91. The Urgency Of Now: 6 Ways To Cultivate Alacrity

Each of us experience times when we feel disinclined to take action or do a good deed. We put it off until tomorrow or the next day. But what happens when a few days or weeks go by? Kabbalah teaches that this kind of laziness can lead to complacency, which separates us from the Light. In this motivating episode, Monica and Michael discuss how to cultivate alacrity, do more good in the world, and invite more blessings into our lives.

Transcript

What this podcast is about is not about, Again, How to become a better person. It's it's an it's and again, And it's not just about how not to be passive unless we are battling laziness. And each one of us has to find on a consistent basis. We are losing. We are losing wisdom, Consciousness, And again, Ultimately what our soul came into this world to do. Welcome to Spiritually Hungry podcast episode 91. Wow. 91. I was looking actually at the numbers today. It's over like over a million downloads so far. Oh really? It's exciting. Yeah, Very exciting. I always just think it's just the two of us. Yes, It is also just the two of us. Well, That's nice that we have good company. Building castles in the sky. Very excited about our topic today. Yes. Instead of starting with a story, I'd like to start with a joke. A joke? I love jokes. Don't get your expectations high at all. You know I'm not the joke teller. I wasn't going to say anything, But it's true. Are you ready? I hope so. I don't know why people get so mad at lazy people. They didn't do anything. It's kind of cute. Yes, True. Cute but untrue. They didn't do anything. But actually, As I will share today, Not doing brings great damage. Not doing is still in action, I suppose. So today we're talking about the struggle between downtime and uptime. Because while we work, We do important things. Hopefully most of us can say that. We can't do our best without the balance of restful lazy afternoons. That time where we recenter ourselves by unplugging from everything and just being. But by the way, Those afternoons are only pleasurable when you're not lazy. For all of the time. Vacation is always much more fun after a lot of work. Yeah, It's only fun for me. I can imagine. If I'm utterly exhausted and stumbling into the vacation. But beyond that, Which is where we're really going today, Is our consciousness behind our uptime and our downtime. When we're working, Doing, And striving, Are we doing it with alacrity? Or are we stressed out and frustrated? Are we doing it to the best of our abilities with our fullest energy? Or are we just kind of boning it in out of obligation? Sometimes we identify an other's lack of care and determine that that person is just lazy. So I'm excited to unpack what laziness is and get to the need for uptime, Downtime, Non-time. When it's good to be lazy, When it's not great to be lazy, And how to approach our work. Whatever we do with enthusiasm, Even joy, Which is the essence of alacrity. So I just want to talk about what laziness is for a second before we take a deep dive. It is to be disinclined to activity or exertion, Non-energetic or vigorous. And it's, Believe it or not, It's made actually one of the top seven deadly sins. Sloth. Exactly. Laziness is advised against and death. Exactly. It's a good thing. I know, I just, I like when you know things that just like, Like you just pull things out of your pocket where most people are like, Oh really? When I'm said that you're like sloth. Yeah. I don't even have to, I don't have to deliver it. It's cute. It's endearing. Laziness is advised against and death in every religion from Islam to Christianity, From Hinduism to Buddhism. In fact, Buddhism goes as far to break it down to three different kinds of laziness. The first definition is the one we all think of. We don't want to do anything. We'd rather stay in bed for half an hour more than get up and start our day. The second is the laziness of feeling unworthy or the laziness of low self-esteem. For instance, I can't do this. Other people can meditate. Other people can be mindful. Other people can be kind or generous in difficult situations, But I can't because I'm too stupid or whatever, However you want to fill that in. Or alternatively, I'm always an angry person. I've never been able to do anything in my life. I think laziness in this way is related or attached to the idea of being a victim of circumstances of your life, Of situations. So the first is general laziness. The second is? The laziness of feeling unworthy. Unworthy. And the third is victim. No, I put victim because that's all victim. They can do it. I can't. It's connected into that. I think the victim mentality gives you an excuse for your laziness. And then the third kind of laziness is being busy with the worldly things. We can always fill up the vacuum of our time by keeping busy. Being occupied may even make us feel virtuous, Busying ourselves with lesser priority tasks. So basically wasting our time, Wasting our life with things that really won't matter at the end of the day, Like what people think about you, What they say about you, How you look, Obsessing on that and so forth. And the Kabbalists echo this as well, Of course. Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, Who wrote The Path of the Just, Talks about this at length. And he asserts that human nature is characterized by lethargy. And he asserts that laziness is our default. And to do our spiritual work, We need to overcome that part of our nature. So in essence, Laziness is part of our nature. Would you agree? Absolutely. And so, But some people are by nature more lazy than others. Sure. But it's a matter of degrees. But I think, And this is, As you know, One of my favorite Kabbalists, The Italian Kabbalists, Moshe Chaim Luzzatto. He has a whole. . . He also has a great name. He says a great name, But. . . Well, Yeah. Speaks about the fact that it is human nature to be lazy. We will not do anything, Certainly, Unless we see a benefit. And even then, It often takes, Especially for those things that are more challenging, Takes an extra push. Interestingly, Scientifically, They say that, And this is a fact, Right? So scientifically, It's also a fact that laziness is our default setting. But they say, Or at least they call it the inclination or basic inclination. And they trace it back to evolution where our ancestors who were nomads had to. . . They didn't know where their next meal was coming from. So they had to really conserve energy. So it made sense. Well, That's the theory of. . . That's the evolutionary explanation. Right. Which is interesting because, Yeah, If they didn't expend their efforts all day every day searching for food, They simply wouldn't survive. But also they knew because they didn't know necessarily where the next meal was coming from, They had to conserve energy, Which means laziness is an effective. . . The evolutionary need to conserve energy. Well, I kind of think it was clear of when you should act and when you shouldn't. Right? I mean, They had to go and hunt for food. Yeah, But they had no idea. Right. So they hunted today and let's assume they were successful in hunting. They didn't know tomorrow where they would be or won't be. So they knew they had finite energy. To conserve. Or food. And therefore they would limit any action or exertion of energy only for necessary, For extremely necessary tasks. So that old software is still running for us. Exactly. I would go further and say that it's actually innate to the human condition, Soul in body. The body for the most part is what pulls us down. And if I can go a little bit deeper into this idea, I think it gives us a foundational understanding of laziness, But also many other aspects of our both positive and not so positive aspects of our natures. The ancient Kabbalists explained that the world and the body, Every human being is made up of four elements. Water, Air, Fire and earth. Right? Yeah. Those are the four foundational elements of the physical world. They're also the four foundational elements within every person. Each one of those can be drawn to the positive, Can be drawn to the negative. For example, Fire represents desire. So a person can be awakening desire for positive things, To sharing with other people and so on. Or a person of course can awaken a desire for negative things. Water, Water represents the flow of goodness, Or it can be also the desire to receive, What we call the desire to receive the self alone, Sort of selfishness. Earth, Earth can represent either the power that draws us down, Sadness, Depression or humility. Air, Air represents either movement, Positive movement, Or just being sort of a spirit that is not settled. Each one of the four elements can manifest in a positive. Why is earth humility? Because it represents what brings down. Grounded. Humility is when a person is exactly grounded. He or she has an understanding of themselves within the greater, Both history and the world, So that they have a sense of humility. If you understand that each one of us and the entire world is made up of these four elements, And that really it is our task as people to use these four elements and bring them to their most positive manifestation and take them away from their most negative one. So we are by nature made up of that energy called earth, Again that energy that brings down. So that energy that brings down can again use properly, Lead to humility, But used in the wrong way bring to greater and greater laziness. So all this to say that laziness is an actual reality of the body, One against which if we are to achieve, And this is an important point, If we are to achieve the purpose which our soul came into this world, We have to battle laziness on a consistent basis. Let me ask you, I don't want to challenge you a little bit, I agree with obviously everything you just said, But again people come in with a different vessel, Some have more desire than others. And would you say that it equates to how much desire a person has, Means how much little laziness they have? Not always. I mean you will find many people, Obviously at certain levels, A burning desire will almost often lead to action. But we know many people who have a bigger desire, Still laziness enthralls them, It takes them over. So of course everybody has different levels of laziness and alacrity, But every single person, Every single person has to fight their laziness, Whatever degree it is and wherever they find it, In order to be able to achieve their greatest blessings and their soul's purpose in this world. And this again, And maybe we'll go a little bit deeper a little bit later, But In the Path of the Just, Which by the way is a great book. It's a great book. But it's hard to read. It's very heady. I would recommend reading it by themes, Because it's very specifically divided. Pick a topic and really study that, Unpack it, Question other people until you fully feel like you understand it to the best of your ability and then move on. It's one of those kinds of reads. Right. So it's not a quick read. But what he makes very clear in the section where he speaks about laziness and what he speaks about laziness and alacrity, That there is a force in this world. It's important to understand this. There is a force in this world that is sort of putting its hand and making every single person trying to do anything good in this world. That's a fact. And when you understand, I think sometimes people think, Oh, You know, I have a nature. Right. So I'm a little bit more lazy, Less lazy. You are less. I'm more. It's not that. It's not just that. It's the fact that there is this, You know, Wet blanket effect that comes down upon every single person trying to do anything good, Certainly anything important. And why is that? Because, Again, We live in a world of, You know, Light and darkness so that for any positive force trying to do, There has to be an equal force trying