Welcome to Emotional Wellness Daily. The pursuit of happiness is the American dream. We want to pursue happiness, but happiness is something that's very elusive. Why is that? Rav Wolbe quotes from Rav Chaim Vital, a great Kabbalist, and a student of the Arizal, who explains (and it’s also mentioned in earlier works) that there are four kinds of fundamental matter that created the human being. Man is made of dirt, water, wind, and fire. Dirt is the basic substance. Man is full of water. Fire is the temperature, and wind is the spirit that he breathes. Each of these base materials are the source for different types of activity. The fire causes anger. The water, which causes things to grow, is the source of desire. The wind is the source of speaking and nonsense talk (hot air as we call it).
And lastly, our topic, Yesod HaAfar/the foundation of dirt. What comes from dirt, which is heavy? Sadness and laziness. So, sadness and laziness are built into the human makeup. And therefore, if we don't do anything, we will be down. We'll see further along that there's even more to it than that. But the basic human being has that built into him. What's he sad about?
He's sad that he doesn't have the physical accomplishments that he wants. He's sad because he's suffering. And since he's never happy, he will always be down. How do we fight it? Rav Chaim Vital gives us two pieces of advice.
Number one is to be constantly happy with your portion. How do you do that? With the Emunah called Kol D’Avir MShamaya L’Tav/Whatever God does is for the good.
Number two is that when you do a mitzvah, you should focus on how lucky you are to do the mitzvah, and that should bring you to an extreme happiness.(We will get back to this one a little bit later on )
When a person is a true believer, he becomes happy with his lot. He realizes that every ounce of effort that he puts in, God rewards him for. He realizes that the talents that he is given by God are what he needs to come to his perfection life. He knows that everyone is created differently and everyone is created according to their will. When God created the human being, each one agreed to exactly what he was made up of, because he knew that would be right for him.
The more you strengthen your Emunah in this, the happier you're going to be. Rav Wolbe discusses a deep principle. He says,
“What is the depth of happiness? He finds peace with himself. And he lives with harmony with himself.”
He has an inner harmony. Happiness is when a person when has the connection of contradictions. He explains that the happiness of a marriage comes because men are from Mars, women are from Venus. And somehow, they work it out. That brings a happiness. The two opposites attract, the two opposites benefit each other. They unite, they become connected. And with that comes a happiness.
This is not only between a husband and wife in a relationship or with other opposites, but there's a happiness, an inner happiness that comes when person is at peace with himself.
There's a lot going on inside of you. To be happy with who you are, with everything that you have, with everything that you possess, that is the source of happiness.
And like everything else, it takes work. It takes work because naturally, we are not happy. And if we're not naturally happy, we have to work on happiness.
B’Ezrat Hashem, over the next few classes, we will learn some techniques.
Rule number one is, to be happy, you have to be happy with yourself. You have to find peace within yourself. The only way to really do that is with Emunah. That's why it's difficult, if you're not a believer, to really be happy in this world.
And that's why Emunah and Bitachon are integral for our emotional wellness.
Have a wonderful day.