EMET Talk - Rabbi Binyamin Yuhanan

thank you so if I ask you what is simha what is happiness and uh when do you have it and then we'll speak about how to get it if you don't have it is simha is happiness when you are dancing at a wedding is that how you measure your level of happiness is happiness measured when you are riding on a roller coaster is your happiness measured when you're on vacation or planning it I would say that the real measure of happiness is how you feel during your quiet times when nothing is happening when you're alone when you have nothing to do even though you have a lot to do in in the near future but right now there's nothing you can do how do you feel at that moment are you bored are you sad are you worried or are you happy so if you say that whenever I have a free moment I'm happy I enjoy life then you're really fortunate and you're happy but if you say I'm Only Happy When there is external music laughter friends money coming in then I'm happy but if I'm by myself I'm not so happy so then we have to work on it and how do we do it so the first thing is gratitude when I'm alone and I think there's nothing happening in my life I have to look around and uh see all the blessings in my life like it says who is truly wealthy the one who is happy with what he has which means if you know what you have you are going to be happy but if you have a blank mind you look at the four walls and you say I have nothing then of course you're not going to be wealthy you're not going to be happy so the first thing is gratitude to look through your life your body your world all the relationships that you have in your life all the possessions and count each one of them and thank Hashem for each one of them and then you will automatically increase your level of happiness and then at another opportunity you're again sitting alone and again you're not feeling happy so it means something else is missing in your life and that is Torah study when we learn Torah we connect to God and his wisdom and we we get guidance we understand what we're here for and what the purpose is and we become happy because now I know what I'm supposed to do and uh I'll fulfill it so that gives us happiness so start learning totem and then when you have another opportunity to measure your um happiness level and again you see I'm worried sad not happy so start praying connect to Hashem with sincere prayer and uh develop personal relationship with God and then you will be able to express to him through your prayer your hopes and your fears and ask him for help and receive guidance assistance and then again you're sitting alone and again you saying I'm not so happy so what's the next idea you can do and that is try giving to others what we call H selfless giving of ourselves to others expands ourselves and connects us to so many other people if like makum said if I'm only taking then I'm by myself I disconnect myself from others but when I'm giving I'm connecting myself to everyone and my world becomes so much bigger and so much happier and again you're sitting and again you're thinking what's life about I'm not so happy something else is missing in your life and that is you might say I have too many challenges too many worries too many problems and the trick to gain happiness is to embrace the challenges and to understand that when we Face The Challenge and when we accept it and try to work on it and live with it we uh I think you have a bug um when we Embrace challenges we have an opportunity for Spiritual Development and actually every time we notice that a challenge is coming my way it's not a time for panic but rather a time for happiness because it means God is sending me another package that will enrich me I have an opportunity to connect to him and ask for help I have an opportunity to prove myself that I will not give up that I will not lose my trust and therefore the more challenges I have the stronger I am inside the more God Believes In Me and the greater I will be the more I will have experience of looking back and saying yes I overcame this this is going to be not the challenge that's in front of me but it's going to be the challenge that I passed it's going to be on my personal um account that I will look back and it will make me happy and that's another way to make yourself happy look at the challenges that you have passed all the problems that you solved all the times that you wanted to give up and you didn't every time you overcame your selfish nature and you became a giver and through that develop uh write a diary of all the problems you ever solved all the challenges you overcame and bem then the next time you will sit alone at home or driving a car you're not going to need external stimuli you rather you're going to be happy with who you are and what you achieve thank you [Applause]