Part 118: Don’t Break a Habit and Create Two Bad Habits

good morning Boer to want to thank our sponsors for the living with amuna series for this year Dr zavi and Bella Morgan who sponsor Dr Rabbi Dr Brian gabit who lived a life filled with Torah and is their sponsorship i l that today is his schin so we particularly dedicate in his memory his amazing Alia there's not a day that's gone by in these last 30 days that he has not continued to inspire me personally and I know so many others who each day ask themselves at some point during that day what would Brian do how would he react so in that and the many more he has is alah I also want to dedicate our learning this morning to those who gave their lives on 911 18 years ago as we uh begin our ordinary day today we remember 18 years ago which was anything but ordinary and I just mentioned in the M sharum class that um how many people that day expected to go home that night or families expected their loved one and it didn't happen any day that at the end of the day we have the same headcount in our home as we had the beginning of the day is a miraculous day for which we should give such gratitude and while 911 poses many theological questions which we're not going to examine this morning which all stem from the age-old question of why do bad things happen to good people a question I have too much respect for you to try to unpack today maybe any day although someday we will try to examine it together um I think on this this reflective day of 9/11 we can focus either on the villains or on the heroes and there were villains evil evil people who perpetrated an atrocity and so many lives were lost and so many more lives have forever been changed as a result uh and we can and do focus on that but we can and should also focus on the heroes and um I posted this morning that to me what's etched into my memory is not 911 or 911 alone it's 912 9913 914 9:15 and the reaction of a country that came together with unity and with love and respect with pride in being Americans with gratitude to those who risk their lives to protect us and the level of Civility and derit and family that was felt is long a distant memory and to me the greatest Memorial to 911 is not posting the nicest picture or writing the greatest quip the greatest Memorial to 911 is going back to that place of Pride and unity and love and ility and on 912 there was no such thing as a democrat or a republican on 912 it didn't matter whether you were for or against immigration on 912 all anyone felt was pride and the gift of being an American and the responsibility to help and care about a neighbor and to me the greatest Memorial that we can offer is to try to recover and restore that to whatever degree that we can that has nothing to do with living with amuna but it's just what's on my mind this morning so I share it with you okay now let's get to living with amuna we are still in our the great collection of essays and talks of of and we've been going through this essay where he's talking about amuna that if we work out and exercise our faith muscle if we live with a deeper more profound sense of faith in our lives then not only does it have a religious impact not only can we measure the results religiously so to say in our righteousness but we can measure the results in our character living with amuna has a positive transformational impact on our very character and he got into that by quoting the great cabalist of vital about the four elements in every person in humanity that were made up of fire wind earth and water and each of those elements within ourselves again not necessarily anatomically or biologically although with corollaries in those areas but we're made up of those elements and that when we're acting with anger or with arrogance or with jealousy or with Rage or with or with uh gossiping these are all symptoms and what we've been developing is the notion that if we focus on the symptom we haven't healed the illness the illness is an imbalance the illness is a corruption or a virus in the element within our system and if we can identify and improve and work on that element in our system then we will eliminate the symptoms rather than try to squash the symptoms and it expresses itself in a different way so we began with the we talked about the notion of the fire in our belly person has fire is passion is energy is enthusiasm that could be channeled for good it could be channeled for bad if I ask you is fire good or bad the answer is yes it's both fire is good if it produces light and energy and warmth it's great if fire rages and consumes and destroys and harms and burns then it's terrible so the same is true with the fire in us that passion that enthusiasm that can be channeled towards good could be harnessed in a productive way or it expresses itself in AG person with a fire in their belly can fly off the handle can get angry so where does that fire come from inside Us and how do we Channel it so he's been developing the idea that at its core that fire inside us is our ego is our ego and if the ego is channeled to help others then the ego is good if the ego is inflamed if the ego is is uh is out of control and there's nothing there's no boundaries to it then it's destructive to everything in its way so we were talking about the angry person it's that anger that quality in US is self-destructive how many business deals have been broken because someone flew off the handle how much relationships