to stop in order for earning that we earn whatever we manifest. That's the way the system is set up. I'm not explaining so many times when people really take their spiritual work seriously and they're like, Oh, I've never had so many challenges before. And then they think, Oh, My God, My life was easier before. Maybe this is a sign I shouldn't pursue this. And then they're like, But I'm so much happier in pursuing this. And it's that constant struggle. I think this also explains why there are certain months of the year that are earth months where they feel heavier and they're harder and we feel stuck and it's harder to kind of manifest because it's connected to this energy. Absolutely. I also read in Path of the Jest where Moshe Chaim was out to explains the relationship between the alacrity and laziness. And he said, If we're internally quick to seek out good deeds, Our physical acts become faster and vice versa. Our physical quickness also creates an inner fervor, Intensifying our yearning and our desire for more goodness. So if one reacts with lethargy when moving his limbs, The inner drive of his spirit will also wither and be extinguished. It's a very important point. I actually made for myself a note to share that idea. It's really interesting, Right? Because people don't, I'm always saying this body, Mind and spirit, You cannot just focus on one aspect and think that everything's just going to come along for the ride. But I don't think people realize how much one affects the other. Right. Then to be clear, Just to underline what you just said, Which is such an important point, That a person who allows their body to behave in laziness makes it so that their internal desires diminish. So when they indulge themselves. Indulge laziness, The effect will be that many of your good desires will become less. That's so scary. Just to use an example. So, Which I think it's important to say in the whole framework. Let's say a friend of mine just called me up and said, I really need your help. Right. But I'm in bed. I have my shoes off. I'm relaxing. I had to say, No, I can't do it because I want to be lazy. Or I say, Okay, I'll do it in an hour. Right. By the way, That just reminds me I'm not going to out one of our kids. But I'm like, Can you help with this? Sure, Sure. I'll do it later or I'll do it an hour when like nothing's happening. It just really bothers me. Right. But to understand my innate desires for good things, Let's say for a relationship, Become diminished. There is direct effect from body being lazy to desire becoming diminished. And there is a converse effect of alacrity, Even when you don't want and an awakening of greater desire. Simply put, If you feel that you're lacking desire at work or lacking desire in your relationship or anything important to you, Push your body to do things fast. You will see. And he actually, It's one of the few times with the great Kabbalists, He says that you will actually you will test and you will see that this is true, That the effect of pushing your body to behave with alacrity awakens greater and greater positive desires. That's so true. It's so I have the goosebumps. It's like it's such an important point. And I think people never approach their days like that. And that's why I've, You know, Probably too much, Which is why I get injured sometimes. But I'll push my body really hard because I know that everything else kind of wakes up when I do that. And also, Of course, You know, We get tested like this all the time. Somebody had an emergency just the other night, Late at night, Eight o'clock. And it's like it's been a long day. How can you push yourself to go and do more and help in that way? And of course, Your soul wants to do it. But the body's like, You've done a lot today. We're tired now, You know, So it's that constant struggle internally. And when you understand, Again, I think I think again, This is like, As you said, It's so important. I want to make sure that we emphasize it enough that when you see in the totality of the effect that behaving in laziness isn't just, You know, So I won't help my friend now, But I'll do something better tomorrow. I'm lazy today because it's rainy day or whatever. The effect of that goes deep. It goes to diminishing desire, As well as the lack of benefit that comes from pushing your body. It's not just for this decision of this situation, But in general, Your desires will become diminished. To be clear, Just so everybody knows, Alacrity is the swiftness of one's approach to do a good deed. They are speedy in acting, Right? They're not delaying any goodness from coming. So, I actually want to share this story. I thought it was cute and I think it's appropriate. It's called The Lazy Man and God's Plan. Have you heard of it? Once upon a time. Where is it from? From a story place. I found it on the internet. I always like a good story. But you know how we should write a story on laziness because there weren't a lot of options. One about a parrot and there was one about two sisters, Which they were really just, I couldn't get through the second one. Yeah. Okay. So, Let's see. I like this one. Maybe. I mean, It inspired me. I thought maybe I'll write a book for kids about that. Okay. So, Once upon a time, There was a very lazy man who always looked for an easy way to feed himself. One day while he was searching for something to eat, He saw an orchard. He looked around and didn't see anyone guarding the fruit, So he decided to steal some. But as soon as he started to climb a tree, The farmer saw him and chased him away with a stick. The lazy man ran into a nearby forest and hid. In the forest where he was hiding, The lazy man saw a wretched sight. A two-legged fox was dragging himself across the ground. The lazy man thought, How can this fox stay alive in such condition? How can he feed himself or stay alive from the threat of other animals? Then he saw a lion coming towards the fox with a piece of meat in his mouth. All the other