Meaningful Life Skills with Rabbi Simon Jacobson

How Do You React Under Pressure? The Rebbe’s revolutionary message for our turbulent times Crisis and pressure brings out the best in some people and the worst in others. Many lose their composure and confidence when squeezed. They get overwhelmed and can even crumble under pressure. And there are those that maintain their balance and calm; some even rise to the occasion in stressful situations. Is this difference wired or acquired? is the way we deal with challenging situations based on our natural innate resources, is it due to parental and other formative influences, or can we be taught new ways how to cope with pressure? Please join Rabbi Jacobson in this special program, as he honors his great mentor by presenting methodologies that each of us can employ to access deeper resources within ourselves to face even the most daunting circumstances. Discover how pressure can actually draw out your greatest potential, your deepest and strengths. Remember, only extreme pressure turns carbon into diamond; only when you press an olive does it produce oil; and like a teabag, you don't know how strong you are until you find yourself in hot water...

25 Jun 202058min

With all the incessant and unrelenting talk addressing the upheavals of our time, one critical element is glaringly missing in the conversation: The utter lack of visionary leadership. Can you recall one -- even one -- memorable and inspiring talk delivered by any of our so-called leaders, giving us hope and confidence, calling upon our noble spirits, offering us a clear and focused long-term vision. Someone who invokes our past history of resilience under pressure, discovering greater strengths in times of crisis, learning how to grow and thrive -- not just survive -- through the greatest difficulties. The "leaders" of our time -- in politics, business, academia, education, even religious leaders; not to mention our celebrities, in film, music, sports and entertainment -- have at best taken a reactive posture, addressing -- some better than others -- the presenting challenges on the ground. Some are completely silent. Others are speaking up, but very often pandering and politicizing positions in our polarized climate. We cannot minimize the crucial role of our health community, the selfless heroism of our first responders, and the overall efforts of so many in helping save lives. Different government leaders have risen to the occasion offering us advice on containing the virus and protecting ourselves and others, through quarantine, masks, when and how to reopen our institutions and economy, and other (hopefully) sound guidance during this pandemic. But a leader is much more than a firefighter, a proficient administrator and an expert manager. He is not just someone who can flatten the curve and contain the burning fires -- the fires of Covid-19 or the fires of racial unrest.. A true leader provides a higher purpose to life and its challenges.While addressing the immediate crisis and mobilizing the best and most efficient possible teams to handle the challenges on the ground, a real leader offers the people a long-term vision, a strong and resolute voice, resonating with moral and spiritual clarity. So where are our leaders? For whatever reason, that story-line has not appeared. You don't want to miss this important talk by Rabbi Jacobson, addressing the underlying reasons for our leadership vacuum, and what we can do about it. An excerpt: "Leaders reflect the times and the generation in which they live; they mirror the people, their standards and social attitudes. Leaders are an excellent litmus test of our values, goals and aspirations. if you want to know the priorities of a community or a nation check out the leaders they embrace. It's a myth to believe that our leaders are removed from, and can be expected to live up to, higher standards than we ourselves value. "What do we see when we look at our generation? We have lived for some time in a vacuous material world, where success and leadership is defined by superficial matters; sports, entertainment and glitz (e.g. Academy Awards), and the biggest event of the year is the Super Bowl. We have become spoiled. Our success and prosperity has dulled our senses and caused us to become apathetic to higher core values. What leaders do you expect in a world like this?"

