if we want to reach higher levels of self-growth, we have to get over both of these lowly urges.

Power
To have money is to have power. But the power that comes from having good character and fine attributes can easily be more powerful than even very large sums of money.

Self-esteem
The rule of self-esteem is this: More important than what others think of you, is what you think of yourself.

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Not by results
We should measure our success not by our results, but rather by how well we have performed.

The Main Residence

For us, the main place the Creators presence resides is within ourselves. As such, we should keep our character pure clear of anger, resentment, and grief, clean of hatred, disdain and the need to take revenge.

Others in our World

Not at the Same Time
We cannot resent others and appreciate them at the same moment. Therefore, to love them, even when they upset us, we need to focus on the different gifts they give us the many ways they enrich us.

Myself and Others

To live simply for myself, is to be small. To live also for others, is to be great and the more others I live for, the greater I become.

For the World

Dont seek greatness for yourself.15 For, to be great simply for ourselves is to be small. We should rather seek greatness for the world seek greatness for others, and raise them to new heights. Moreover, we should promote the Creators greatness, and draw His presence into our lives.

15

Pirkei Avos 6.5

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For Others
An ultimate accomplishment is to bring joy to others. Thus, we align ourselves to the central reason of Creation, namely to bring joy to others.16

To Love
Our ability to love the people in our lives depends on us deciding that we will do our best to love the people in our lives.

With Others
We tend towards loneliness. Still and in general to be with others is better than to be without them. And the way to be with them is by giving to them and helping them to enrich their lives.

A King
A king may possess great wealth and power. But what really makes him a king are his responsibilities. He needs to think through and execute plans for the benefit and growth of his people. According to this definition, we too within the area of our influence are likewise kings.

Trust
The more care and concern we give others, the more they trust us, and even entrust us with their lives. This is the rule for all types of true leadership.

16

See Mesilas Yesharim, Chapter One.

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The More
Success comes not only from investing our time and effort in what we do. We also need heavenly help. And the more others stand to benefit from our success, the more heavenly help we receive.

Admiration
If we greatly admire other people, this is good. For, its the inspiration and blessing of the Creator that we see in them.

Kind Words
Our power is amazing. Think about it. With a few intelligent, kind words, we can change the course of another persons life from failure to success.

Interacting with Others

On our way
If we trample on others to reach our desires, they will push us down. But if we love them, elevate them, they will lift us onto their shoulders.

The Only Out

Some people think differently from us, and cannot understand how they hurt us. We achieve nothing in getting upset over this. The only thing to do is politely explain ourselves to them.

Hold Back
We should hold back from stinging those who hurt us. The rift we create can last forever. Instead, we should stay polite. We may yet count these people as our closest friends.

Enwrap
We need to turn our thoughts to those who hurt us and as we do so, wrap them with a great blanket of love. This will elevate us beyond our upset to a new level of inner peace.

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Dealing with Others

Our success in dealing with others depends on our ability to boost their self-esteem and help them to realize their potential.

His Next Success

To tell a pauper that he is a king is to make fun of him. But to show a pauper, with our words and actions, that he is the best pauper we know, is to point him towards his next success.

A Thousand Times
When we thank our friend a thousand times for the gift he gives us, he becomes our friend forever.

Some Approval
We cant get through our days without some approval some acceptance, admiration and applause from others. Still, we shouldnt allow this hunger for recognition to become an obsession. For, this will only interfere with our ability to perform as we can, and succeed.

In Others
See greatness in others, and bring out the greatness in them. See goodness in others, and bring out the goodness in them. See beauty in others, and bring out the beauty in them. But, if we will look at the ugliness and evil in others, we will bring out the ugliness and evil that is in them.

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As One
We need to want goodness not only for ourselves, but for others as well. Their worry should be our worry; their sorrow our sorrow; their celebration, our celebration. For, ultimately, their happiness and success is our happiness and success.

Sincerely
The more sincerity we put into the respect and affection we show others, the more powerfully we connect with them.

A Triumph
We should expect others, at times, to hurt us even badly. We should expect this even from important people. Then when it happens, we will maintain our good mood, our polite, friendly speech, our generous, forgiving thoughts and turn even such an experience into a triumph.

Compliments
We should give compliments to others, insightful, specific, sincere compliments. We then may be pleasantly surprised when the compliments are returned.

Their Beauty
See the beauty in other people. See what is unique about them, where they excel, how wonderful they are and what a privilege it is to make contact with them. You will be doing both them and yourself a special favor.

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Face to Face
As in water, a face sees a face, so is the heart of one person to another.17 The way we look at others, the way we think about them, the affection or indifference we feel for them, is how eventually they look at, think of, and feel for us.

