Stop Running, and Be Happy - Rabbi Yisrael Feld

we're all chasing happiness if you think about it it's at the root of so many of our decisions not all of them and not just you and not just me not just the jewish people but the whole world almost every single thing we do is based off what this make us happier or not and the question is how do we obtain this how can we be a happy person in life that's what we're running after you know the way i like to envision it is like there's this cartoon characters they put these dogs on a treadmill and they hang a piece of meat in front of him and he's running he's running trying to get the piece of meat but obviously because he's on a tremolo he never actually moves anywhere and that's some people chasing happiness the whole life they're running from place to place place the place trying to grab the next thing that they believe is going to make them happy but they never obtain it how can we become happy people so khazal already teach us someone who is a wealthy person who's a wealthy person somebody who is happy with this lot and the question is what does that mean to be happy with your lot how is that going to make me a rich person so the simple understanding is whether you have a dollar or a million in your pocket you should view it as well this is what hashem wants you to have but i believe there's even a more basic way to understand it the word usher rich who's a rich person someone who's happy this is a lot the word usher is an acronym for the words eyes teeth hands and feet would you trade your hands your feet your eyes for ten dollars ten thousand ten million dollars the answer is certainly not so sometimes we think that the next thing we get is gonna make us more money or give us a bigger pleasure and that's what's gonna make me happy in life but the reality is you wouldn't change the things that you have you're you're what makes you usher is your aim i am switch those out for any of these other things it's not that we need more in life and keep running on the treadmill trying to grab the next important thing it's understanding that what we have is what hashem has given us [Music] you're happy with your portion because hashem has given you everything you need to be happy you wouldn't trade it for anything in the world and it's not just [Music] it's in the present tense the constant thing is thinking that the next thing is going to make me happy no azu usher has alcohol right now i have what i mean i need in the present tense to make me happy and it's not just the general idea of eyes and a mouth that make me happy but it's what you specifically have is what you specifically need you ever think about it why is it that tigers have straight fur while leopards have spotted fur whether that chef got bored and said i'll put some stripes and some some spotted so you do a little bit of googling and you'll find out very quickly that the straight fur for the tiger is good for his habitat for hunting while this well the the spotted fur is good for the leopard each animal gets exactly what he needs to succeed of course it's the same thing by each human each human gets what they need to succeed in order to be happy in life judaism believes very much for being happy college brother could have created a black and white world he created a beautiful color world for us to enjoy you know each and every nation or religion has certain words that define who they are for example eskimos have about 50 words that talk about snow the jewish people have over 10 words that mean happy so on and so forth we have over 10 words because at the root of what we believe is to be happy and i want us to add one idea is that almost if this is such a great thing it's the key to opening up all other medos imagine the ability we have and how important is to make someone else happy to put a smile on someone else's face or if you saw silencers quoted famously by saying that your face is a resource just like you can't put a pit in the middle of the street you can't walk around instead because someone looks at you and he's also going to fall into sadness but the opposite is true if you walk around the smile and someone else smiles you're you're giving him the key to success in life i'll conclude with this one idea in part and by ikra parikh bay's speaks about what could go on a carbon what could go on a sacrifice and it says both yeast and honey is not allowed on the carbon but salt has to be put and if gifter asked the question he says why does it go into such great detail just tell me salt needs to be put in i know salt and nothing else but he explains the idea is so important yeast and honey are external factors that help the bread grow the yeast makes it rise it'll grow the yeast makes it rise and the honey makes it sweet however salt brings out flavor of what is in it itself salt doesn't add a flavor brings out what it is in someone himself and that's what i believe making someone happy is we all have the desire to be happy someone just needs to bring it out of us sometimes so let ourselves work on our own happiness our own portion and once we feel happy we can go out and light a smile onto someone else everyone have a fantastic happy day [Music]