animals in the forest ran away or hid, And the lazy man climbed a tree to save himself, But the poor crippled fox couldn't move. By the way, I don't really like this lazy man so far. What happened next surprised the lazy man. You don't really know him. I just told all the actions, All the behaviors. He might be an amazing person. Maybe. I'm not judging, By the way. I'm confused. What happened next surprised the lazy man. The lion left the piece of meat for the fox and sauntered away. The lazy man felt that he was seeing God's plan. He thought the creator always has a plan to take care of his creations. The lazy man felt sure that God must have something planned for him, Too. So he left the forest and sat by a road and waited for someone to come along and feed him, Too. As time passed, He kept looking at the road, Waiting for his food. He waited there for two days without any food. Finally, He couldn't bear the hunger and started walking along the road. Before too long, He met an old sage and told him everything that had happened. The sage gave the lazy man some food and water. After eating it, The lazy man asked the sage, Oh, Wise one, God showed mercy on the crippled fox, But why was God so cruel to me? I might have starved. See, I had an opinion about this guy because I've already read the whole story, By the way. The old sage with a smile said, True that the creator has a plan for everyone. You are obviously a part of God's plan, But you took his sign the wrong way. He didn't want you to be like the fox. He wants you to be like the lion. Oh, I like that. Right? So because I like about this, Too, It's connected to that desire, Right, To fight the body's desire and to fight that need to be lazy. And he found a way like, Oh, It worked for somebody else and they just sat around. It's going to work for me. But no, You know, What are we asking ourselves? You know, Who do we need to be? Who do we want to be? Right. And most importantly, I think this is this is an important understanding that by fighting laziness, We make life much more fulfilling and filled with blessings. And as you were telling the story, It reminded me of another story from the czar. And the story is about a man, The czar talks about in that context, What's the difference between somebody who pushes themselves to delve deeply into things and a person who's fine understanding sort of the shallow wisdom as opposed to pushing themselves. And this really is really the question between, You know, What is the benefit of pushing to do things with alacrity as opposed to being relatively lazy? And we all are relatively lazy. And so the story is they use a parable of a man who lived in the mountains his entire life, Never sort of been around people and communities and villages. One day he decides to go down into the village and a nice family takes him in. He sits there and they're going to have dinner. And they're going to have dinner. So they bring in the beginning of dinner, This beautiful, Freshly baked breads. And he starts saying he's never had bread before. So he's eating the bread, He's enjoying it so much. And after eating like, You know, Two loaves of bread, He tells he asked the people, Where's this made from? He said, From wheat. Amazing. They bring the first course, It's pasta. It's amazing pasta, Homemade, Handmade. He eats three bowls of it. And he says, Oh my God, This is amazing. What is it made from? And they tell him it's made from wheat. And then they bring dessert. Of course, It's all kinds of cakes and cookies. And he just gobbles it up. God, He's never eaten food this good in his life. And he says, Where is this made from? And they tell him it's made from wheat. He says these things for a moment. He says, You know what? I actually have all this already. I eat the wheat. Because in his living in the mountain, All he does all day is eat wheat. But of course, That's stupid. It is true that he and they are eating at least of the same source. But in reality, Their life is much richer because they take the same wheat and invest time and effort into it. And it becomes something much more beneficial, Enjoyable, And fulfilling. It's a great analogy. Exactly. And that's when I think it's so important that when we realize that unless we are actively consistently investing alacrity, Fighting our innate bodily laziness, We might think, Oh, I have wisdom. Oh, I have blessings. But nowhere near the depth and completeness and fulfillment that we're meant to be receiving from them. Again, As I was studying for this podcast, A few other thoughts, If I can, From the great catalyst of Moshe Chaim Lutzato. The nature of the body and everything we said until now is it's heavy. And it pulls down. And it's necessary, By the way, Because in order for the body to remain in this world, There has to be something. And really, The body is sort of that anchor. Right. But an anchor is also heavy and also pulls down. So that is why, Again, Naturally, We are lazy. But a person who wants to have light and blessings has to be fighting against that nature. Because if he or she allows themselves to be taken in by the nature and the heaviness of the body, For sure, One will never achieve, Again, A person can achieve a certain level of blessings, A certain level of accomplishment, But not the ultimate purpose for which each one of us came into this world. And he says, Because you need tremendous work for whoever desires to overcome the natural tendency of the body and its heaviness and transform it into alacrity and therefore allowing him or herself to manifest great blessings. And he says, Even though a lazy person, And again, There's a whole gamut of things, Right? But a lazy person, Even though he or she can say, Well, I'm not doing anything negative, Right, It's like, What's worse, Somebody lying in bed all day or somebody going outside and hitting people, For example, Right? So the person lying in bed saying, Wait, What's the big deal? I'm not doing anything like you