Rabbi Lazer Brody: Let's Be Our Best (Part 1)

[Music] hashem's loving grace this is laser brodie from the land of israel broadcasting for hazak and touretti time and chickens for shabbos bazaat hashem we have a special new series for you entitled be your best and the series going to show you how to attain the best your personal potential because as even all you ask any psychologist they'll tell you that the normal human being uses about 10 of his potential okay but in order to learn let's learn about ourselves and let's learn about what life is most people that go through life without even understanding life life is like climbing the mountain and we stand at the bottom of the mountain and we dream we all dream of being on top we all want to be our best we want to be on top but just imagine what's the great thing about being on top of a mountain if you've ever done some hiking you'd go on top of a mountain and you get to the top and you see how beautiful the world is how exhilarating it is and everything looks so beautiful even if you take something around the ground and the ground looks like a a slum looks like a a neighborhood that's not so pretty but you go and you look at the city you go from up top and you see the whole city and you see the mountains surrounding the city and the rivers in the ocean everything looks much better when you're up when you're on top when you're at your peak because you see the whole world and it's like the world is at your fingertips and this one happens when you're successful when you use your potential the world is at your fingertips so we all dream of reaching the top we all dream of being our best that's what our series is we be your best we want to be our best but many of us don't know how and some of us don't try but how hey fine how do we be our best that's what this whole series is designed to do uh to tell us that teach us show us how to be our best and how to fulfill our potential and how each of us can reach our own personal peak okay so first let's ask ourselves why don't people utilize their potential why don't they realize their own personal peak in life well first of all they don't properly utilize and advantage their personal potential what's your personal potential your personal potential are the tools that hashem gave you with because people that don't know themselves even don't know other people they don't know themselves because if you don't know the special tools that hashem gave you then you don't know yourself and to say that you don't have special tools is to say that the creator heaven forbid is not perfect the creator is perfect the creator created you to do a job in the world that no one else can do but how do you do your job you can't do a job without having the tools your proper tools a plumber needs a wrench a carpenter needs his tools electrician needs his tools a computer scientist needs his tools to do whatever job you're doing you need your tools okay and the second reason that people don't have their they'll reach your personal time they don't have a plan how do i begin doing it how do we do so first thing we say we have to know our tools and second we have to make a plan so to do anything successfully it doesn't matter what you do whether you're a businessman whether your goal is making money whether you're an athlete your goal is being a champion whether you're in university you're going to be an honorary student whether you're in yeshiva and your goal is to finish all of shots or but you get ordained as a rough or whether you're a a homemaker and your goal is to have a beautiful home and wonderful children doesn't matter what you're doing whatever you help with our lessons now they're going to help you attain your best all right so this is be your best do your best so we all want to reach the top and we all want to re be the best in whatever endeavor we're doing but uh some people the reason they don't reach the top is because they don't dream of being on the top and there's an old expression although expression says reach for the stars even if you don't hit them you're gonna still land high so people have low goals they say oh i'm no good i'm not good enough and they don't even set for themselves any goals but as long as as soon as we've learned how to think positively say yes i can i can i am able maybe i don't know how but hashem gave me the ability for example we look at all the torah and all the misfits and how many people knew people coming at the door says i can't possibly do that that is because they don't think possibly that shem would think hashem would write something in the torah that we can't do we could do it because we all have the potential of doing it but if we don't focus at our goal person come in said wait okay i may not know tori yet and i may not know how to fulfill all the mitzvahs but i'm gonna learn and i'm sure gonna do it he's got the desire and he's gonna succeed right so if you don't have a plan and you don't have a goal then you're doomed to be mediocre at best okay so the information pay attention to the information we're learning these in lessons and lessons we're going to tape them so you can replay them over and over and we hope that they make them eye level and easy to understand okay so what we're going to split in different lessons we'll have different plans i'm going to do the first lesson we have one plan would make basically i hope to