How to Plan for an Unknown Future

Trust is a vital component in life. Healthy relationships and bonds are built on trust. Without trust, almost everything is compromised if not outrightly destroyed. But which criteria define trust? How do we gauge whom to trust? Which traits and behaviors engender trust? Can these characteristics be acquired? Many of us have been hurt and are justly wary of trusting another, or sadly, may have totally lost trust in others. Is it possible to rebuild healthy trust after betrayal? Please join Rabbi Simon Jacobson as he dissects the anatomy, and delves into the mysterious world of trust. Learn how to identify trustworthy characteristics, and discover ways of becoming both more trusting and more trustworthy in building safe environments and enduring relationships.

15 Juli 201938min

If you were to list the five most important things you want to accomplish in your life, what would they be? Please join Rabbi Simon Jacobson in this special tribute to his mentor -- the Rebbe -- in which he discusses five foundational principles he learned from his teacher, which radically transformed his life, and can transform your life as well. Discover how these principles can guide you in creating your personalized list of goals you want to achieve in your life, which in turn will help you focus all your activities and interactions toward a cohesive plan of fulfilling your calling in this world.

3 Juli 201939min

Do you ever find yourself feeling uneasy that your life is kind of empty and aimless? Believe it or not, that feeling is the beginning of a spiritual awakening. Every epiphany, every wake-up call, every transition, starts with a state of discomfort, as you move from one paradigm to another. What other signs are there that indicate the opening of new opportunities? Are we missing these signs due to our dismissing them as just temporary nuisances or setbacks? If you're stuck in a rut, how do you get yourself out of it? Are there ways to generate change and growth in your life when you're trapped by your daily routines and habits? How do spiritual awakenings happen and how do you get started and maintain that awakening? Please join Rabbi Simon Jacobson in this intriguing discussion on navigating the twists and turns and ups and downs of your life journey. Learn to recognize those moments when a new opportunity presents itself -- including seeing disappointments as springboards -- and how to take advantage and turn it into an awakening to a higher state of awareness and consciousness. Discover methods to expand your horizons and open up new channels of blessings in your life and in your relationships.

20 Juni 201943min

Last year medical researchers discovered a new body part, called the interstitium -- a network of fluid-filled spaces in connective tissue across the body that hadn't been seen before. Previously, it was thought that these tissue layers were a dense "wall" of collagen — a strong structural protein found in connective tissue. But the new finding reveals that, rather than a "wall," this tissue is more like an "open, fluid-filled highway," said co-senior study author Dr. Neil Theise, a professor of pathology at New York University Langone School of Medicine. With all that's known about human anatomy, you wouldn't expect the discovery of a new organ in this day and age. But now, doctors say they've done just that. What is the significance of this discovery, what lessons does it teach us and what insights does it offer us in understanding ourselves and the cosmos? Please join Rabbi Simon Jacobson as he travels "under the skin" and explores the fascinating parallels between the interstitium and the Kabbalistic map of the human body and soul. Discover the role of this "fluid filled network" in your psycho-spiritual life and how it can help you improve your well-being and your relationships.

17 Juni 201950min

It may seem like a silly question, but does your life truly matter? With 7.7 billion people on this planet, what possible significance can one person have? This is not a small issue: If you feel that you don't really matter, then your life choices and decisions also don't really matter. What type of life can you live when all that you do has no true value? No wonder that many of us feel unmotivated and uninspired. Please join Rabbi Simon Jacobson as he presents a fresh new approach to finding meaning and passion in life. Discover the real reason that you and your actions truly matter. Not just you, but the entire world -- and the cosmos themselves -- are dependent on your choices. You indeed have the power to change the world.

17 Juni 201943min

Have you ever behaved like a coward? Do you regret any situations when you neglected from acting out of fear? Would you be brave enough to acknowledge such behavior? Cowardice and fear impact much more of our lives than we imagine. How many of our decisions are driven — and how many opportunities are lost — due to cowardice? But what do we know about this force that effects us so deeply? What makes some people more cowardly than others? Is courage inborn or acquired? Can we do anything to become less cowardly and more courageous? Please join Rabbi Simon Jacobson as he dissects the anatomy of courage and cowardice and its impact on our lives. Through this lens, discover new insights into yourself, and come away with methods and skills to build up your courage live up to your greatest potential and beliefs.

17 Juni 201945min

The ancient mystical teachings of Kabbalah — once obscure and unknown — has recently become popular and even fashionable. Or has it? Do we really know what Kabbalah is? What does the word even mean? What do these teachings offer us? Tonight is Lag B’Omer, the anniversary of Rabbi Shimeon Bar Yochai’s passing. Rabbi Shimeon, or Rashbi, is the “father” of Kabbalah. He authored the Zohar — the classical esoteric work, which is the foundation of mysticism, laying out a blueprint of the divine and the spiritual framework of the universe and beyond. Please join Rabbi Simon Jacobson in this special Lag B’Omer presentation, as he explains the surprising meaning of the word Kabbalah. Once we know its true definition, we can then take a journey into the mystical and mysterious chambers of our psyches and of the cosmos — and come away with a new way of looking at life and new methods to achieve transcendence and live the most fulfilling life possible. The inner workings of Kabbalah — as first taught by Rashbi, and further developed in subsequent generations — opens for us up enthralling vistas and unparalleled opportunities to build glorious lives and relationships, always brimming with unexpected possibilities.

17 Juni 201949min

There are no parenting schools. So where and how do we learn to parent? We learn it 1) from our own mothers and fathers — we emulate how they parented us, and 2) above all we learn it on the job: When a couple is blessed with a child/children, trial and error and hard earned challenges, and their natural instincts — shaped by the attitudes we picked up from our parents — teaches them how to parent and educate, for better or for worse. But how do we know whether our parenting methods are sound? And that we are not making serious errors in raising our children? Without schooling and with flawed parenting models, for all we know we may be perpetuating dysfunctional parenting skills? Without an objective parenting model, how can we know whether we are doing our best to bring up healthy children? Would you be surprised to know that there is indeed a healthy time-tested paradigm of parenting — one that goes back thousands of years, and has been documented and implemented, and has produced generations of healthy children and adults. Let us call it The Spiritual Parenting Model — timeless parenting principles from the Bible and Kabbalah. Please join Rabbi Jacobson as he presents, in his inimitable manner, this proven formula for raising wholesome, confident and actualized children, who can focus their lives not on fighting fear and insecurity, but on using their faculties and resources to grow and transform the world around them.

17 Juni 201952min