said in the intro. But it is just as damaging. And that's what he says. He says that he's also- That's like the same thing with speaking, Speaking speechless. I was just listening. I wasn't the one talking. It's still participation. Right. But he says he actually, He or she actually brings upon him or herself great negativity. And the danger is that it doesn't happen immediately. But over life and over time, If a person allows laziness to creep in, That will not only not allow them to accomplish their ultimate purpose in life, It creates upon everything in their lives this layer of heaviness. Well, Is it because they were supposed to use their time differently than they did? Of course, Their time and their energy, Their time and their energy. And you'll never- So it creates some kind of judgment on a person? Not judgment, It's heaviness. You give in to heaviness, You get heavier. Right. And that's the danger of, And that's why he says it's one of the most, And that's, You know, Because I think even for maybe some of our listeners, You can say, Okay, It's another nice way to work on myself, Right? To be a little bit less lazy, To be a little bit quicker with things. It's much more fundamental than that. Unless you are in a constant battle against the heaviness of the body, Call it laziness, Constant battle. No matter where you are, And each one of us is at a different level of laziness in doing. But unless you're in a constant battle, Then you're becoming heavier in areas that are important and you won't even be- The problem is you won't even be aware. You won't even be aware. Because you create this veil upon your mind, Your soul, Your being, And you start seeing the world in a different way. And he says, You won't even hear. Somebody will say something that you in a different state would be aroused by it in a positive way. It won't influence you anymore. So continuously in life by not fighting. So that's why I think it's important that- That's cause and effect. But more than that, What this podcast is about is not about, Again, How do you become a better person? And again, It's not just about how not to be passive unless we are battling laziness. And each one of us has to find on a consistent basis, We are losing. We are losing wisdom, Consciousness, And again, Ultimately what our soul came into this world to do. But it's the danger, And this is why it's amongst the more dangerous negative parts of us, Is that it is one of those silent killers. Over time, It just makes us unable to see, To hear, To feel. How do you combat laziness? Well, I think it's important, And I'd like to ask our listeners right now, Think over the past week, What are either decisions that we made or didn't make because of laziness? What are the times maybe we should have said yes and we said no? So I- I agree with you, But I think there also has to be something that you actively do every single day that's against your nature. Because that's what trains you to then to be able when you get that call late at night, Or you had an opportunity you said no to, It's the thing that it becomes not as hard to say yes. So the training isn't doing it daily. So I'll give you an example. You've decided to go somewhere. And it's an important decision. It's an important thing. Either you're sharing with somebody or making a spiritual connection. I will often quicken the pace of your walk, That there's actually a great benefit. Let's say you're going from here to here. Here's an example of sharing with a friend. You're going from here to your friend's house, And it takes you and you're walking. It takes you five minutes. Try to do it in four minutes. Just that action of quickening the pace brings great benefit. So it's not just about whether you are going to do or not going to do something, But rather the quickness with which you do it. Does it matter the purpose of your walking? No, It does. In this case, You're going to see your friends. OK, What if it was just a. . . You can. But for me, I use it more. . . It's not just moving swiftly. It's that if you have an intention that's positive, That you do it more hurriedly. Right. That's one example. So if you've decided to do it, But again, Using that same example, You decided to do and help your friend in whatever way that they have asked you, But instead of walking, The walk would take five minutes. You pick up the pace and do it in four minutes. One example. Another example, Which is also an important understanding. Let's say you had an important, Good idea. There's that person who reached out to me two weeks ago, And I have an idea for them. Right. That can help them. So seven o'clock at night, I had a big day. I'll make a note. I'll call them tomorrow. No, There's a phrase in the book that says, I'm going to do it. No, There's a phrase, An ancient Aramaic phrase, Mitzvah habal yadcha altach mitzvena, Which means if you had a positive thought for something to do, Do it immediately. Why? And this is also important. Well, You won't have the same desire if you do it the next day. Well, More than that, There's actually a force that pushes against anything positive you try to do. You have to be aware of this. And therefore, Between now and tomorrow, The next 10 hours. Even if you haven't said it out loud or anything, You just had the thought. You had the thought. You had the thought and you let time go by. It will become more difficult. It might become more difficult in ways you can't even see. But I mean, I've thought about times like, Yeah, That definitely happens where I had a thought to do something positive and let go. I don't want to disturb them. It's too late at night. I'll just do tomorrow. And tomorrow, Something else takes that slot. And then a week later, I'm like, I didn't do it. And I usually force myself to do it. But it's interesting because that idea of time, As we know it, It goes into this vortex where you actually, Yeah, You don't even have the desire in the same way. Like, I think the