have been harmed almost irreparably because somebody couldn't control their anger or their rage how many bad decisions and poor judgment have we shown because in those moments we were taken over by this animal impulse by this anger rather than our uniquely human Divine spirit that enables us to have some self-awareness and regulate our ourselves and make the right decision yesterday I was dealing with a significant communal issue outside the sh and I was with somebody who understandably and I know where they were coming from was very upset was very emotional about it and I said to them I've learned so much from you about leadership but one of the things I've learned is aren't we supposed to try to make non-emotional decisions like the path you're heading it's going to destroy a lot of things in its wake there's going to be a lot of casualties because it's coming from a place of emotion how can we control the emotion to make a strategic decision to do what it's right even if it's doesn't satisfy the the anger we have at that moment so what's at the core of all that Raa has been talking about is the ego is the ego so when we live our lives when we wake up in the morning when we're in any room on any given day we can ask ourselves do we work for him or does he work for us is the world supposed to conform and align itself to our expectations of it is everyone supposed to fall in line with what we demand or do we work for God and we'll see what uh what God has in store for us because there's not enough room for both not because God is egotistical and he doesn't want to compete with us but we gave the metaphor the last couple times about the person who steals the badge and the uniform from a policeman it doesn't give you the power of being a policeman policeman's going to strip you of it and throw you in jail that's a crime it's a crime to try to imitate the power of an officer when you don't and it's a crime to try to imitate the power of God when we don't have that power we don't and can't control things we take our initiative we do our best that's our responsibility that's Our obligation we act and we work as if it all depends on us but we accept that it all depends on him so when we try to imitate him we're an impostor that's a crime also and God says it's you or me what's the deal here you want to be in charge you're you're a counterfeit you're an impostor but go ahead you're in charge no problem no problem or do you want to get out of the way and let me control things because I'm infinite I'm omnipotent I'm all knowing I'm all good and even if you don't understand it in this moment and even if it feels unbearably painful as you're going through it I have a more complete and broader picture of the universe that's a big ask for us to submit when feel things are so painful unbearably painful so incomprehensible it's a big ask to ask us to submit and trust him and say he's in charge but yet what's the alternative to that to think that we could maintain control when we can't to think that we're just subject to random or chance or natural disaster does that make things better is that more comforting I don't think so so we're on the top of page top of page 78 everyone see the top words ra yeah okaya writes and these are his words go down to footnote number five let's read his words inside footnote number five comes from sh Chua in the month of el many people learn sh Chua which are the gates of repentance Raba of gona lived in Italy when Spain was a great medieval commentary so ra y has a work on character development personal growth called sh the gates of repentance and in it he writes the following quote says the the it's not just that arrogance causes you to make mistakes arrogance causes you to do sins that's not the problem with arrogance arrogance itself is a sin let's say you're an arrogant person but somehow you control that arrogance so it doesn't Express itself in in action which is wrong what happens then so says Raba just being arrogant just having that in your character just having that inflated ego and sense of self is in itself a sin now here I draw your attention to what's the word the Torah uses to describe arrogance an arrogant person is a TOA Gava means arrogance but the Torah calls such a person a TOA what does the word Tova mean Abomination and why do I share that with you not to distract you and not to confuse you or upset you I mentioned yesterday in the parha class a similar idea we often and it's often invoked that the Torah calls certain um behaviors not identities this is a whole separate topic but the Torah talks about certain behaviors and calls thema so you'll see segments of the community that will rail against people who have a certain orientation and engage in certain relationships and they'll say it's a TOA Torah calls it a TOA we reject that that is not our subject for today I'm not talking about that I bring that to your attention only because of the following that the Torah does use the word TOA in that context you know what else it calls a TOA at the end of our paraa it says somebody who's not honest in business somebody who cuts Corners who has dishonest weights and measures is a Tova they're an Abomination to God you know what else he calls a Tova somebody who's a Bala somebody who's arrogant is a TOA so if we're going to invoke that word and we're going to reject populations or feel entitled to judge then we should do so equally and consistently and the word