Meaningful Life Skills with Rabbi Simon Jacobson

As the curtain comes down on the second decade of the third millenium (2019), and we prepare to enter its third decade with the year 2020, many of us are wondering what the future holds. We are currently experiencing plenty of changes. Polarization and upheaval is in the air. The road ahead will certainly offer us many opportunities while also presenting many challenges. But we are often trapped by nearsightedness, in which we only see the here and now and cannot see beyond our noses. What will the next decade bring? How will our future look? Are we entering a new world order? Can we identify signs and patterns that help us forecast the world of tomorrow? What methods can we employ to help us navigate the terrain of the coming years. Please join Rabbi Jacobson in this 2020 workshop as he takes a birds' eye view on our unfolding lives and evolving world. By looking at the big picture with a panoramic lens we can discover a broader perspective of our lives and destinies. We can learn to recognize the inner narrative and choreography of today's events, which in turn informs the details of our small picture, and allows us to make better decisions and plans. What better way to enter 2020 with a lens that helps us see things with 20/20 vision?

26 Dec 201940min

Nothing triggers our emotions like going home and seeing our parents and families. Etched in our psyches, for good or for bad, are all that we experienced in our impressionable childhood years. During this holiday season, when many of us spend time with our families, all types of feelings arise. For some, it’s a beautiful time, evoking the warmth and love of our relationships. Others, at the other extreme, dread going home. Their toxic and dysfunctional families make them anxious and fearful. Many others have mixed feelings, fluctuating from the brighter to the darker. But one thing is certain: no one is neutral when dealing with their home and family. Please join Rabbi Jacobson and learn how this season offers us an excellent opportunity to probe and examine ourselves and our emotional lives. Discover tools how to become a healthier, more secure and confident person, and develop greater strengths to actualize your potential. Whether you grew up in as nurturing home or in a challenging home, this time of year can help you grow your love and self-esteem, and build strong immunity to unhealthy forces in your life. You have tremendous resources, and it’s time to access and express them.

19 Dec 201951min

The million dollar question: What is the secret to finding a healthy and enduring relationship? What criteria should I be looking for? How can I know if someone is compatible with me? What defines compatibility? How can I identify my true soulmate? You may be surprised to know that the mystics mapped out the soul in five dimensions, which in turn offers us a blueprint for finding your compatible soulmate. You don't want to miss this program with Rabbi Jacobson, in which he lays out these five levels of compatibility and presents a practical approach and specific guidelines to finding and building a beautiful, lasting and thriving relationship. Discover parts of your self that may be concealed, and tools to recognize in your date his/her deeper soul dimensions -- all adding up to creating a true soul connection.

12 Dec 201944min

You would think that the aspiring soul would be seeking to become more awake and aware, to heighten its cognizance and consciousness, not to learn how to... fall asleep. Yet sleep contains fascinating secrets and mysteries of regenerating our psyches and our souls. Learning how to sleep -- and how to fall asleep -- can teach us how to become more awake and more aware. What is sleep? What happens when we sleep? What can we do to have a more restful and peaceful sleep? Please join Rabbi Jacobson as he probes the mysterious world of sleep and its effect on our souls. Discover the journey of your psyche during sleep, and how to tap into the inner forces that rejuvenate your inner being, and truly begin a fresh new day. Learn how sleep can bring you alive -- psychically and spiritually -- in unprecedented ways, enhancing your life and your relationships.