trick, What happens is like, Oh, Is it really important to reach out? Or is it really necessary? This might seem odd. Or all these other things come into your head of why maybe you shouldn't do it. So I guess that's what the force looks like. But again, The phrase that the Kabbalists use to express this is that many negative forces will come and you might still do the action. It would be much less impactful. It's important to understand this. So again, Just use an example. So it's not just harder for you to do it, But the way it will be received will be less. The whole effect of the action. That's horrible. Right. So well, Hopefully this inspires us to move more quickly. It's like a movie. Well, Again, Let's assume you had the idea tonight. Again, As I said, Somebody you know can use help with this. You have an idea for them. And you say, Because of laziness, For assuming it's for laziness, I'll do it in 10 hours. Over those 10 hours, There's going to be energy created around that action that will diminish it. And even if you still do it, When you said you were going to do it and you still do the same thing and they still accept it and they still do the positive action, It has now been less effective in whatever ways you probably won't even know or see. And therefore, To understand. So you gave two examples. Right. One is if you're doing something already, Do it faster. Second, If you have the idea. Do it right away. Do it right away. Number three, If you started something, Finish it as quickly as you can. And even if you do later, It will be less effective. That's terrifying. I'm always writing a book. So what? Something's going to come in and. . . Of course, Some things have processes. I write all the time, Of course. And it takes a long time to do certain processes. But if, And this is something I let's say you have a choice, Am I going to spend if it's an important book to write, Which of course you're writing an important book, Do it now or tomorrow, Find another hour tomorrow. Do it now. It's not about. . . If you have the hour now. Exactly. It's not about the stress. Oh my God, I don't have any hours, But I just heard on the podcast. . . That's my life. Yeah. Of course, Of course. Within logical and realistic timeframes. But these three, I just want to repeat them because they're so important. If you're doing something already, Do it faster, Something positive. If you have an idea or thought to do something important, Positive, Do it as quickly as you can. Number three, Once you've started doing something important, Finish it as quickly as you can. Now again, That might mean a month, A year, Five years, I don't know how, Depending on the situation. But the understanding is unless you are constantly pushing in those three ways, First of all, Maybe a person will never even manifest it, But even if he or she does, It will not be as impactful as having done it faster, Having done it more immediately, And finishing it sooner. So spiritually, I just want to unpack this. I understand that the heavy, The wet blanket that makes it harder for us to do or to act, Right? But why is the effect of our action also diminished? Why is that force. . . How does that work? Then I understand the heaviness. I understand that the longer you wait, The harder it is. I get that. And when you're doing something positive, You're met with something equally negative. I get all of that. But why in the execution and also in the outcome? Right, Right. So I'll give you an example, And I hope I can explain this well. Okay, I have a nice pen in my hand, And I had the thought, You know, Monica told me earlier today she really needs a pen. I should give her my pen, Right? Now it's eight o'clock at night. Of course, We live together, But assuming we didn't, Khas v'shalam or whatever. That's a horrible example. Do you need help with one? Okay, Yes. No, No. All right. Now, Every. . . Now, Because of my laziness, I am not doing it now. The energy, Right? There's an energy to every action that we do. So the energy of that giving is very powerful in this moment. Every, Let's say, Hour that goes by, Imagine another veil diminishes, Hides more of the energy of that positive action. Every hour, Another veil. Every hour, Another veil. So the same action tomorrow. . . Because you really didn't want to do it? No, No. Well, If you were. . . Yeah. Because of my laziness, I didn't do it today and I do it tomorrow. That the energy of that action is now much more veiled. It has less energy. So when I hold the pen, I'm not going to. . . You might not enjoy it as much. I might lose it. You might lose it. I might drop it. Exactly. You might drop it. Exactly. And same if you started doing something and instead of finishing, You could have finished this in a week, You finished it in a month, It's already less impactful. But I still think that's connected to desire. I think if you really had a desire to share your pen with me, Then that would override your laziness in that moment. Of course. So when a person doesn't really want to give or really running to do an action with alacrity, Then the way that it's felt or received is going to be different for the way it's experienced. Also, Also. But the bottom line is that unless you're actively doing these three things that we spoke of, What you do eventually will be significantly less impactful than had you done it quicker, Sooner, Completed it faster. Yeah. I read that it says laziness of the spirit is dangerous, Particularly because it damages us gradually, Not all at once. It's very subtle, Which makes us not take it as seriously or do anything about it as quickly. So that's how we really get under this veil. And like you said, You can't hear it. You can't recognize that you're just different. You're different than you were. And you actually don't even know why. And the way you see everything becomes diminished. It's so scary. And I do think, Again, I think not to scare our listeners, Not even to scare ourselves, But hopefully