this series will be uh six or seven lessons and uh they'll be once a month and each month we're going to work on this lesson you work with us to hear the next lesson and in six months you're going to be a new person because about hashem you'd be a brand new person so our first lesson is how to think positive thinking positive this is the important thing so i can do there's an old expression in the israeli army the israeli army before a person goes on a mission for a combat soldier goes the mission we're taught to think positive i say wait a second there's no such thing that we're not going to complete this mission successfully there's no such thing that we're with hashem's help we're not going to come home healthy and happy and there's no such thing that we're not going to win because there's no option not to win you have to win all right so we go in i'm thinking we're going to be successful we're going to win hashem is going to help us there's only one technical detail how we're going to do it technically okay that hill we're going to take it all right but how are we going to do it all right now we make a plan but there's no doubt in our minds that we're going to be successful this is the mindset this positive thinking when you wake up in the morning and you say first thing first thing i need thank you hashem bring hashem into your life some people think that my dad is just for little kids in kindergarten no it's not for little kids it's for every day until your last day of your 120th year on earth to say start the day with thank you hashem start today by saying hashem i want you in my life because there's no such thing as fulfilling the potential or personal potential of the life that hashem gave us with the tools that hashem gave us without bringing hashem into our lives okay that's like a pilot he wants to take off he's dependent on getting to his destination to be connected to the tower and the tower gives him instructions all the time and all the time he maintains connection with the tower it's called a vector he makes an electronic connection and they know where he is and he hears them he knows them well our vector is talking to hashem all day long all day long before you do something hashem let me cross the street in peace before you go into business with hashem let me seal this deal hashem help me be successful and now feel there's no doubt no such thing i'm a beloved son from hashem i'm beloved daughter of hashem and hashem will no doubt help me be successful now how come a person isn't successful maybe they didn't bother asking a chef for help so what do you want from me you think you're the big man on the campus you think you do it yourself go ahead and try go ahead and try we don't want to be there we want to have hashem in our lives when all the time and hashem in our lives okay so shem will help us climb our own personal mountain and get to the top if we ask him if we don't ask him there's a lot of things can happen a lot of dangers can happen maybe persons slip on a rock maybe a person twist an ankle but first of all to maximize our chances of success we have to ask hashem okay now before you do it you have to know who you are like we said the first thing person does reason that person doesn't fulfill its potential because the person doesn't realize who is this so ask yourself who am i did you ever stop and ask yourself who am i who's this person who's that person you ever look in the mirror or do self-assessment save some quality time with yourself turn off the computer turn off the silly cell phone turn off the whatsapp turn off the text messages all the time this is the acer horror as you're crazy crazy give all these outside outside messages outside stimuli outside making you crazy don't let the sound of your own wheels make you crazy no turn it all off take some time with yourself some time with hashem and say who am i can't believe how many people i speak to how many people they have an identity crisis what's an identity crisis i got a christ they don't know who they are and they say rapper i don't know who i am i don't know what my personal potential in life i don't know what i'm supposed to be doing and you gotta help me so the first thing okay hashem helps he who helps himself you can help yourself turn off all the outside toys go sit someplace quiet take a walk someplace quiet talk to hashem michelle help me get to know myself now a lot of people listening to the sure and they say what is rabbi laser crazy what a silly question maybe she thinks i'm saying i don't know who i am of course i know i'm i am my name is marty abramoff and my name is mary goldberg my name is this and that and i'm so many years old and i do this of course i know myself what you're telling me you're telling me outside external information what about inside what makes you tick now why the outside you're not it's not your fault because especially in western society modern society and advertising the media and peer pressure and what's up and facebook and tick tock and instagram they're all what's their own goal they're putting you in a situation where you're looking for the approval of other people now what does it make you do it makes you act like you think other people want you to act you're not acting according to yourself you're not being yourself you're all acting you're not behaving you're not functioning you're acting because you're acting what's