18 Jun 202055min

Why does the unknown unnerve and frighten us? Just witness the way people are struggling with the uncertain future created by the pandemic, coupled now by the racial unrest raging in our cities. The disruption of everything we usually relied on - our schedules, our plans, our work, our children's activities, our travels -- virtually every one of our otherwise dependable routines, is shaking us all up. So much about life is unknown. Indeed, whatever we know is just a fraction of what is unknown. The more we learn about the universe and about our own bodies, the more we recognize how much more there is to learn and discover. Scientific breakthroughs in quantum mechanics and neuroscience (to name just two examples) have shown us that when we peer into the building blocks of existence, we discover that we have barely pierced the surface. As we have discovered molecules, and beneath that atoms, made up of subatomic particles, we wonder how many further layers lay beneath? How far down does the "rabbit hole" go? How many sub-sub-sub-sub... dimensions are there? The same with DNA and other microscopic forces. The deeper we dig, the deeper are the depths that emerge. The higher we climb, the broader the horizons. True knowledge includes knowing the unknown. As the sages teach us,"The ultimate knowledge is knowing that you don't know," which means knowing that there is much more to know, to the point that you come to know the unknowable. So then why is it so difficult and unsettling to deal with an unknown and uncertain future? Is it possible that we have become so accustomed and attached -- even addicted -- to our knowable and predictable comfort zones, that now, when they are disrupted, we cannot easily embrace the unknown? Has our prosperity and high standard of living distracted and caused us to forget the awe of the unknown? Is our need for control a result of deeper insecurities -- relying on impermanent things for safety? Do you know how to let go and celebrate your vulnerability? Please join Rabbi Simon Jacobson on an extraordinary journey into the deeper mysteries of life, and learn how to embrace the mystique and grandeur of the unknown. Discover how we gain true control when we let go of control. How the unknowable works hand-in-hand with the knowable, as the unconscious works hand-in-hand with the conscious -- weaving together an exquisite and exhilarating picture of true reality.

11 Jun 202052min

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, another pandemic has taken to the streets. Cities are burning across the U.S., filled with people protesting racism, including angry mobs looting and violently attacking police and innocent store owners. How should we be reacting to all of this? We are all appalled at the blatant killing of George Floyd by a police officer. But what is a healthy and legitimate response? Besides for demanding justice, is it justifiable to disrupt entire communities? Should violence be met with violence, crime with crime? How do we fight racism and oppression? Do we wage war or do we surrender? Do we pray or do we escape? Is there a long-term solution to prejudice and discrimination? The best answer for any dilemma, especially one as serious and long-term as this, is to look back at history and see how hatred and persecution was addressed in the past, who was successful at dealing with it, and what results it yielded. The Jewish people are the best model to turn to in such times. Close to four millennia the Jews suffered every possible form of oppression and abuse -- enslavement, forced labor, discrimination, expulsion, extermination. From the Egyptian bondage to the destruction wreaked by the Babylonians and the Romans, from the Crusades to the Inquisition, from the Middle Age massacres to the pogroms to the Holocaust, there is barely a period in which Jews weren't under attack. How did they survive? How did they thrive? How did they endure and outlast all their persecutors, and become the great nation they are till this very day, influencing the world far beyond their numbers? Join Rabbi Simon Jacobson is this critically important and timely program and discover what 3800 years of time-tested history and wisdom teaches us about growing through oppression, and becoming the greatest possible people we can be.