to give us a greater desire to act upon this on a consistent basis. Another quote. If a person behaves with heaviness, With laziness, With his or her body, Also the movement of their spirit will diminish and eventually go out. So when you understand that death now, Not that, But the heaviness of spirit, Right? Sadness, Depression is very much affected by the quickness of body. So if you understand that, That that it's not again, Right, Because a person will say, You know, What's the big deal? If I do him the favor today or tomorrow, He'll get the same benefit. I'll do the same action of sharing. It's about a way of life. Heaviness of the body in whatever forms it takes causes a heaviness of the spirit. And, And evidence of the spirit leads to all kinds of other detrimental effects. So just to underline this idea that what we're talking about and the reason this needs to be such a proactive push in our lives, To constantly be fighting against the heaviness or the laziness because it affects everything. So there is a psychologist, Neil Burton, Who agrees with everything that actually we've said today and Moshe Chaim was also. And I just want to bring up some examples that he referenced because I were speaking very vaguely. I want to just, I want everybody as they're listening to this to hear these words and think about how they do this in their own lives. So he said in most cases, It's deemed painful to expend effort on long-term goals that do not provide immediate gratification. For a person to embark on a project, He has to value the return on his labor more than his loss of comfort. So this is how we get tricked, Right, Day to day. And if I can just say, And hopefully after listening to this podcast, Our listeners will understand that the benefit isn't just the benefit of the specific action, But it's the benefit of living a life of alacrity. Exactly. It's what allows you to do so. The problem is that he's disinclined to trust in a return that is both distant and uncertain because self-confident people are more apt to trust in success and pay off of their undertakings and may even overestimate their likely returns. They are much more likely to overcome their natural laziness. And then I thought this was interesting also. He said, People are also poor calculators. Tonight, They may eat and drink indiscriminately without factoring in long-term consequences for their health and appearance or even tomorrow morning's hangover. The ancient philosopher Epicurus famously argued that pleasure is the highest good, But he cautioned that not everything that is pleasurable should be pursued and not everything that is painful should be avoided. One of my favorite examples, Many of us know the biblical Abraham, And I study a lot about him and there's a tremendous amount of wisdom. Thousands of years later, We're all still, Most many people, Most of us are still learning from him. But in expressing what made Abraham great, The ancient sages used the phrase that he ran like a horse upstream. And to me, That vision of a horse struggling against the current, But nevertheless running and running and running, That's the way our life, If we are to complete its purpose, Needs to be lived. Again, It doesn't mean that we don't take vacation. It doesn't mean that we don't take time off when necessary. But when we are working, When we are doing, When we are trying to manifest, That vision, I always often just had that vision of Abraham running upstream against the currents. That's the way life has to be lived. And again, The cable is say that a person who is manifesting their soul's potential is somebody who's doing things quickly all the time. Now, By the way, Again, Obviously there doesn't mean rushing through things. Doing things methodically and right is always important. And not running yourself into the ground, Making yourself exhausted. Of course, Or ripping a tendon. Excuse me. But yes. But I think, Or my hope is from this podcast for our listeners to live life, Not just sort of this is another thing on my 15 list of things that I'd like to get better at. This is a different way of living life. It's a different way of living life. What's interesting is often when we talk about these kinds of ideas, I think about children and they're not lazy. They don't act in a lazy way. Because their curiosity takes over in most cases. I mean, Whenever I've asked any, It stops at a certain age, Eight, Nine, Until that age. Sure. Yeah. Okay. And then they're just, They're so eager to do, To learn, To discover really, To connect that it's with that. Even I remember, I was running for years, Marathon runner, And I didn't enjoy it anymore in the same way. And I always look to what do children do that gives them pleasure? And as I get older, I actually start to do more things that children do. So I started dancing again. Right. And that's why I sing more freely now. And I don't care, Like what just to be able to go forward, To move with action, Right. Exercise hard, To play hard, To work hard. All of those things, I think the hard, What it really means is to do it with all of you, Right. To do it with alacrity, To do it with energy. That's what it comes down to. Interestingly, The reason, One of the reasons why children are often not lazy, At least in things that are really important to them, Is because they've been less time in the body. And therefore the soul is less encumbered and made heavy. Whereas a person who's been in the body for 30 years, 40 years, 50 years. Especially if you take your body seriously. And this is the point. The point is that when you're 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, It's possible for you to have even greater alacrity if you're fighting the heaviness of the body on a consistent basis. Yeah. I mean, I've lately, It's funny, Come across articles of 80 year olds, 60 year olds running marathons, Looking like living their best life. And it is possible. You just have to start and understand. It's actually