Ten Minutes of Meaning (Part 129): Checking our Motive - Mesillas Yesharim

good morning and welcome back to 10 minutes of meaning of a good month to all as we begin the month of sivan and our countdown to kabbalah satora our countdown two when will we receive the torah it continues i want to thank our generous sponsors for our 10 minutes of meeting for the year our dear friends khani and lenny grundstein in memory of her beloved father mr aaron tambor aron ben yitzhak who's neshama should have and aliyah thank you so much to the grown students we continue with our study of mesela susharam the great has been giving us the formula the path to how to perfect ourselves how to live our best lives yet and we've gone through each of these character traits we continue to work on all of them simultaneously you don't complete one before you move on to the other but these are all aspirations we're trying to work on all zehirus we're trying to be mindful and present in everything we say and everything we do and everywhere we go we're trying to have a sense of the heroes of mindfulness of cautiousness of conscientiousness we're living with a sense of resist alacrity and zeal we're pursuing goals we're making resolutions and we're trying to achieve them we moved over nikias we're trying to eliminate from our repertoire the aspects are part of our character or our behavior that doesn't have a place that doesn't belong then we moved over to precious to live a disciplined life to be in control to determine not allow our urges and instincts to be able to rule us but for us to be able to rule them and that brings us to the media of tahara we've been learning about purity purity means to not only do the right things but to do them for the right reasons to try to examine our motive to try to understand our drive to not only do the right things but to do them for the right reasons not for ulterior motives not for any personal gain not for anything that we get in return and this is the chosen way for a person who serves hashem with a whole heart if you're just trying to get by with the bare minimum if you're just trying to get away with the least you can do so as long as you can put a check in the column next to the mitzvah done filling done it's halal my brothers and sisters in israel are suffering terribly the tehran after don dun dun dun check check check but if you're trying to serve hashem believe shalom shalem if you're trying to serve hashem with a complete and with a full heart then it means a sense of purity it means being all in all there it means evaluating and reflecting on our drive on our motive and trying to purify it trying to remove and eliminate the imperfections just like within gold and silver just like within jewelry we're trying to burn out and eliminate the imperfections so too within our character and within our thought we're trying to eliminate we're trying to get rid of the imperfections kimishlan is a person who doesn't cling to god who doesn't connect to god or doesn't stick to god with the true love you see if if a relationship with god is something that is enriching if a relationship with ribonuclear is something that is life-changing that when you find and you feel god in your life you have less anger and less anxiety and less arrogance and less envy you have calm and peace and serenity you're able to navigate whatever challenges life throws our way with a sense of calm and tranquility with a belief with a submission surrender that he's in charge he's in control and that he is everything is for a reason that a person who serves hashem with this is able to have calm but if you don't if you don't if god is a check and all of his requests of us are checks and life is just a list of checklists then it's going to be a torah god or a massage it's going to feel like a weight it's going to be a burden it's going to be a toil it's going to be an effort you know if everything that your spouse asks you to do is contributing to your closeness to your love to your affection then you're running to do it even if it's not pleasurable to wash the dishes or take out the garbage or do that shopping even if it's not necessarily enjoyable to spend that money to buy that gift or to do that thing or to go that place you don't want to be but if it's contributing to your drawing closer it's contributing to a greater sense of affection of intimacy of connection then it's a small price to pay then you feel closer but if you're not really in a relationship if it's superficial if it's just on the surface then everything you do and everything you give up then everything that you have to compromise or sacrifice is an enormous burden it's a toil if it's an effort it's a pain me o mark you khalid you might say but to purify my motive to want to do everything god wants for me to run to love to draw close to him through it then who can do that after all we're ordinary mere mortals we're human beings we're fallible we can't live such a level of purity of refinement can we really have such pure motive can we really have such pure thoughts can we really eliminate impurities within our drive and everything we do um but the truth is those who love god and those who want and those who crave and those who search for serving him in a s the heart of those who love hashem and aspire to serve him that heart rejoices that heart is overjoyed in expressing the commitment of that love and strengthening ourselves but say roof of it so yeah when it comes to marriage when it comes to parenting when it comes to being a child when it comes to being a friend to ask ourselves you know to stop and to pause am i happy for my friend do i forgive my friend am i jealous am i resentful of my friend why am i doing this to one up my friend to support my friend to compete with my friend what's the relationship with my