Hi,
It's Jordana here.
I wanted to give a short talk today about finding the light within challenges,
Something that's been inspiring me lately as I go through a series of what feels like tests from the universe.
And I've been really supported by the teachings of Kabbalah,
Of which I am a student and influences the meditations that I share on platforms like this.
So if you're going through a challenge,
Whether it is a health challenge,
A relationship transition,
A challenge with work,
Or even a challenge where you're trying to find greater clarity in your life,
Not sure what you should be doing next or now,
I think this can really help.
It can also help in situations that are not such a big deal but can make our lives better.
For example,
In traffic.
I live in Los Angeles and I find that being in traffic or even just driving happens to really help me flex my spiritual muscle.
And I say that because I find so many challenges with other people's driving.
I mean their their reactive behavior,
Right?
When you're,
For example,
At a four-way stop and someone whose turn it isn't starts to go and then someone else gets upset and then it ricochets.
Things like that.
Or you're both trying to go down a narrow street and the other person plows forward.
And at times I have felt reactive in that situation.
That is until I started playing with the idea of the light in the challenge and actually sending love to everybody I see in traffic.
It's been a fun journey on that one because I am from New Jersey and I like to say it how it is.
But knowing that these little challenges that come up are opportunities for me to reveal more light and to be light in the world and that what I am able to see in terms of my own abundance,
Manifestations,
And really miracles have everything to do with how I am and how I am sharing love and seeing love.
So this spiritual truth about the light in challenges,
The traffic example is very helpful on a day-to-day basis but I also really want to share that the greater the challenge the greater the light that is hidden within it.
And the thing to remember that Kabbalah teaches is that life isn't random.
So every obstacle,
Every delay,
Every uncomfortable feeling,
Whether it's just in traffic or it's a diagnosis that is beyond what I have ever had to manage before in my life,
These are all opportunities.
These are opportunities for us to to bring in more light and it's difficult because we take whatever it is,
The delay,
The obstacle,
The uncomfortable feeling,
Even the diagnosis.
It's so personal.
It feels so personal and it pulls us into judgment,
Into fear,
Comparison,
Urgency.
We will say things like,
Why me?
This isn't fair.
As if everything else up until now has been fair and then this thing isn't.
And this is not how we are able to create more light.
It's a form of resistance and of course it's natural but we're here to grow and transform and so if we can tap into our soul,
We know that our soul will see it as an illusion and can tell us,
Can remind us,
That light is here.
Not to run away or push things away but to transform and that is not passive.
That happens through active intention.
It's requiring us to confront the parts of ourselves that want to react or even that do.
The part of us that blames,
That escapes,
That numbs out or indulges depending on what it is.
And instead of the reactive behavior,
Noting that it's coming up,
I'm wanting to react in this certain way and not doing that.
Pausing.
Pausing for long enough,
That might be more than a few minutes and choosing something different.
I say that it's choosing a higher frequency but really when I think about what is this higher frequency,
I think about what is a response that I can have that is perhaps opposite to the reactive behavior that I want to have that's also in the direction of kindness to myself and others.
It's this overriding of the default.
So my default response is this and instead I'm going to override it and then I can reveal more light.
And I did say that doing this in the bigger challenge is going to reveal more light but doing this in the everyday challenge reveals a lot of light and trains you,
Trains me,
Trains us to be able to respond differently in the bigger obstacles and the bigger challenges.
So traffic is the perfect place to start.
You start really wherever you are.
You start where you notice that you're triggered.
And what we're doing is we are creating an elevated vessel.
This elevated vessel can hold more light.
So one thing that you can ask yourself when you're in the chaos and you want to transform it is what is my most elevated response?
What's the most elevated response that I can offer here?
The great Kabbalist Rav Berg taught that the light is always there but it's up to us to become the vessel that can hold it.
I also like to think about this other teaching I heard about radio stations.
We can turn on the radio station,
We can hear a song that we really love and if I didn't turn the radio on was the song still playing?
It was still playing I just I didn't have the radio.
I didn't think to turn it on but just because I didn't turn it on didn't mean that it wasn't there.
So that light is there.
It's waiting for me to have the vessel to turn it on and to receive it,
To dance to that song,
To sing to that song.
And that is really everything and anything that we're wanting to have in our lives.
It's all light.
It's all manifestations.
And it's uncomfortable.
It's uncomfortable to make these changes.
It's uncomfortable to see the reactive behavior.
It's uncomfortable to be triggered.
And so we can ask ourselves in these situations also what is this revealing about me?
And can I really find a space of kindness for myself?
I'm the only one who knows everywhere I've been,
Everything I've thought,
All of the circumstances that have led me to this moment of reactive behavior.
Can I forgive myself?
Can I love myself?
Can I respond with love now instead of my ego?
And can I become a greater vessel for light?
So every act of going against the grain,
Acting in the direction of kindness that is against my nature in this reactivity,
It's like an act of spiritual resistance.
And it is choosing growth over reaction.
And it sends ripples far beyond what you or I can see.
This is the real work.
This is how we transform our lives,
How we become our most elevated versions of ourselves,
And we reveal the concealed light.
We sing to the song on the radio that I was hoping would be playing.
And we do this for ourselves,
But we're really doing it so that we can share from a space of abundance.
And in that way it's not just for you,
It's for everyone in your world and in the world.
So this challenge that you're facing,
It's there for you to help you,
To help you transform,
To help you share your biggest light with the world around you.
And if you're not seeing any challenges right now,
You might look out for them.
Every challenge is an opportunity.
And whatever you may be going through right now,
I'm sending you so much love.
And I hope that this was helpful and gave you some hope.
Maybe seeing some light in the dark.
Because after all,
If it's light and we light a match,
It doesn't make much of a difference.
But in the dark,
That spark is the beginning of it all.
This is how we can see.