Without depending on it
When we look to others for affection, approval, acceptance, we are their prisoner. But when we enjoy that same affection, approval, acceptance without depending on it, then were free.

More, More
The more we like other people, the more other people like us.

In This World
If they like us in this world, they like us in upper worlds; but if they dont like us in this world, they dont like us in the upper worlds either.18

Building and Breaking

We can heal others or we can hurt them. We can help others or we can ignore them. When we heal and help others, we

17 18

Mishle 27.19 Pirkei Avos 3.10

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build up the world for ourselves as well. When we hurt or ignore them, we break our world for ourselves as well.

Evil for Good

When a person repays the good he receives with evil, evil will never abandon his house.19 Two lessons we learn here are: 1) While we should always take care not to hurt others, we have to be especially careful with those who have been good to us in some way. 2) We never need to punish those who repay our goodness with evil; their ugly deed alone brings on them suffering and trouble.

Without hurting anyone

To go through life without ever hurting anyone else, is a great goal. However, only when this is our sincere desire and wish, will the heavens help us not to hurt others even unknowingly.

Revenge
When other people hurt us, we should search for the reasons within ourselves. For when we retaliate, when we punish them, we more often than not, only hurt ourselves.

19

Mishle 17.13

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Insult
When others insult us, even in the smallest way, we should forgive them, at least in our hearts. We should forgive them, if not immediately, then later. For any type of revenge hurts us more than it will ever hurt them.

Never Insult
Never insult anyone, ever, even in the most subtle of ways. The damage is too great, to others, as well as to ourselves. Moreover, it closes doors that these same people open before us.

Respectful and Serious

Where confronting others will lead to embarrassing them, we need to act in a way that is both respectful and serious for our benefit as well.

Giving
Giving
We are the greatest recipient of all we give. Giving of our deepest, most precious self, leads us to new prosperity.

Show us
Show usYour kindness, and save us.20 One idea here is that we ask, Show us how to perform true kindness, and with this give us the keys to all types of success.

Owning it all
We say of the Creator: He performs great acts of kindness, and owns it all.21 For ourselves, we need to follow this example and understand that through helping others, we really enrich ourselves.

A Good Eye
A good eye22 means the ability to see the goodness in others even when they hurt us. The benefit here is the more we see goodness in others, the more they see goodness in us.

20 21 22

Tehillim 85.8 Daily Siddur See Pirkei Avos 2.9

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Leave Gifts
The many people, who lived before us, may have not changed the world absolutely. Still, each one of them contributed something to the way we live. Similarly, we cannot fix everything, but we can leave gifts to our children and grandchildren, as well as our students.

Best for themselves

Think of others whether you like them a little or a lot and with your thoughts boost them, enrich them. Help them to be what is best for themselves and the world.

Giving Pleasure
It is a sign of arriving emotionally when giving pleasure to others is more important to us than receiving pleasure from them.

Take Pleasure
The best gift we give others is to take pleasure from them to like how they move, how they do things, how they speak, how they relate to the world around them, etc.

Nothing in Return
When we give something to others, whether it is a gift, a kind word, or even just a smile, we should expect nothing in return. That way, when we receive nothing, we are not disappointed; and when we do receive something, we can be pleasantly surprised.

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Give them a gift

When others hurt us, we need to cancel the effect on our personality by giving them a gift. And if we cant give them a gift, at least, let us say a little prayer for them.

All that we are

The ultimate intention is to give all that we are all that we think, say and do as a gift to the Creator of all. Then, as we give more of ourselves to Him, so He gives more of Himself His mystical, magical, all-powerful Self to us.

I am the gift
We need to train ourselves to say about others, and especially to the Creator, I am the gift that I give to you.

For my lover
First its, I am for my lover.23 First, we give ourselves commit ourselves. Then its, my lover is for me. As we give of ourselves, so we receive in return.

Even when
We should be doing the right and kind thing towards others, even when we know they will not recognize or thank us for our efforts. Their smallness shouldnt keep us back from being noble, beautiful people.

23

Shir HaShirim 6.3

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Host
If we could host anyone in the world, for as long as we wanted, in any way we wanted, and at no cost to ourselves who would it be, and what would we do with him or her? Now, part two of this exercise is this: Apply this to your inner world: how would we host whoever we wanted, even the Creator Himself, and with no limitations at all?

Looking Upwards
Holy Energy
We should feel the Creator within us. Picture the Creators name golden, glowing, radiating holy energy filling us with power, a burning wish to explore new concepts and achieve our hearts every desire.