spouse the more present we are the more mindful we are in understanding our drive our motive the more we can eliminate imperfections the more we can calibrate to be pure the better we'll be the more enriching our relationships the happier will we become the more authentic of people we will be seeing and this is what said your servant loves it your servant loves it so do we view everything asked of us as an unfair burden as a pressure as an effort as a toil as a sacrifice or do we see it as an invitation do we see it as an opportunity an opportunity to draw close an opportunity to connect an opportunity to elevate an opportunity to enrich it's all about our attitude but that takes mindfulness and takes awareness if a person is running if a person is is uh distracted if a person is always connected to technology or some device how can we have the presence of mind how can we have the margin or space how can we possibly be mindful to evaluate who am i and what drives me and what are my reasons and what are my motives are they pure where are the impurities in my thought i don't mean impure thoughts looking at the wrong images on the internet impure thoughts craving the wrong things it means even when doing the right things what am i drive one of my thought now granted this is a very very high level and that's why this is not the first chapter we began with we're on chapter 16 the ram of motion is building up to get to a point where we're not only doing the right things but doing them for the right reasons why am i coming to shul why am i learning the daf why am i volunteering for hasad why am i serving on that committee why am i what drives me how can i eliminate the impurities how can i burn them and purge them out the impurities when i'm left with pure gold that my life my neshama my behavior my medos are pure gold how can i live such a life that i'm examining and evaluating and mindful of that drive in my relationships why do i do what i do and how can i do it better and how can i do it more for the right reasons so the relationships will be more authentic more genuine and they will be more enriching this is the test through which those who serve hashem that's how we're graded and that's how we are distinguished not only are we doing the right thing but are we doing them for the right reasons what is our drive kimishio de la taliba yoser who is because this is what really puts our relationship with god in overdrive this is what creates really the depth of the connections to really not only do the right things but to do them for the right reasons this is what the early shepherds our matriarchs and patriarchs are early leaders they didn't do things to show off they didn't do things to be flashy they didn't do things to garner attention they didn't do things for a spotlight they didn't do things to get followers or friends they did it because they were pure of motive and this is you know it's a perfect example social media every post we put are we putting it to be a connector or a promoter are we adding value to others or are we simply trying to promote ourselves why do we do what we do why am i posting that why am i listing that why am i behaving that why am i acting this way why do i want others to know about this that or the other what is our motive what is our drive it's a very high level but you're living in all an entirely different kind of life when you're not only doing things but when you're present and when you're mindful and asking why am i doing it and that will help us do it for the right reasons king david told his son hashem the in the eternal searches of all hearts and understands our thoughts see people around us don't know we might be able to fool them we might even be able to fool ourselves but we can't fully fool him we cannot fool the almighty he knows he knows the truth of what drives us what motivates us why we do what we do he knows and he's counting on us to work on that and to grow in that to think about that and to improve in that we're marching to our senate and we're coming to receive the torah anew with a blank slate with a fresh start to begin again and it begins not only with are we doing the right things but are we doing them for the right reasons why do we do what we do what drives what's going on in our head and our heart can we regulate are we mindful are we aware are we evaluating are we in charge are we in control not only of what we do but of why we do what we do and that's another area another arena to improve now again as regardless pointed out several times better to do the right thing for the wrong reason because then you'll come to do it for the right reason don't say well you know what if i'm doing it for the wrong reason i'm not motivated for the right reason then i might as well not do it no do the right right thing always strive to do the right thing even if it's for the wrong reason because please god we will grow and ultimately be able to do it for the right reason we dive in our brothers and sisters in the holy land stop driving a run to bomb shelters stop having to be so chaotic and running so so divided that they're unable to live this level of mindfulness they have peace and common tranquility they deserve we dive in the day of safety and security stay tuned 845 for living with ammuna and tonight 9 pm we're going behind the beam with you we're going to be live from the front lines of gaza yiddiya and his family were evacuated from gush katie when he was 17 years old but he didn't give up on israel he became a pioneer he started a new community on the border of gaza and her attorneys had nothing but rocket fire terror tunnels he's going to come with us 4 a.m his time live from the gaza border to share what they're going through that's tonight behind the beam at 9 pm until next time stay happy stay healthy and stay holy