the thing i'm going to take a nice picture of myself and i smile despite father i'm happy or sad and i smile put on facebook go look how life is great for me wait a second life is not great because i haven't made sure yet so if you don't have to make sure but life's not great or maybe you're hurting inside you're upset inside no but you just bury it now i'm gonna put on a nice face that's that but the real issues that are bothering you you're not taking care of yourself well this what happens a person builds up a facade a facade is like a movie screen in hollywood where you have a hole behind you a whole wall that's a texas town it's an old texas town how come we're doing it use this super white wall because there's nothing i don't want to distract and these lessons will distract anybody's attention from who they are so we have to look at ourselves look at ourselves we could do with photo things that put up a background near any background we could be in the koi phil we could be in the mediterranean sea we could be anywhere but no being ourselves beating ourselves now we have nothing to look at but ourselves now you're looking at me but meanwhile look at yourselves introspecting yourself you have to look at your own physical self while i'm while we're speaking i want you to look at yourself to look at your soul to be together with your soul and that's connected with hashem because your soul is a tiny part of connection hashem so people become the confused say well who am i am i this act that i'm putting on am i this profile that i put on instagram am i his profile on textbook am on my tweets on twitter people have no idea who they are and that's not the real person that's not the real person okay so a big gaps develops between who they are and what they really are that's something have you ever noticed that hollywood actors are never happy how many hollywood actors are they're hooked on some type of substance alcoholics or drugs how many hollywood actors are divorced six seven eight times it did crazy why because an actor's happiness is short term at best so people with delusions of grandeur they think that they're better than they really are okay they're frustrated and have expect expectations that they can't and they can't meet in other words they try and sell an image of themselves on the social media that this becomes who they think they are and they're trying to show people that uh they're a cheetah okay so if you think you're a cheetah you're doomed to frustration because even if you're the fastest person on earth and your olympic gold medalist you could run a 100 meter dash in 9.8 seconds you're still a lot slower than a cheetah okay the achievement is going to be he can run 100 meters and in three and a half seconds okay so the opposite end goes are people with inferior at their feelings of grant the grandiose thing they did too much and they're not real they're not using their tools but they think like we said he thinks it's a cheetah it could never be a cheetah but then there's people on the opposite end of the scale that they've got inferiority completed okay with being ourselves we're in the real world they're people that are in fantasy world they think they're too much the fantasy idea and then they're people inferiority at the ups and the scale so the people with inferiority the ones with lower self-esteem now the ones with low self-esteem it's difficult because they don't think they have the tools of success the people with the grandiose thing they they think they have tools that are not theirs like they cheated you can't run like a cheetah you can't you can't fly like a bird and they're not realistic but the people on the opposite end the people don't think they have any tools at all and this we have to overcome both get out of fantasy mode and get out of the low esteem mode and to learn that we all have our tools okay so uh imagine that a person with low self-esteem hashem made him a lion but he looks in the mirror and he sees a pussycat there's many of us some person spiritually it could be a lion spiritually they could be atomic hulk i'm experiencing great things i think now me what can i do okay so the common denominator of the two stereotypes we described the person with the feelings of the grandiose feelings the person with the feelings of low self-esteem is that they're actors they're both actors live in a fantasy world they're not connected with themselves and they're not in touch with the reality of who they really are and who you really are that's your aptitudes and your abilities and they come from the soul now the moment you decide wait a second i'm not going to be an actor anymore i'm giving back my membership and the actors guild and i don't care what people want from me what they what who am i who am i myself the first thing i'm gonna do is please myself and while i please myself you know something great when you please yourself you please hashem because hashem wants you to please yourself and when you try to be someone else it's a double tragedy because you're not going to see being someone else and you're not going to succeed in being yourself and then you're missing the train that is wasting time because hashem put you on earth to do your mission on earth your task on earth that no one else on earth could do and you know why no one else cannot do because to say that someone else could do your job means that