The Secret to Staying Calm

Let's talk about tools. Real tools to find a state of calm, of well-being, an ability to show up, to be present, all that good stuff. I'll start with a story about some nervous people. Th this story took place in Brooklyn and specifically at 770 Eastern Parkway, which is Labavich World Headquarters. And these nervous people were actually in attendance at a Fabangan of the Labavich. And uh I know the exact date. I mean it was I actually was listening to a recording last night an audio recording of the event and it's also transcribed in the kesh. It took place on Tshin Lammed. So just about like three weeks from now will be the anniversary of that date. Talking about the winter of 1970. At any rate, there long story short, there was a group who had come to New York from out of town, from overseas, and they needed to fly back that night out of JFK and they were at the Reb's Faben. And when the Reb would fab the Reb would speak many talks, very deep talks weaving all types of uh Torah teachings together and uh interspersed with withidic melodies. It was a whole it was a multi-acceted sort of thing and it took many many hours and uh there was no like real end time. So you didn't really know how long it's going to go that I would sometimes speak four five six hours um without notes. I mean just it would just go and go. So there was a group of people who had a plane to catch. They had to get a plane from JFK. And so in the middle of the faban the deba starts telling a story and at first it just it sounds like it's a story like okay whatever a story the told a lot of stories so the said one time I was in Leningrad and I went into my father-in-law's office the father-in-law was the sixth reb and uh I saw him calmly sitting at his desk just like it was the middle of a regular workday day, except it wasn't. It was the middle of the night and he had a uh a train to catch in an hour and he had just spent the entire evening giving personal audiences one-on-one meetings with people where he would hear them bear their souls and he would connect to them and give them guidance. That itself is exhausting. And now he's about to head to the train station. That itself can make anyone feel preoccupied. You know, like if I have a plane to catch today, don't even talk to me the whole day. It doesn't matter what time the plane is. Like I can't say, "I'm sorry. Can't think straight. Talk to me tomorrow." And to top it all off that he was taking the train, the Freda KB was taking the train to go meet with a uh a capitalist, somebody who was not necessarily so uh favorably viewed by the communists. and uh the freed was going to meet with him to raise funds for underground Jewish activities which was also not so favorably viewed by the communists. So you're talking about somebody previous reb who was under surveillance, state surveillance um from people who did not play around. They were not hesitant to arrest people and to execute people. And in fact later they they did arrest the previous Abbott and and the Ebba walked into the office and and he saw the image of his father-in-law just sitting at the desk calmly working with with with papers at his desk like it's the middle of a regular workday. And here he is at the end of these exhausting one-on-one meetings about to catch a train. And where's the train going to take him? to a meeting with somebody who really he could get in trouble for even meeting and especially get in trouble for what he's raising funds from this person in order to do the whole thing is very very stressful and his father-in-law just looked totally normal and the deba said it I was taken aback and and I and I said you know I know that Tanya teaches that that the brain is supposed to rule the heart and and you can't let your emotions carry you away. You have to have self-control. He says, "I I know that, but and I'll just tell you the words the Eb said, which means to such an extent, it doesn't really in translation, it doesn't really convey the it's it's it's an exclamation. It's like really like to that extent like yeah I know that this teaches that you have to have control over your emotions but this is this is beyond and it's interesting to me that that's what that's what the Reb reacted to that that was the image that that caught to his attention. That itself is instructive. Like even a sadic can be a little bit nervous, can be a little bit distracted, especially when you have so much going on, right? And so the fact that the previous Reb was not at all distracted and he was totally present, the Reb was taken back and he said to such an extent and he said, "My father-in-law then proceeded to to explain to me that we cannot create more hours in the day, but we can use the hours that we were given." And it's called being successful with your time. And he proceeded to give examples of people who were successful with their time, including his own grandfather, the Reb Marash, the fourth Kabad Reb. And uh he explained, you got to use a moment. You have a moment. You're given this moment. Not at the train station yet. So I have this moment now. Why should I waste this moment because of something I have to do several moments from now? So then the Reba said, now remember I told you what was the situation? This is in 770. The Reb, this is 1970 in 770, the Reb is thinking about back in Lennenrad and all of a sudden the Reb says there's some people here right now who are very nervous and uh it's because they have a plane to catch and they're not sure how long this Fabangan is going to go on for. And they know they have a lot to do. they have to go to the their guests where they're staying and they have to pack up and they have to say goodbye and they have to get a car and they have to go to to JFK and uh because of that they're not present. They're physically in attendance but but they're not present. They're not really here with us because their their mind is on this plane that they have to catch. And uh some of them are looking at the clock which is a distraction or even worse that I've said they're straining to not look at the clock which is even a greater distraction and uh if they would reflect upon what's written in they would not be stressed they would not be nervous they would be totally present. Now what's written in What is Shah? It's a It's a volume of Tanya. Second volume of Tanya. It's about cosmology, the study of the origin of creation. And it speaks about the nature of existence that essentially Hashem is creating everything something from absolute nothing at every single second. That's what it says in short. That's what it says over there. So the says if they would think about what it says in And the the group of people who were stressed out about the flight they had to catch, these were so they had certainly studied they knew what the book said. They were familiar with its contents. So the Reb said if they would think about what it says in they wouldn't be nervous because they would realize that the plane that they need to catch has not even been created yet. Right now all that exists is right here and right now. And the plane they need to catch will exist when they need to catch it. But right now, that plane, that same plane that they're going to catch, an hour and a quarter from now, I think is the time that they ever said, which shows you there was no TSA back in 1970 because it was still possible to get from Crown Heights to JFK and catch an international flight in an hour and a quarter. Uh, remember those days? Yeah. Okay. the plane that they need to catch in an hour and a quarter from now doesn't exist yet because everything's created every single second. So that's not now. An hour from an hour and a quarter from now is is is the plane will be created at that moment. But but now it's not the same plane. So why are you thinking about a plane? It's not even your plane. It's a different plane right now. Think about the the the immediate environment that's being created around you for you the right now here here and now and then you got to be present. So I mean this is a deep concept. You want to be present, you have to think about. And if you're going to think about, if you're going to think about the fact that Hashem is creating everything from absolute nothing at this very second, you're going to be relaxed. You're going to be in the moment. You're going to be completely present. Hey, this is Shay Ta. You were just watching a clip from this class. If you want to get the full context, the full class that this clip that you just watched was from, you watch right here. Click right here. Here.