Connection
The Divine Presence lies hidden within us. Likewise, it hides in the world around us. We need to connect these two to bridge the gap. Thus, we fill our lives with its goodness, beauty and joy.

Dependent
To depend on others is a weakness. To be independent is also a mistake. We cant make it without the help of others. What we really need then is to look to the Creator for help, realizing all along that He will lead us to whatever we need and want.

Our Second Home

We need to spend quality time in upper worlds. We need to be there; see the colors; feel the detachment, a sense of eternity. We need to make the heavens our second home.

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A Stranger
See yourself as a stranger in this world here on a mission for a short time before you go home. This will make it easier for you to do what you need to do.

Much More
Everything we are, the Creator is and much more. He knows us more. He loves us more. As such, we really have no problem in turning to Him and asking for whatever we want.

Over to us
The Creator made this world, and then He gave it over to us. Still, the more we involve Him in running it, the better it runs.

Conscious
To maintain consciousness of the Creator is a success, an achievement. We even, eventually, receive applause for this.

Under a Shower
When we align ourselves with the Creators will, we stand under a shower of blessing a stream of wisdom, wealth, and whatever else we want. But, when we move away from His will, we move away from this flow.

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Crowning the King

We need to be passionate about crowning the Creator king of the world. And the first step in achieving this is to crown Him as king over ourselves.24

Miracles
We should focus on miracles, especially the miracle of the Exodus from Egypt. Through this, we bring miracles into our lives.25

Yours His
We need to align ourselves with our Creator. Let our success be His success let our greatness be His greatness and be one with Him.

House on Fire
When our house is on fire, we try, at least, to save our most precious possessions. Similarly, when our lives are on fire, we should cling to what is most precious to us our connection to the Creator.

Based on the teaching of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, who commented, that while we are ready to crown the Creator over the entire world, we often forget to crown Him over ourselves.
24

The verse says, I am the Lord, your G-d, who took you up from the land of Egypt, open your mouth wide, and I will fill it (Tehillim 81.11). The Ibn Ezra explains that the connection between the two parts of the verse comes to teach us that through believing in miracles, we merit our own personal miracles.
25

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Facial Expression
When we imagine the Creator, what expression do we expect to see on His face? Is He laughing or frowning, serious or smiling? Conversely, when He looks at us, what expression do our faces show?

In Contact
At all times, we are in contact with the Creator, whether directly through conversation and prayer, or indirectly through any of His other creations. Still, to benefit from this connection in a full way, we need to focus and keep this idea in mind.

An Angels Problem
An angels problem is how can he better perform the wish of his Maker, and draw closer to the source of all life and joy. We should make this our problem as well.

Everyday Questions
We need some time each day to reconnect with our Source. What are we doing in this world? Where are our lives heading? What is the reason for it all? And, of course, how well are we doing?

Automatic
Bringing the Creators presence into the world will automatically nullify all that is ugly, that is evil. And the other way around as well: as we clean our surroundings of what is ugly and evil, so we draw His presence into our world.

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Miracles
Every day a person experiences many miracles, yet he doesnt know it.26 If we will recognize and become excited about the miracles in our history and our daily lives, we will merit experiencing and enjoying miraculous lives.

Looking for the Creator

Looking for what comes easily gives a short-lived satisfaction once you find it, theres nothing to look for any more. Looking for what is difficult or impossible to find leads to an ongoing frustration. Looking however, for the Creator in your life leads to ongoing satisfaction He is not too difficult to find, and at the same time He contains endless depths to discover, explore and enjoy.

A Prison
Our physical-material situation is a prison. We rely so much on our health, wealth, our work and our play. But, all this stops us from laying our faith with the Master of all. We must make time also to enjoy the many gifts He gives us.

Faith
Faith is not the product of intellectually following proofs for the Creators existence. It is also not experiencing personal

26

Shmos Raba 24

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miracles in our lives. Rather, it is the ongoing relationship we create through connecting with the Creator at an everyday level speaking to Him, praying to Him, and enjoying His presence.

To Model Ourselves
We need to keep the Creator alive in our thoughts not just that we may focus on His joy, majesty and love, but that we may model ourselves on this magnificence.

The Source
Think of the Creator as the source of ultimate happiness. Now strive for the ultimate happiness, for yourself and others, for now and for the future.

Father-king-friend-lover
The Creator is our father. He brought us into this world and supports us continually. He is our king. He owns all, and does whatever He wants. He is our friend; we should draw Him into the details of our everyday life, our large schemes and small ones. He is our lover; He wants our success, our affection and total attachment to Him.