hashem did something that's needless hashem doesn't do anything needless everything hashem does has an express purpose okay so the moment you decide to look at yourself your mum says okay i'm not going to be an actor anymore and i can look at myself who i really am and i'm gonna develop my own self wow that is the first giant step up the mountain as soon as you decide i'm not gonna be like all the little magpies on facebook and all the little magpies on on a tweet tick tock or instagram or whatever they're called i'm not too familiar with all this stuff try not to waste time on that as soon as i'm not going to join with magpies and try to imitate people and be what people think that is nice and be what i think people want from me well could be myself now you're free you've got all this emotional energy to develop yourself and to achieve your goals now once you do that you take a second big step you know why because you've got emotional freedom you know how free you feel when you don't have to please other people okay then we don't go stepping on people's toes we don't consulting people but a people pleaser never pleases himself or herself always goes against what they want to do but they do things that they don't want to do they do things that they're not able to do they do things that they perceive this is going to please other people and once you get out of that mode wow emotionally free you're happy you can breathe now i'm free to achieve my own goals okay so the emotionally free person pay attention emotionally person he feels great about himself wait a second i am hashem's beloved son i am hashem's beloved daughter hashem gave me tools i shan't put me on earth hashem loves me he's my father i'd have to go please other people i've got a wonderful life right now i've got a wonderful life so what happens he doesn't need compliments i don't need anybody to tell me i'm okay wait a second i put on to fill in this morning i said when i say i doubt it three times a day i don't mix milk and meat i eat kosher i give sadoka i tried and learned torah i'm doing fine i'm doing fine i don't need anybody to compliment me i don't need anybody okay because i feel good about myself the moment you feel good about yourself you're not looking to please anyone you're not trying to write some story about yourself that's not true okay i'm gonna tell you a story about the uh three canine comrades it's a story it's a little parable i vet about three dogs okay if you like dogs fine if you don't like dogs try and understand try and understand what does it mean to be yourself okay so there's three dogs were hiking up the mountain and suddenly there was this high wind and dangerous blizzard and a threat in their chances of returning home it was difficult to reach the top but it was difficult to get get down they didn't know what to do and it was a bitterly cold day with poor visibility came very cloudy and came misty and up in the mountains a deep mist then it started snowing wow but the first dog was saint bernard and the saint bernard is renowned for his compassion and dedication in helping people helping other animals okay and saint bernardi walks he's got a keg of rum around his neck okay so he said to the other two dogs he said greetings my friends you look very cold i see you shivering in this cold he says come have a sip of my rum and the saint bernardi's got a thick thick thick fur like a bear and he's warm and not only that if he lies on a human being he can revive them he'd keep him alive in the snow in the freezing snow he warms them with his own body eating known fur and gives him a drink of his rum and they warm themselves inside so saint bernard says my fur is very thick and warm and you can have a sip of my rum and you'll feel warmer and feel free this will keep you from freezing come my two friends so the second dog he was elaborate a labrador retriever now he's different from the saint bernard he's not as big as this thing of the saint bernard but he's a trained guide dog with a wonderful disposition a labrador retriever he's got this inner radar hashem gave him a presence of radar and he could find his way unbelievable navigational abilities so the laboratory laboratory achiever says comrades i implore you to stick with me don't leave me because with this snow and the mist and the fog you can't see anything and it's easy to lose your way and become disoriented but he says hashem gave me a very good sense of direction and it's my job to guard people people use labrador retrievers as guards especially people that use them as a hunting dog and they go in the forest they go all kinds of places on mountains and a labrador retriever he knows he knows take them on their way so he says to the other two dogs stay with me and i'll be safe so meanwhile in this group they've got the saint bernard the saint bernard his characteristic is his thickness and his warmth and his compassion and he's got this rum around he can revitalize he's like a first aid dog and then the second dog the labrador achiever he's a navigational dog now the third dog comes and they first two dogs the saint bernard and labrador retriever and they say to the third dog they say who are you brother okay so the third dog he's got a problem let's say this is the dog that plays around on on k9 facebook or k9 tick tock and k9 the third dog he was affronted he was insulted by the other two dogs after