toave is also used for people who are dishonest in business they should be rejected and marginalized and eliminated no one should ever be bullied but if we're going to determine our attitude based on the use of the word TOA which has to be dealt with the Torah uses that word and we have to deal with it and it formulates our thinking it's the Divine thinking on that issue I'm not taking away from that whatsoever all I'm saying is we can invoke the word TOA selectively when it's convenient for us when it when it supports an agenda that we have whatever segment of the community are dishonest in business need to be called out and need to be challenged and maybe marginalized no one should be mistre treated but that too is a TOA and so is a Bala that's what ra says you're arrogant you have a sense of ego you think you're Superior you're better you're greater you think the world revolves around you you think you call the shots if you are a dictator in your home or in your business or in your life or in your nonprofit work then that's a Tova that's an Abomination to God that is the highest level of what's offensive to God because God says I've gifted you your life you know could could you imagine and I dealt with last year a case like this where somebody had a successful business and they had someone working for them and they taught them everything and the person who had been working for them stole their rod decks of clients left set up their own shop and now became their competitor Having learned from them and taken their list and done everything and ultimately they went to a basedin but what was amazing is for the for the victim what I'm calling the victim for the person who felt violated the owner of the business it wasn't about recovering the money thank God they're in a position that it wasn't about the money you know what it was about it was unbelievably hurtful and painful and offensive to them that I took you under my wing I made you you know what you know and you are who you are and you're in this business because I gave it all to you and that's what you did you stole it you took it out from under me and you take the credit for it you put it in your name so the feeling that that individual have is the feeling that we give God when we're arrogant God says I give you life and I made you everything you have your talents your wisdom your skills your circumstance everything your genetics your DNA your success your achievement your drive everything in your life I taught you I took you under my wing I mentored you I gave you I invested in you I gifted you and what do you do with all of it you go set up shop and hang your own shingle and pretend that you're self-made and forget me and leave me out and don't give me credit and don't give me a return on the investment I've given in you is is there a greater Abomination to God is there anything more offensive to God so the person who's a Bala that arrogance to walk through life thinking I'm in charge I'm self-made I'm in control I call the shots everything has to conform to the way I want it to be that's arrogant it's egotistical I was talking to someone recently it's good thing I'm a rabbi I wouldn't have stories I would have nothing to say if I didn't I didn't have these stories somebody was going through a hard challenging situation who their life is filled with Incredible BR by any measure by any however you'd look at it life is filled with an enormous blessing enormous blessing has a particular challenge which is a real challenge it's a real challenge it's a particular challenge but came to me and said I don't believe in God anymore you know someone who doin three times a day actual in Minion was a role model to me watching the way he doin everything he does I'm going through this and I don't feel this God anymore and how could God do this me I'm the one who stay I come early I stay extra I say extra I DAV with cavana and I'm going through this particular thing I don't see him anymore and I said to him I said let me ask you have you been doing to God all along or were you doing because that's among the things on your checklist you need to do to get the results that you want because it sounds like you weren't actually doing to God you just have a checklist I got to go to work and I got to do this and I got to do that oh yeah among the things check I got to say my daving I got to do my prayers because if I do my checklist then I will get the results I want because the test is not the Rel relationship with God is not when everything goes well it's very easy to have a relationship with God when everything goes well when the blessing flows when it comes easily it's easy to see him to feel him most people still forget him but to thank him in that circumstance is not hard where the rubber meets the road the test of our faith is what happens when it's not working out the way you drew it up what happens when it's not working out and I'm not talking even enormous existential issues which are such a challenge such a challenge the loss of a loved one which is is inexplicable incomprehensible which is unbearably painful to say that that's not the way we drew it up that's not our drawing it up that's a fair expectation in life that you're not going to tragically bury young people parents won't bury children that that's not I'm not addressing that I don't feel I'm not so presumptuous to address that I'm talking about and this particular person had what was a significant