4 Jun 202053min

Where does heaven meet earth? Can we rise and transcend our physical limitations and social distancing? is it possible to fuse matter and spirit? Can a mortal creature experience immortality? Can a finite being touch infinity? Do we have the ability to unite with the divine in our homes as we do in our synagogues? An event took place 3332 years ago, which changed the world forever and contains the answer to these and many more fundamental life questions. And this event is relevant today more than ever. As we remain restricted or quarantined in our homes, one may think that our confined state limits our ability to manifest the unlimited divine. Sinai teaches us that nothing can be further from the truth. On the contrary: The earthshaking and life transforming Sinai revolution married heaven and earth, and empowered us to connect our fragile mundane existence with eternity, and manifest the Divine Essence itself in our individual homes, hearts and souls. Please join Rabbi Simon Jacobson in this special pre-Shavuos class and Yizkor program and discover how this year, we have a unique and unprecedented opportunity to bring Sinai home and transform our lives like never before. In the moving Yizkor program learn how to connect to the eternal souls of your loved ones. Where does heaven meet earth? Right at your doorstep. Share this video with a friend: 💌 https://youtu.be/G0aS0Pua--4 Watch the Weekly Global Class Playlist: 💻 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... Let’s connect: 🌐Website - http://www.meaningfullife.com/ 📷 Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/meaningful.... 👍Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/meaningfulli... 💼LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonjaco... 📧Email – wisdomreb@meaningfullife.com 💬WhatsApp – 347-766-7558 Rabbi Simon Jacobson is a pioneering speaker, educator and mentor to thousands. He is the Dean and Founder of The Meaningful Life Center, coined "The Spiritual Starbucks" by the New York Times, which bridges the secular and the spiritual. He is the author of the best-selling book Toward a Meaningful Life (💎 https://www.amazon.com/Toward-Meaning...) which has sold over 300,000 copies and been translated into 13 different languages. With his keen insight into the human condition, and over 35 years of experience, he has the unique ability to offer clarity and direction especially in difficult times. Rabbi Jacobson and the MLC have been lauded for creating non-stop programming nourishing people's hearts and souls. Please donate or sponsor a class, to help us continue and expand this life-affirming work 💓 https://www.meaningfullife.com/donate.

28 Mai 20201h 7min

Quarantine has challenged us in so many different ways. What are you like when you can't go to work, school, ballparks, theaters, restaurants, vacation spots and all your regular destinations? What part of us emerges when we don't have our usual outlets? In times like this, one of the most important questions to ask yourself is this: When your physical movements are limited, what happens to your soul? When our usual routines were in place, some of us may have not given our souls much thought. But whether you have been in touch with your soul or not, now is an opportune time to think about and get to know your soul. What distinguishes your soul from your body? How different are their functions and perspectives? Do they see and experience the world in the same way? Is your soul contained by space and time -- and other parameters -- that limit physical matter? How do we define the parameters of a soul? Can a soul be quarantined? Can it be trapped and enslaved? Please join Rabbi Jacobson on a fascinating journey -- the journey of a soul, the journey of your soul. Unconfined by the trappings of the body, discover how to unleash the free spirit of your soul and soar to unprecedented heights. Learn how to look at life through the lens of your soul instead of the lens of your body, and, in the process, transform you and everything about you.

21 Mai 202039min

Subscribe to the Meaningful Life Center YouTube Channel for more 🔔 https://www.youtube.com/meaningfullif... Quarantine does strange things to people. It can bring out the best or the worst in us. For many of us, being locked down at home has evoked a new appreciation of our loved ones, strengthened bonds and connections, revealed new strengths and creativity. But sadly, for others it has intensified stress, fear and insecurity. Pressures, imposed limits and constraints, push us to our limits and amplify or expose cracks and wounds. Add addiction into the equation... What impact does all this have on addiction? When our usual routines and structures are disrupted, when we're isolated and have fewer outlets of escape, the loneliness and the inner void could drive many -- especially those who have suffered from past addictions -- to seek relief through unhealthy and destructive substances and behaviors. Unfortunately, the rise of addictions would seem inevitable during such times and begs the question: If addictions are notoriously, perpetually difficult to break, how much more difficult does this prove to be when we face today's challenges? Can we -- and how can we -- free ourselves? Please join Rabbi Simon Jacobson in this timely talk, as he dissects the anatomy of addiction. What is addiction? What is it that drives us to addictions that wrest away control of our lives, in the first place? No one sets out with a goal to become... an addict. Which healthy person would want to become a slave, utterly dependent upon a foreign force, essentially at war with themselves?! Discover how the root of addiction is driven by the need for love and connection. Human beings crave attachment. When we lack healthy attachments, we turn to unhealthy ones. Learn how to transform the dysfunction into the functional; how to gain relief of emptiness and demons by redirecting and channeling cravings toward transcendent goals. You can turn the intense energy of addiction into powerful devotion; commitment to the most noble and lofty of goals, and convert that powerful energy to being the best you can be. Share this video with a friend: 💌 https://youtu.be/G0aS0Pua--4 Watch the Spiritual Antidote Playlist 💻 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... Let’s connect: 🌐Website - http://www.meaningfullife.com/ 📷 Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/meaningful.... 👍Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/meaningfulli... 💼LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonjaco... 📧Email – wisdomreb@meaningfullife.com 💬WhatsApp – 347-766-7558 Rabbi Simon Jacobson is a pioneering speaker, educator and mentor to thousands. He is the Dean and Founder of The Meaningful Life Center, coined "The Spiritual Starbucks" by the New York Times, which bridges the secular and the spiritual. He is the author of the best-selling book Toward a Meaningful Life (💎 https://www.amazon.com/Toward-Meaning...) which has sold over 300,000 copies and been translated into 13 different languages. With his keen insight into the human condition, and over 35 years of experience, he has the unique ability to offer clarity and direction especially in difficult times. Rabbi Jacobson and the MLC have been lauded for creating non-stop programming nourishing people's hearts and souls. Please donate or sponsor a class, to help us continue and expand this life-affirming work 💓 https://www.meaningfullife.com/donate.

