Ten Minutes of Meaning (Part 132): Take a Moment to Prepare - Mesillas Yesharim

good morning and welcome back to ten minutes of meaning our weekly study of music our attempt to improve ourselves be a better and best version of ourselves i want to thank our generous sponsors ten minutes of meeting is sponsored by hanelani grunstein in memory of khan's beloved father mister and tembor aaron ben yitzchak miss nisham evan aliyah thank you for your generosity to sponsor a future shir please email leah prsonline.org l e e brs online dot o-r-g we are in mesilas yashar of parakeet zion chapter 17 and we are to the middle of tahara how to not only do the right things but do them for the right reasons how to purify our intent and our attitude and our approach how to do things not for honor not for glory not for ego but to do not only the right things but to do them for the right reasons and then the great remote shaking continues to purify one's thought and the type of deeds devoted to the servants of hashem yarba his bonanuso person has to do his bonus you have to be contemplative you have to be thoughtful you have to be present you have to be aware of the illusory nature of honor recognize that honor is so fleeting what does it do for you how many great athletes celebrities stars wealthy powerful people have we found who have all the honor and all the celebrity and all the fame in the world and yet they're empty they're hollow they lack that meaning that purpose that fulfillment the satisfaction they numb themselves through the pursuit of substances and addictions not everybody but many because honor is not the answer ego is not enriching a person has to recognize how fleeting those things are and how unsatisfying and ungratifying they are that the most satisfaction and the most gratification in life is not honor and is not fulfilling our ego but rather is the pursuit of meaning of making a difference is having a mission is fulfilling a charge in this world of living for holiness not for happiness so a person has to habituate themselves to be contemplative to be thoughtful and mindful to realize what will honor do for me what will it do for me is it lasting is it transformative what will it do for me it's deceptive we have to habituate and condition ourselves to run away from it when we're occupied with serving hashem then we're cleansed from the influence that comes from admiration the praise of others we're not competing with god it's all about advancing his vision his mission for us in this world it's all about making a difference and then we're not pursuing honor it's not about our ego ash the thought is directly to hashem who we extol because that's our goodness and that's our perfection that's meaning that's purpose there is nothing but him so there's an illusion there's an illusion that there's an ego there's an illusion that there's honor there's an illusion that's pleasure and people who achieve it who arrive and who climb and they make it to the top of that mountain and then they feel empty they feel this vacuum they feel something is missing and that's what it says he is your praise and he is your god our actions have to be directed we talked about the outside of that circle doing all the right things but not doing it for us the center of that circle has to be god so not only doing the right things not only davening and learning and all of those proper things but doing them for the right reasons ultimately we're not trying to attract attention ultimately we're not trying to advance our honor our glory ultimately we're not trying to nourish or feed our ego but it's about asking ourselves how can we be of service to our creator how can we best serve his world because there is nothing more elevating there's nothing more enriching there's nothing more satisf and among the deeds that direct a person towards this is such a critically important point says before we do a mitzvah so many people do the mitzvah mindlessly we do the mitzvah by rote by habit we do the mitzvah concerned and looking around at what others think about us how to evaluate or judge us but that's no way to serve hashem if we want to achieve this meat of this quality this character trait of tahara if we want to be pure in our intent and in our thoughts then we need to have a moment we need to be mindful we need to designate time before we do that mitzvah to think shiloh khan is bakiyama mitzvah but petta pitaum don't enter that mitzvah suddenly don't begin that mitzvah abruptly don't rush into it thoughtlessly shane daito adam you shavasalav is without being calm and without being thoughtful and without thinking about what i'm doing a person who arrives on time person who prepares in advance a person who understands the panemias the depth the inner reason the inner drive the inner purpose their meaning of what we're doing pause and think and elevate jasmine atma la davar be prepared initiate ourselves spend the time to take a moment take that deep breath return to our breath nishama and nishima restore the breath take that deep breath center and ground ourselves eliminate and remove distraction be thoughtful why am i doing this i'm about to men put on sitzes put on talos in the morning