dogs are wonderful wonderful dogs if you ever go and buy a full breed saint bernard really expensive a full breed elaborate she was expensive but third dog he said they called the two dogs too expensive dog called him brother he was insulted and he says can't you see my grizzly bear coat i'm not a dog i'm a grizzly bear and he looks at them and he says to himself aren't they afraid that they'll pounce on them so he was some people negate the grizzly bear costume he was wearing that he bought it macy's five and dime it was a little too big on him even though it was 24.99 including alterations he was wearing a purim costume a grizzly bear this little dog wearing poor costume okay but he couldn't pass up the deal so he bought this costume for macy's and now he's prancing around his grizzly bear he's protecting his grizzly bear okay but needless to say this growl he tried to grow like a prison camera his growl was a weak bark okay so it wasn't a growl and it wasn't a proper bark because you can't have a hound growling with a bear accent it doesn't what doesn't work so the other two dogs they looked at it and they understood and they were understanding and they were sympathetic and they smiled patiently and both of them were larger than this hound putting on an act okay and they were stronger too but they let him play his game and they knew that they didn't have to flaunt their strength saint bernard he knows his abilities he doesn't have to flaunt them the laboratory achiever they're both nice dogs labrador he knows his is a building he said he's a great great great navigator okay also the navigator is often used by the military to find their way he knows his strength he's not directly but this ham he didn't know anything about himself and he saw that the other two dogs were certainly not intimidated and again they asked him they said excuse me comrade who are you and ask him again who he is so he says my great-grandfather was king of the mountain and my grandfather was the best hunter in the region well the saint bernard and labrador achiever they looked at each other and they smiled and they said to the third dog we didn't ask you who your ancestors are we ask you who are you he says well can't you see that i'm a grizzly bear and again he tried to growl but only made his throat raspy the two other dogs they smiled they didn't laugh because laughing is making fun and these are very ethical dogs they don't make fun of other animals or other people and unfortunately other animals and other people they do silly things sometimes so the labrador he gently put his paw on the hound's shoulder and he says dear canine cousin he dressed him with love and understanding he says don't try to be something that you're not it's a double tragedy and then explain to the dog we just learned that when you're not yourself try to be someone else and that double tragedy you're never going to be another person or another dog and you're never going to be yourself and that's it so the hound he heard this from the laboratory and he blushed posted that blush labrador he made a lot of sense okay so you notice that while he was trying to impress them with a pitiful attempt at acting anything acting actors are a bit less a real trained actor and then as we said trained actor can never be happy but if he's not a trained actor he's going to be a weak actor and makes all kinds of wasted energy to call attention to himself well the saint bernard he saves lives and he's got a candy insight into people's troubles so saint bernard sent him a kind voice he said we see you're a hound and you know something hounds are terrific dogs they have an excellent sense of smell you know something canine brother your sense of smell you could smell better than any other dog because hounds do you know the police use them in airports the australian police the canadian police the american border police they use them at airports and they can sniff out they could sniff out contraband they can sniff out drugs they can sniff out all types of things agricultural products that are illegally brought in over the border these things that didn't work they'd agree see hey foxhound friend you're a foxhound you're not just a hound you're a fox hound look at luke you take your uniform off take that costume off he's a red hat you're a foxhound you're a special hound you have the capability of being great in your own way you could get a job in any police force in the world you could do this so there's so much to like about you why you're trying to be something a bearer you don't have the teeth of a bear you're not the coat of bait or the size of a beard you know the power of the bear why are you trying to be something else and so many of us we try to act like the rock star the nba star this star that's the we're not stars we're human beings okay so the sound all he ever heard was facebook like let's say i'm riding this an allegory but the hound all he ever heard was facebook and tick tock and social media and this is cool and that's cool and what the advertising expects of him that if you don't have driver mercedes you're no good and if you don't smoke marble you're not a man like if you don't go tomorrow bro then you have healthy lungs but if you do smoke the marlborough man he died of lung cancer and but the hound is still he's got these hang-ups from all the social media and he said to his other two dog friends he