challenge but a solvable challenge any challenge by the way which is solvable is a is a challenge but you'll take it if it has a solution it's already because the challenges that have no solution that are irreversible that are conclusive those are the challenges none of us would ever take in in a gazillion years if your challenge already has a solution you're way ahead in the game and this person did have such a challenge so I said if you believe in God when everything's flowing all those prayers are paying off because he's answering you the way you want when it's a yes what happens when it's a no so when you get a no it's over you marriage the first time your spouse says to you no I want to go out for fi no I want mil I'm calling the lawyer it's off I'm done what do you mean no I married you so you always say yes I married you because I want you to fall in line with everything I want do it the way I want everything has to happen the way I want only speak when I want you to speak only only do the things I want you to do only come to the conclusions decisions I want you to feel about things the same way I feel about things I want you to unconditionally green light me on everything I want to do and the first time you say no I'm out of here that's not a relationship and the relationship with God is the same way if the first time God says no and I'm not talking about a Monumental thing I'm talking about a relatively solvable thing if the first time God says no we're out of there then were we ever in a relationship to begin with a marriage in which you can't deal with the other person pushing back you didn't really marry another person you hired someone you basically you got you got somebody who's working for you right a marriage a real relationship is where you're willing to be influenced by another to learn from the other you're willing to be pushed back right it's very important to have such a good relationship Asar kdo the Torah says sometimes to be an AER you have to be you have to be cono sometimes you have to be willing to accept it it's very important take influence very important to take influence so anyway so what's true in the realm of relationships and in marriages is true in our relationship with God if you married God on condition he always says yes you don't really marry God you're just using him you're using him to advance your agenda of what you want so if you're out of there the moment he gives your first no then what kind of relationship did you have to begin with so all this is supporting this notion about being a Bala God says you're arrogant I've given you you're I've made you're everything I gave you everything anything you have is because of me and not only are you not even in a real relationship with me you've you've knocked me out out of the equation you dropped me you taken all the credit you've moved on that is a toava that's an Abomination God doesn't have feelings he's infinite and omnipotent and perfect but we anthropomorphize God we attribute human feelings because it's how we get to know him so come back to what I told you the person who owned that business who was so violated by the person he had trained and taught and made and invested in who then broke off stole his roll of decks went into business and became a competitor and that's how God feels when we do that to him it's a TOA it's an Abomination so having an ego and being arrogant is not just a you know I hate the word sin but I'm going to use it for now it's not just a sin if it causes us to sin it in itself is a sin to think about ourselves as Superior as better as controlling the world as taking credit when things happen that in itself is the sin and a go back upstairs now back to the top paragraph So says is called of an Abomination that arrogance distances you from God none of us like to hang out with arrogant people they suck all the air out of the room every conversation revolves around them whatever topic comes up they have to know the most they have all the answers they tell you everything you did wrong nobody wants to be around such a person nobody sometimes unfortunately their family has no choice but those who have the choice make the choice they don't want to be around such a person so God doesn't want to be around such a person either we all want we want Divine Providence we want God to watch over us to hold our hand to guide us that means that we need him to be near us not really he could do it from anywhere but we want the feeling that he's near us if we want AEM to be near us then are we living in in a way that he'd want to hang out with us somebody who gets angry is also a distance from God a person who gets gets angry a person filled with rage the natural tendency of a person who gets angry filled with rage is to break ties with people around them it's to alienate others they break ties and they alienate people around them human beings physical people and they alienate and they break ties with God so God basically says the following says if I'm in your life your life will be so much better God says I control nature I watch over the world I answer blessings and prayers if I'm in your life your life will be better but here's the deal here's the prerequisite you want me to be in your life here's who I like to hang out with I like to hang out with humble people who don't lose their cool so stay humble and don't lose your cool and we'll be best of friends you'll feel my presence in your life it'll