they put on to fill in how many wrapped themselves mindlessly thoughtlessly i have so many things to do today and i'm planning and what's going to happen what's going to come so the next thing you know you put on your filling you put on your towels you take them both off you don't even ever remember wearing them but if you take a moment before you try to put the talis on and you hold it overhead and you say his attitude sits this i'm going to wrap myself i'm going to envelop myself in the hug of hashem and then you wrap yourself in the palace and you feel as if the almighty is beginning your day by giving you a hug you put on that filling but before you make the broccoli filling you thinking for a moment that it's filling all made from an animal all made from leather nothing manufactured by man i'm taking the most base the most animal the leather straps the leather box the leather cloth the sinews that are the stitches everything about it is animal and i'm elevated i'm transforming it into something holy by giving it meaning and by giving a purpose i think about the fill and the bias and the straps represent the umbilical cord and the recognition that i'm attaching and tying myself to god that i've got a solar dish on my arm and on my head my emotions and my intellect it's all directed to god a woman's about to light the shabbos candles and yes she's rushing into her 18 minutes and she's laying the table needs to be sent in the kids telling me to be bathe and so much still needs to happen and she's got to scramble to get it all done but she decides she's going to take a pause take a deep breath and be thoughtful of these candles the light what it represents what it means i want to illuminate my home i want to eliminate the world i want to see the light i want to be enlightened i want to pray for the peace of my family the health and security of the people around me the people i care about to take that moment to take that deep breath and just to think what am i about to do what is the mitzvah i'm about to engage if you rush through it if you fly through it if you're mindless with it how can it be with the proper intent how could it be but to hara how could it be with a sense of purity how could it be it's impossible if we're on overdrive if we're speeding through if we're racing through all that we do how could we possibly achieve it rather as he is should arouse ourselves to be patiently prepared in our heart to enter the stage of contemplation to take that moment to take that deep breath to get ready to refocus on what we're meant to be thinking about once we begin the process of analysis it will be easy to discard any extraneous motive if we're zoned in if we're focused if we're invested if we're present then we can think about why am i doing this and to whom and for whom is it directed and what difference will it make in my life and what am i trying to achieve what am i trying to fulfill mindfulness contemplativeness being present conscientiousness that is the chord is the key it is central to this whole thing we cannot achieve the level of purity we cannot get to a place of tahara if we're not first in a place of being mindful the tyra is we know that the righteous the early righteous people they would spend an hour before they began if they would center and ground themselves they would eliminate all distraction they would disconnect to connect to what matters they would be contemplative and meditative before they began and only then would they darwin because our heart is filled with so many distractions temptations with an appetite with a drive our heart is so divided and fragmented we need to ground it we need to center it we need to collect it the hour wasn't wasted the hour wasn't squandered they were thinking about davening what do i want to ask for what i want to be grateful for what do i need shay allah and they spent that time trying to eliminate and trying to remove the strange thoughts and to fill it with awe and love if you've prepared your heart you may then spread your hair your hand towards him so that is the mission if we want to achieve tahara if we want to have purity thoughts pure ideas pure motive we want to do not only the right things but do them for the right reason it begins with being present in all that we're doing if we're doing it mindlessly for flying through it if it's habit and wrote how could it possibly be for the right reasons so that's our mission that's your homework that's our charge not only do the right things but for the right reasons how by spending a moment by disconnecting from the technology and the distractions centering grounding ourselves thinking about what we're doing it and why we're doing it and only then going to do it and we will find it so much more rewarding it is so much more elevating it is so much more deeper and meaningful and we will grow in that process stay tuned 845 living with amumu tonight nine o'clock we're going behind the bhima with leia golden the mother of hadar golden who continues to be missing in action his body unjustly held against all humanitarian international law in gaza by hamas 9 pm tonight behind the bhima you can watch on behindthebema.com until next time stay happy stay