said nobody ever named a professional baseball team or a professional football team the detroit hounds or the brooklyn house yeah there's a detroit lions and uh the the the eagles the philadelphia eagles nobody ever named it down the hounds he said did you ever see a hound in a mercedes advertisement did you ever see a hound on on a horseback okay ah yeah yeah again the labrador retriever and saint bernard they said to them look at us we know how to function under severe conditions look at you you know how to function under severe conditions too you know something we can't smell like you can uh even with our room says the saint bernard it's not gonna last forever and the labrador even with his abilities of sense of direction get us out he still needs to eat and drink if we don't find something to eat in this blizzard then we're in trouble he said foxhound you're the one that can get us out of here you don't want to find us food because you can smell it wherever you go and all of a sudden he says yeah i can he said yes you've got this ability this is what hashem gave you this is your special ability you've got a sense of smell that no other dog has i do say yes you do try and sniff focus on that forget it you know bear you know nothing you know that don't try to be us you're not a saint bernard like i am and you're not a labrador like the like our comrade is you're a fox hound you could smell so the three dogs they trudged through the snow well they could that meanwhile they took a swig of rum from the saint bernard and the labrador he took him on the way and when they were really really hungry the fox out he smelled up food and they found food and they ate something and by virtue of the food they ate they could keep on going by virtue of going in the right direction that the labrador took them they got down the mountain and by virtue of the saint bernard he kept them warm they walked close to him and when the three dogs pulled together they all were saved they came off the mountain and that is what you got to do to be your destination you have to be yourself you have to be yourself and there's something we're going to hold up right here next month we're going to learn about our different priorities between body and soul but meanwhile you have to be yourself in order to find the best in yourself to be the best you could possibly be to do the best you could possibly have to be yourself i want to tell you a story it's very difficult for some children to be the best they can be because some children only have one parent some children got a father passed away from kovid or passed away here in israel child father passed away and miran uh endowed with the war going on in israel maybe you heard during things that even though we're broadcasting from our shelter but we can still hear the planes flying overhead hashem we didn't have any sirens interrupted this lesson today but to be the best you can you have to be yourself but some kids don't have that opportunity they can't even begin to use their potential because a normal child that has a father father can learn with him father can can help him let me tell you something about what chickens for shabbos does chickens for shabbos they are a branch of yada lienzer yaa delizer is one of the greatest crescent organizations in all of israel not always israel chickens and shops made them in all the world there are children of agunas that their father left home they don't know where he is they left their mother with nothing no food the chickens and us what they do that they call themselves chicken for shabbos yes they bring chickens for shabbos but you could go to homes in israel where the refrigerators are empty where there's nothing to eat and they put food in those refrigerators not only that it's not just food and refrigerators they see a child that's having difficulty learning because the fat doesn't have a father chickens for shabbos does something that is unbelievable they hire malam team they hire tutors to sit and learn with these kids chickens for shabbos makes sure that every child every child that they they find every child that is disadvantaged every child that doesn't have a father at home every child that has an orphan every child is son of a laguna that he has a chance to be his best this is what chickens for shabbos does and the more that we help chickens for shabbos the more they can reach more needy people and unfortunately there are needy people hashem is giving us opportunity when we help other people hashem helps us gives us everything we need when we show another person's child hashem helps our children beloved brothers and sisters i strongly urge for you the chickens for shabbos they work at a zero budget zero budget everything you give to them it goes to it goes to food it goes to tutors with the torah it goes to helping people that there's nobody else around to help them it's just between the raindrops so i'm privileged that hazak and chickens for shampoos come together to host this series of being your best and what we want to do is just thank them thank gaza thanks chicken for shabbos and thank hashem and whatever you can afford it doesn't matter whatever you can every single dollar helps chickens for shabbos so please help them with an open heart and by helping them hashem should help you and give you success and all your heart's wishes for the very best amen god bless see you soon you