make a difference but if you have an inflated ego sense of self you're arrogant if you fly up the handle and get angry easily I'll be hanging out with somebody else you're you're going to struggle to try to find me and to feel me cuz I don't want to be around you so we work on amuna by working on those character traits and when we have greater amuna it helps us overcome those character traits so instead of working on anger or ego which is Breaking the Habit we've been quoting the kutar when you break a bad habit you have two bad habits you haven't solved the problem you just created more of them the goal is not to break the bad habit the goal is to heal the illness at the core of the illness is is a lack of amuna when I think I control the world if I live with faith in amuna I say there's something bigger than myself there's a being who's in charge there's a creator of the universe I talk to him I feel his presence I'm invested in him I have a relationship with him when I do all those things then as a natural result I won't get angry because I'll say you know what whatever comes my way I can handle it it's for a reason it has a purpose it may be painful I may sit and cry but I won't get angry about it I won't get angry I may be frustrated it may be disappointing things are enormously disappointing we're entitled to be disappointed and frustrated we're entitled to feel grief and pain and cry but anger is never a positive emotion and if a person improves their amuna if we live with faith if we see him we talk to him we lean on him we even protest him then we won't ever get angry and if we understand that we defer to him and we concede to him we submit to him if we're living with greater amuna then we also won't have a great sense of of an ego will be humbled by what the world throws our way and the way to battle the way to fight these character traits is to strengthen our amuna and how do we strengthen our amuna through the process of through daving every is a Formula telling us is a billboard saying you're not independent don't be proud and egotistical you need God God I need you to have wisdom I need you for intelligence I need you to think well good judgment I need you to be healthy and to heal the people I care about I need you for my stocks to go up or for my parasa to flow and so on and so forth every BR of the in fact every BR in life is an exercise in humility it's why we say them it's why we say them the of davening is not a mechanism or a formula for how to get what we want if someone says to you why do you Daven the answer is not well I have things I need and I got to go ask if I don't ask I don't get and so I D in to ask so I can get that's the wrong answer it's also true but it's the wrong answer if someone says why do you dve and the answer should be that's like saying why do I talk to my wife do I talk to my wife because I need things now it happens to be that every day there are things we need to talk about that we need from one another we need to coordinate that need to have happen of course we talk to each other because there are things we need to talk about but that's not why if someone says why do you talk to your wife how else will I find out what's for dinner that's the wrong answer that's the wrong answer I didn't finish that's the wrong answer so misunderstood that's the wrong answer the right answer if someone says why do you talk to my wife to your wife if someone asks me why do you talk to your wife the answer I would give them is because I love her value her want her input and her ideas and feedback I want to connect and the way we connect is through communication that is what I always answer that is the right answer that's what you should answer so if someone says why do you talk to God it's not I need to find out what's for dinner not I need to find out if I'm getting a parosa tomorrow or not why do you talk to God what do you mean you have to communicate if you're in a relationship I wanted to know what's going on in my life I want to hear him not literally if you do that's that's a problem but I want to hear him through the universe and through the messages of the universe where you can hear and feel his presence so the alter of K says at the core why do I DAV because it's how I work on my amuna why do I talk to my spouse because that's the foundation of a relationship I talk to my spouse because I'm invested in a relationship it's not transactional it's not because I have things I need it's because I want to be in a relationship why do I talk to Hashem what do you mean what kind of relationship would you have if you don't communicate so much of marriage counseling and therapy revolves around strengthening and improving or fixing or introducing communication and the same is true in our relationship with Hashem here's what the alar of K writes we're communicating in that communication we also realize our dependence and Reliance on him so someone who do authentically and genuinely if three times a day you stand before your Creator and you say I love you I want a relationship with you I want you to hear what's going on in my life I want you to speak to me send me messages through the universe and also by the way God let me give you a list of things that I need that I can't do without you I need you by the way it does help a relationship when you say to your spouse not here as a to-do list but here are things I can't do without you when you feel needed and wanted by the