Risk-Taking

Here’s your first risk-taking assignment.

How many times do you want something but don’t ask for it because of an innate assumption you won’t get it?

Number one reason many people don’t have what they want is not because they’re not worthy, smart or talented enough. It’s because they don’t ask for it. Why? It could be a whole bunch of reasons that all boil down to the same core issue: feeling they don’t deserve it.

On Rosh Hashanah, there is an opening in the cosmos that allows us to go before the Creator and ask for blessings for the New Year. But if we’re walking around with this innate assumption that we don’t deserve, than our asking won’t be genuine. It will be religious.

We need to feel it in our bones that we deserve and are worthy of all God has to offer.

Today, take the risk of asking for what you want. Whether it’s a better table at a restaurant or your partner to give you some space, ask for it.

P.S. And now, there’s something I’d like to ask you. Please email me [JUST HIT REPLY] a brief summary of your experience. What did you ask for? What were the results?

Someone killed someone. You are upset. Is that about you?

Digging down on yesterday’s mirror concept, I know it can be a confusing lesson to apply because what happens, for example, if you see someone stealing in the market (and it makes you angry.) Is that the Light showing you that you’re a thief? If not, then what?
Let’s look at it from a different angle. Here’s a simple exercise for today. Make a list with three columns:
Column 1: Write an incident you witnessed or were involved in that provoked a reaction inside of you.
Column 2: Describe how you felt about it.
Column 3: What possible reasons did the person have for doing what he did?
Write down at least ten incidents. Using the example above, maybe the robber was abused as a child. Maybe he was hungry. Maybe he was just selfish. Go for any possible cause. By the tenth example, you will begin to get clarity on the things YOU need to work on.

What are curses?

There is a kabbalistic concept that states: one of the reasons we have curses is because we don’t see our blessings.
What blessings do you want to focus on today? Pick at least one and keep it in your inner vision all day long.

Fear… is it stopping you?

When you get down to it, we basically go back and forth between two basic emotions: love and fear.

Fear can be healthy (fear of walking into traffic) but most of the time, it’s an unreal movie we are playing in our head.

The reason I bring this up is I imagine if you are doing these daily risk exercises, you are coming up against fear. By the way, how are you doing with the exercises? Are you getting what you need?

Today, I have a simple question for you. Please ponder it. And find a way to act on it.

What risks would you take if you weren’t afraid?

Lazy? Or just plain unmotivated?

One holiday, a few years back, a bunch of students were up late (about 2 o’clock in the morning) celebrating. Some were getting tired and started to sit down. My father and teacher, Rav Berg, spoke to us for a second,

“Think about people who drive or fly many hours to go to Las Vegas. They arrive in Las Vegas very tired, but when they’re in front of the table they don’t think for a second about being tired until it’s morning. If they can be so energetic until the next morning, and have so much power when it’s total stimulation for the self-alone, can’t we bring ourselves to that state with such enormous connection with the Light?”

Yesterday I spoke about laziness and the Rav’s point is our laziness is conditional. When it comes to doing things for the self-alone, we’re super-motivated. But when it comes to things that require stretching outside of ourselves, there’s going to be resistance.

Today, act with passion, energy, and enthusiasm. This is how you break the laziness! All the different reasons we have for not taking risks are just intellectual tricks our dark side plays on us. Don’t accept those thoughts – push back!