Into Yourself
Draw the Creators presence into yourself such that you radiate light, and bring joy and inspiration to all around you.

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Son or Employee
The bosss son is not more than an employee because he works more. Often he works less. Rather, his secret lies in commitment. The employee has a separate life from his boss. He goes home at the end of the day. He holds back. For this reason, we need to think of ourselves as children of the Creator, and not simply as those who must obey.

We dont need them

Other people help us, but we dont really need them. We only need the Creator, who in turn, sends people into our lives to help us.

Prayer
Before we pray
Before we pray, we should allow feelings of gratitude and love for the Creator to wash over us and through us. The more powerfully we can do this, the more powerful will our prayer be.

A Pipeline
With other people, we should look more for what we can give them, than what we can take from them. For, what we receive from others is not their gift. Rather, all is Heavens gift. While we thank them for their present, at the same time, we must remember, that really they are no more than a pipeline.

Instead of Cursing
Instead of cursing those who hurt us, instead of bringing black clouds of negativity and ugliness into our lives, let us rather call to our Creator for help; let us look for His light, a white, joyous, healing light.

Ask for the Keys

Can I borrow the car, Dad? Sure son, here are the keys. There are great powers in our world, waiting for us to tap into them, to drive them. All we need is to turn to the Creator and ask for the keys.

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Draw it down
When we pray for something, we need to draw it down from the heavens detach it from the treasury house that is its home, and hang on to it, being careful not to let it go, until we have it in our hands.

Widen the window

When, with sincerity and joy, we thank and bless the Creator for His gifts to us, we widen the window through which still more gifts may descend from the heavens and settle on us.

The First Move

Great storehouses of plenty await us, but we must, with our thoughts and prayers, drill through to the heavens to access them. If we can create even the smallest trickling of this wealth, this will lead to a gaping hole and a great outpouring of blessing. But the first move, as always, is ours.

The help of others

We earn, deserve and receive the help of others, when we pray to the Creator for help.

The Power of Prayer

To have your prayer answered is not about performing miracles. Its simply about tapping into the power of prayer.

The Reason
We shouldnt pray simply for an end to our problems. Rather we should realize that the whole reason for our

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problems is that we need to put a little more effort into knowing our Creator.

How Many?
We can pray for ourselves. We can pray for people we know. We can pray for our nation. The only question is how many people are we ready to make room for in our thoughts and prayers?

Waiting
Waiting, especially for something important, can be unpleasant and agonizing. However, it is specifically while we are waiting, that we can realize our greatest personal growth.27 We must learn how to pray, and how to wait.

27

Based on Daas Chochma and Mussar, R Yeruchem Levovitz, vol. 3 pg. 1

Difficulties
Heart-softening
Suffering pummels our hearts, softening and sensitizing them to higher life-experiences.

Specifically Then
At times, darkness, doubt and difficulty surround us. Duty, fatigue and a lack of inspiration drown us. Specifically then, we need to make time for our Creator. Specifically then, we need to reconnect with our Source, and thereby, recharge ourselves.

Troubles
Troubles from outside awaken us to our complacency, which is after all, our greatest enemy, and destroys all that is good in our lives.

Times of Sorrow
With carelessness, with a lack of attention, what is most precious to us slips away and is lost. Times of sorrow give us the opportunity to win back what is really ours. We should use such days to restore the brilliant Divine Presence to our nation and our lives.

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Pity Them
We need to pity those people who upset us to pity them for their lack of sensitivity, their shortsightedness, their ignorance. We need to pity them as we would pity someone who is confined to his bed or worse than that.

Complaining
Complaining is destructive. Its good at times to unload our anxieties on others, but when we complain, we display ungratefulness, and bring even more trouble on ourselves.

Changes
The changes in the seasons, winter, spring, summer, autumn, keep us on our toes. The changes in our situations, good days and bad, times of joy and times of depression, keep us on our toes. All this tells us that we have to keep moving, doing, achieving and growing.

Our Enemies
We should pray that our enemies repair the damages they have done, start behaving as they should, and in this way, make peace with us.

With Patience
Waiting with patience for the truth to clarify an unresolved issue draws out from us hidden strengths. Moreover, it awards us new power and insight.

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Mistakes
We cant avoid making mistakes. We cant avoid the regrets that come from such mistakes. But we can look at others who in some way profited from our mistakes, and be glad for them.

The Wolves
Instead of cursing the wolves who torment us, let us turn hopeful eyes to our shepherd.

In a moment
The best possible situations can always turn sour in a moment. On the other hand, even under the worst possible conditions, with the Creators help, all can turn out just wonderful.