other that that enriches a relationship so if it's transactional the other person's lazy you're taking care of it for them you're doing it because they've made you feel you owe them that's a yucky feeling but if they're asking for your help on something because they feel inadequate or they feel dependent on you for it that's a good feeling that's a good feeling in the relationship so when we tell Hashem I depend on you I need you I rely on you that's a positive that's a positive feeling and that itself grows our sense of amuna and the more amuna you have the less GAA you have there's a directly proportional relationship to amuna to Faith and to arrogance the more faith you have in God the less arrogant you'll be the more you realize you're not in control you're not in charge any of the gifts that you have they're on loan they're not part of your permanent collection the more faith you have the less arrogance you have but the inverse is true the more arrogant you are the more you're going to struggle with faith in God the more you think you're in charge you're in control you're proud of your achievements everyone needs to conform to what you want so everyone's going to include on that list God has to conform too the more you're going to struggle with having amuna so what's our I want to share this with you I saw I happened to see this morning that one year sent a letter sent his son to ask was the great POS the 20th century lived in sh schan was I met him a couple times I had the privilege of daving in the sh in the grow in sh and he was there and just to be in his presence just to be in a room with him to be in the presence of greatness an old he was at T he gave a she but he was relatively Anonymous until people started asking him questions and they realized he was he was a gentle giant a brilliant encyclopedic mind and a deiser of Hala of authority at his funeral hundreds of thousands of people came from the entire cross-section of Israeli Society from the non-religious to the they call the ultra religious and everyone in between and why did the entire cross-section of Society because they each felt R belonged to them they found in him love and empathy and acceptance and warmth it was an unusual person an extraordinary po a very very special person a very special person so so he sent his son to to ask what should I work on in that's what he asked it's the month of this is it this is tax season for the Jew this is when we're pushing hard we're pushing hard and I have to write my article this week I think I'm going to write about if anyone's ever done what they call a hit workout hi T which is high intensity interval training so that's what I'm going to write about El is our spiritual version of high intensity interval training so he asked schan well I'm doing this intense training for the month of el what should I take upon myself what should be the thing I work on I saw this and I immediately thought of all of you because this is what we've studied so much together this past year answered quote I can't tell you this tells you everything about he said I can't tell you what to work on you could do that I'll tell you what I'm working on right that alone before they get to the rest of the answer that alone tells you of sh his greatness I'll tell you what I'm working on in this month of what I'm working on is to make the hund bras a day and to do it with mindfulness right we've talked about we have an obligation to make 100 bras a day and our dear friend sent us those cards with the I forgot to bring more I still have more of them with the paper clip to count our 100 bras a day and if you add up the and you add up the daving and you add up the bras on food and benching and ASAT you're really almost there so we're say 100as a day so said you know what I'm working on that I have kav that I have mindfulness when I say myund bras a day because Rabbi said the what does God ask of you just to have an awe of him don't don't read it as what does God ask but Maya what God asks from us is 100 bras a day and why God says if you're going to have an awareness of my presence the best way that you'll have an awareness of my presence is if you remember me a 100 times a day so schlom said you know what he took upon himself is not I'm finishing sh I'm never speaking lash he didn't take upon some grandiose thing he said I have to make 100as today you know what I'm gonna try to pay attention to my shahak I'm G to try to pay attention to my benching I'm GNA try to pay attention when I say my ashat and why did he say that so listen to this explanation this blew me away because when we come to rashash just a short time too short a time from now we're going to come to has we blow the chauffeur why are we blowing the chauffeur so there's different imagery that we have the villon endorsed the idea that we're blowing the chauffeur because we are at the coronation ceremony coronating God the King of Kings each year we renew we reelect God now does God need us to elect him yes the gar tells us that God says yes there can't be a King Without a nation if I stand up today and declare myself the king of the Montoya C If You're Not Elected by people if you're not accepted by people you cannot force your will upon people you can't be a King Without a people how do we coronate God and renew our reelect him every year reaccept him every year that's what rashash sh is all about now is not the time either but rashash Shana there's no judgment