5 Dec 201944min

Inside each one of us there is a place in which we are all alone. Even those that love us and those we love, even those we trust and open up to, cannot fully enter that core center of our beings -- the space that defies words, expressions and definitions. After all our relationships and interactions, after all our partying and fireworks, even when we may not feel all alone, at the end of the day a part of us walks alone. Is that alone space an asset or a liability? Does it reflect our uniqueness and exclusivity, or our inadequacy and lack of self-esteem? What does feeling alone tell you about the state of your spirit and psyche? Ostensibly, loneliness may manifest as one who does not have any friends, family, or acquaintances. It may also take on the form of emotional loneliness, which stems from someone feeling no meaningful relationships or connections in life. However, there is a loneliness that exists even in the face of healthy personal relationships. It may be called existential loneliness or spiritual loneliness. It is the sense of longing that cannot be achieved through any type of social interaction. Please join Rabbi Jacobson in this penetrating talk on the essential essence of our beings. Are we fundamentally social creatures or lonely ones? Discover how to distinguish between different types of loneliness, and how to harness negative loneliness and transform it into a transcendent experience. Learn ways to celebrate your loneliness -- and even the loneliness of others; how to love in new ways, loving not just the things that you have in common with your beloved, but also the things that make you unique. Find out how to connect with another's loneliness, and become alone... together.

28 Nov 201943min

Do you feel that you matter? That among 7.7 billion people on earth, and trillions of other forces in the universe, you are indispensable and your life is vital? This is not a small or academic question; every decision you make, every move you take, is effected by how much you value your life. If you feel that your life doesn't matter much, then all your life choices and relationships don't matter that much either. If your life is negligible then everything you do is also negligible. Please join Rabbi Jacobson as he addresses this single most important question: Do you matter? Discover a new approach to looking at yourself and your role in the world -- a fresh perspective which has the power to transform your life, your choices and commitments. Learn that your are indeed unique, necessary and irreplaceable -- not just to you and your family but to all of existence!

21 Nov 201942min

Morality is a big word, which means different things to different people. What exactly is morality? Is it absolute or relative? Are moral values something we can all agree about, or are there different opinions on what constitutes a moral act? Can certain behavior be considered by some as moral and by others immoral? If so, how do we determine what is the moral standard to abide by? And if we all have our standards, how can we create a universal co-existence? The list of questions goes on and on. And they aren't mere academic exercises. Morality and its meaning has far reaching implications in virtually every area of life -- personal, familial, communal, education, business, national and international relations. Please join Rabbi Jacobson as he dives into the heart of the matter, and dissects the definition and evolution of morality at its core. Tracing it back its roots in the Bible, we discover how morality is an intrinsic component in the development of every aspect of society and civilization. Why should we be moral? Is it simply a way for us to coexist? How does it reflect and express the nature of our very psyches? Does morality make us healthier people? What connection does morality have with spirituality? How can we come away with a moral compass and code that can help us each actualize ourselves and grow, as well as enhance our relationships and interaction with the world around us?

14 Nov 201942min

What do you see when you look around you? Do we all see the same thing? Ostensibly it would seem that all healthy eyes observe the same empirical reality. The fact is, however, that what you see is not (usually) what you get. Observation is not just what is visible to the naked eye, but far more than that. Despite knowing that fact, here is a mysterious paradox: We all understand that there is more to everything we see than meets the eye. And yet, we are easily seduced by externals, to the point that we can ignore the inner "soul" within things. One of the most misleading cliches is "don't judge a book by its cover." People constantly judge books by their covers; that's why book cover design and packaging -- and general beauty products, including make-up, skincare, hair care, fragrances and cosmetic surgery -- are a multi-billion dollar industry! How many mistakes have we made, how many people have been hurt, due to our prejudging or misjudging the value of something based on its outward appearance alone? How often have we been wronged by others judging us by our covers? Can we learn to look deeper and see things for what they really are instead of what they appear to be? Is it possible to achieve that kind of awareness on a consistent and positive basis? Please join Rabbi Jacobson in this eye-opening discussion on mastering the art of observation. Learn to heighten your awareness and see yourself and the world around you through a new lens. Discover tools, techniques and methods to help you look beneath the surface of things and experiences and recognize their inside story -- the deeper forces that shape reality and the inner choreography of the narrative, teaching us to recognize and actualize the true potential in everything we encounter, and internalize lessons from all that we experience.

11 Nov 201941min