14 Mai 202055min

Quarantine is exposing us like never before. Stripped of so many of our otherwise conventional support systems -- our workplaces, our social circles, our cafes, restaurants, theaters, stadiums, our travel plans and vacations -- we are left now to our bare internal resources searching for stimulation. Just a few months ago, we could avail ourselves of endless places and outlets to escape feeling alone. We were able to share with others "a cup called loneliness, because it's better than drinking alone." Our external togetherness concealed our lonesomeness. But today -- among many other challenges --- we face the prospect of being alone, in solitude, alienated in isolation. Today, in virtually every aspect of our lives, the pandemic lock down is challenging us in numerous ways, challenging our very identities. Without external structures to depend upon, the question stares us in the face: Am I all alone? Does anyone care about me? Do I have any value while locked in at home? Do I know how to be alone? Loneliness can be quite terrifying. We thrive on love and connection with others. From our earliest childhood, and even in our mothers wombs, our very psyches are shaped and defined by human touch and nurturing. Feeling all alone can be devastating. Every pain and trauma can be endured when you feel cared for; when others are in it with you; when there is a measure of hope. But to suffer alone is an unimaginable hell too difficult to comprehend. Yet, counterintuitively, quarantine also opens up new and unprecedented opportunities. It compels us to experience our very selves, who we are at our core, unhindered by the dazzle and glitz of our ornate vestments. It reveals the ultimate prize of being alone: Your uniquely beautiful and precious self. Please join Rabbi Jacobson as he explores the positive side of being alone. Discover the truly inimitable and indispensable you. You were born an original; don't become a copy. Reclaim your exceptionalism and embrace what you - and only you - can accomplish in this world. Share this video with a friend: 💌 https://youtu.be/G0aS0Pua--4 Watch the Spiritual Antidote Playlist 💻 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... Let’s connect: 🌐Website - http://www.meaningfullife.com/ 📷 Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/meaningful.... 👍Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/meaningfulli... 💼LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonjaco... 📧Email – wisdomreb@meaningfullife.com 💬WhatsApp – 347-766-7558 Rabbi Simon Jacobson is a pioneering speaker, educator and mentor to thousands. He is the Dean and Founder of The Meaningful Life Center, coined "The Spiritual Starbucks" by the New York Times, which bridges the secular and the spiritual. He is the author of the best-selling book Toward a Meaningful Life (💎 https://www.amazon.com/Toward-Meaning...) which has sold over 300,000 copies and been translated into 13 different languages. With his keen insight into the human condition, and over 35 years of experience, he has the unique ability to offer clarity and direction especially in difficult times. Rabbi Jacobson and the MLC have been lauded for creating non-stop programming nourishing people's hearts and souls. Please donate or sponsor a class, to help us continue and expand this life-affirming work 💓 https://www.meaningfullife.com/donate.

7 Mai 202052min