on rash the Judgment happens and why explains when we cinate God un God God says H you just made me King again let me review my kingdom and see what deserves to be kept and what's run out of time and that's when we spend the next 10 days the cha saying I deserve making the argument why I deserve to remain part of your kingdom and yum he makes his decision so rashash we think of as a day of judgment it's not a day of judgment it is a happy joyous celebratory coronation day for God and the Von and it's quoted that that's what he would think about when the chauffer was blown they're the trumpets at the coronation ceremony I'm listening to the trumpets announcing the new king he's been reelected reinstalled it is a coronation of the king so the gor's language is God says the mus of rashash has three sections to it the first one is malus kingship and God says IM Mal recite before me so that I can be your king reelect me reinstall me Rec coronate me how do we coronate God by reading that section of malus so what's in every single that we say he said for the month of El I get ready to coronate God by going through the election campaign I spend that month for one month really thinking about every time I say the words when I make myund bras a day I think he's the the king of the universe he's the king of kings he is in charge he is in control I need him I rely on him I lean on him I protest to him but he's in charge he's the M he is the king of kings so when the young man asked what do you work on in the month of El's answer is I can't tell you what to work on I'll tell you what I'm working on I'm trying to pay attention when I make AA I love that story because who was the greatest of his generation what was he working on what all of us need to work on and he wasn't afraid to admit it I'm working on paying attention when I make a br I'm working on focusing on the words the God is the king of the entire universe that when I make that Shah when I make that on that cup of coffee I say wow you're the king of the universe you invented the Coffee Bean and you made farmers and you made those who were able to harvest it and it got packaged and shipped and it got distributed and I'm living in a time that there's such a thing as a car machine what a miracle what a miraculous time suffer with that instant coffee I don't have to crush my own beans I have all kinds of and the coffee snobs can all have all their debate the espresso Carrick Starbucks Dunkin Donuts I'll leave that to the coffee snobs to debate which is the highest level but the fact that we could have that debate about how I can have luxury coffee at my fingertips every morning which flavor do I want of the million and one flavors that that I have a choice last night we gave a talk on essentialism it's online if you want to listen to it and we talked about how to reduce and consolidate Our Lives to what's essential we'll live our best lives if we do that and I I introduced it I was talking about the decision fatigue the tyranny of choice that we're living in the tyrany of choice and decision fatigue the supermarket average supermarket has 42,000 products half of that just salad dressings the decision fatigue every morning what to wear what to say where to go so I I jokingly said among the decision fatigue is which flavor coffee pod should I put in my car before you've begun your day before the cup of coffee helped you open your eyes you've had to make a thousand decisions talk about decision fatigue so how do we live an essentialist life in a world of in a world of decision fatigue so on the one hand that's a challenge on the other hand what a blessing what a blessed time that we're living in to have decision fatigue Peter duer the Great management Guru says that our generation is the first that we've had to learn to manage these choices because in Antiquity there were no choices you think our ancestors had a thousand decisions to make here was one decision how do I avoid being killed in a pagram right how do I work my farm so I have food to eat for dinner that was the decision you think they had a thousand decisions to make what a blessing that we have a thousand decisions to make that first of all we're not avoiding a pagram and second of all that we have an infinite amount of coffee flavored pods to choose from what a blessing to have decision fatigue what a what a blessing to be suffering from the tyranny of choice that that's the Tyranny that we're under what a blessing that we have what a blessing that we have and so and so when I make that on that cup of coffee I'm making a on the tyranny of choice I'm making a on my car machine mypress machine starb Grande I don't even know what these things are called I'm making a br on the choice wow that's unbelievable soam what did he work on and this is your homework assignment what we are going to work on together as a group as a team for uh The Next Period of time to rash and Beyond is that the 100 bras a day we're paying attention when we say them and which part of the braa in particular the words m that when we come to R and we say God I'm coronating you I'm being you I've been doing it for a month it's easy I've been campaigning for you for a month so now I'm your inaugural ball I deserve to be there I've been on your campaign team for a month we're going to be on God's campaign team he's the king of kings we're going to focus on those words and with it bring great blessing to our lives have a great day