All well for now

Dont say everything is all well. Rather say everything is all well for now. Then turn your eyes to the heavens and pray that everything should continue to be all well.

A Thousand Times More

We can make a thousand brilliant excuses for our failures. But to say, I made a mistake I am sorry I will try harder next time is a thousand times more powerful.

Inspiration
Pick me up
Pick me up; dont put me down. Pick me up encourage me; help me feel good about myself. Dont put me down dont shame me; it really, really hurts. Pick me up, and I in turn, will pick you up.

To Inspire
We need to ask ourselves, what we can do to inspire ourselves. Also, we need to ask ourselves, what we can do to inspire others.

Remember
We say of the Creator: He remembers the loving acts of our ancestors, and brings redemption to their childrens children28 We too should remember the heroism of our ancestors through the ages, and with this inspiration, strive for a glorious future.

To Write a Song
It takes one person to write a song. Then the world can sing along. Similarly, it takes just one person to point to the Creator. Then the world can rejoice in His presence.

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Daily Siddur

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One Major Project

We should have one major project that fires us up and fills our thoughts. Once we are clear as to what this project is, we can ride it constantly, even through the dry patches and hilly country of our lives.

A Little Attention
Many people we meet through the day need no more than a little attention, a little kindness. Maybe we can be the ones to give it to them.

Intention
For the sake of
To be free of self-interest, and act purely for the sake of a higher goodness, empowers us as nothing else does.

Beyond the Superficial

We see a dog barking at his own reflection, and we laugh. But we too, like this dog, often fail to see beyond the superficial the externalities of life. We need somehow, to train and align ourselves to the true reason of Creation.

Not for Ourselves

We need to live not for ourselves, but for the world. This doesnt mean we stop eating, sleeping, relaxing and taking pleasure from life. Instead, all we take should be that we can appreciate and thank the Creator and thereby draw even more of His beauty and power into the world.

The Benefits
The more clearly we see the benefits of doing what we need to do, the more fun we will have doing it. Moreover, this clarity empowers and elevates our action.

Hot-Air Balloon
Rising in a hot-air balloon we see the people, houses and streets become smaller and smaller. Similarly, when we strive for lofty heights, elevated goals, we find our daily

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problems shrinking and shriveling until there is little left of them.

Pure Intention
The purer the intention we pour into what we do, the more our actions shine with success and beauty.

In Unity
In unity, there is power, the power to accomplish great things. Therefore, we should attach ourselves to the group. We should be a part of them, in reality, and more importantly, in our thoughts and attitudes.

To Understand
Every single event in our lives, large and small, serves as an opportunity to understand further, how the Creator runs the world. Then, with this understanding, we may draw closer to His genius.

Readers Comments
The PiCK-ME-UPshave inspired, helped and/or simply made me smile. Amazingly, the PiCK-ME-UPs always seem to correspond to the situation that I am in at that particular moment.
Luciana Ceross, Sevenoaks, Kent, U.K.

I love your work. Succinct and power-packed thoughts that can last a lifetime! Ivan Sacks, Dallas TX If you are having a rough moment or you feel empty inside, stop everything you are doing, sit quietly and read a few excerpts of PiCK-ME-UPs. Your spirit will be lifted and you will feel as if you were being fed fresh manna from heaven. You will not only be enlightened by his work, but you will feel his love and kindness in your heart when you need it most. Victoria Johnson, Caribbean Islands A window to a better life
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a wonderful and fresh perspectiveregardless of how the world around me seems to crumble
Rivka Zahava Berger Reed, Raleigh-Durham NC

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Your explanation is so simple, yet on a high level.

Bernard Rosenberg, Brewster NY

really makes an amazing difference in my life reinforces my own beliefs and trust in the Creator, and helps me enormously in getting through each day brings a smile to my faceI really enjoy the insight and great wisdom. Grant Jackson, London many times I just cant wait to share them with other people, mostly, my mother and sister. You put things in a light that you can see life in a simple way and learn to smile at yourself Andrea Levy, Buenos Aires The PiCK-ME-UPs do that for meI look forward to reading them on a daily basis. Rhoda Schnarch, Toronto I see how the world needs people like you; when its dark, you bring the light. Alina Demidova, Moscow highly inspiringon the power of prayer helped me particularly well as I am recuperating from developing pulmonary emboli. I decided to walk round our little garden ten times. After the fifth time round, I felt I couldnt continue and then thought of the power you had reminded us of. I happily finished the ten rounds
Edna Freinkel, Johannesburg

We are very proud of the amazing effort and dedication that you have shown in this wonderful endeavor.
Leon & Shirley Schwartz, Modiin

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