the goal. Exactly. It's the goal. And I think I just want to underscore this, Because I think it's so important. There are things that our soul is supposed to do in their 60s and 70s. Right. But if we allow our body, The heaviness of the body, Or in other words, Laziness to take over, We'll be too heavy. And I don't mean by weight. I mean by spirit. By the time we're 50 and 60 and 70 and 80. They just don't. And you won't have the ability to do it. You won't see it even. You won't even see it. Exactly. And again, Like I said, I think it's so important. And if I could leave our listeners with this idea that the need to push against the heaviness of the body, Aka laziness, Is fundamental. It doesn't just make us a better person. It's fundamental to be able to experience life as women, To experience it and to accomplish in life what women to accomplish in it. There's just a story of one of our kids. And when he was younger, He didn't show a lot of. . . He wasn't lazy, But he didn't show a lot of interest in schoolwork, Studying, Discipline. And I remember I was kind of worried like, Where is he going to go? How is he going to turn out? And then when he started to study for his bar mitzvah, Which he read his portion exceptionally well, And he just showed up in a way that I had never seen him. I realized what it was, Is it was the first time he really cared about something. Like he really had a desire and he was far from lazy. Right. And actually, It was the beginning of him becoming that person. And that is how he is now as he's becoming an adult. It's with that hunger. It's with that drive. But it was interesting to see very clearly for me when he stepped into it. And I use it as an example because I think that it's never too late. You can create that. Again, You have a thought you have put energy, Put effort immediately into it and then go with that and see who you develop into. Absolutely. And if you would leave our listeners today with one thought, Two thoughts, What would they be? I do. I do want to just leave with one thing. It's a different idea, So I'm not really going to go deeply into it. But I do think that it is also important to have time where your mind can rest and maybe you're busy doing something that's not extremely important so that other creative ideas can come to you and that you can pay attention to things that are also important. It's not just constant. Of course. By the way, It's a really, Really important point. It's unfortunate. We'll only give you two and a half seconds here at the end of the podcast. But like you said, I remember I was always enjoying the way that Jack Welch was the CEO of GE at the time. He said he would take every literally he would schedule in his calendar every day one hour to look out the window. Of non-time. Yeah. Einstein would go sailing. Steve Jobs would. Jobs. Steve Jobs would would scribble and doodle. Right. So there is great because the other side. And that's not laziness. That's allowing you to be. I mean, Our body does need that. Our mind, Our spirit. And so the importance of, Yes, Having downtime. So it's very different. I like to call it non-time. By the way, You know what comes to me in those times? Oh, My God, I didn't call that person back two weeks ago. Oh, Like suddenly all these other things were able to come to the forefront of your mind when we're too busy thinking and we actually can't even access those thoughts. Right. But laziness that we're talking about is all the rest of the other times. Right. I just want to say. When it's nice people living half lives where they're just not investing the amount of energy alacrity into the important things. Absolutely. So I'm happy you brought that up. So I'd like to share a letter we received an email received from one of our listeners. Dear Monica and Michael. I like when people get it right. It's always Monica before Michael. Like many others, I have been meaning to write to you for months, But life has got in the way. So again, A reminder to all of our listeners, Please do send us your emails. We find them very inspiring and we really enjoy receiving them. And often we get the opportunity to share them with the rest of our listeners. So please send it if you have the thought to send it in, Especially after today's podcast immediately, Right? Immediately. I have been a student in the London Center for about 17 years. We have three beautiful children born into the center community, And we are forever grateful that you married us with Robin care with my parents when they were in this physical world. I wanted to write to thank you for these podcasts and to prove to you that you can teach an old dog new tricks. I E me in parentheses, The way you bring in science, Psychology, And philosophy to back up what we learn in Kabbalah is such a wonderful way to open the door to new students and make what we know and love more accessible to people. I have also grown in to love you both more by your openness and honesty with each other. Although I only get to be with you in person around once a year, I feel closer to you by listening daily to your podcasts on loop, Gaining new insights that I can share with my mentees and family each time. I know you asked for suggestions for materials, So could you please do a class on cause and effect? It's a good idea. We should do that and we will do that. I am certain there will be lots of science to back it up. It is often a topic that comes up in my living Kabbalah breakout rooms. Thank you again for the work and commitment that you and Monica have. And may you continue to make these podcasts together to keep us all hungry. Love Marcus. So thank you Marcus for finally. Thank you for sending this letter and a reminder to all of our listeners, Especially after today's podcast. If you have the thought to write us an email, Please with alacrity, Do it right away. We enjoy both receiving them. It inspires us and when we show them short inspires our listeners as well. And you need to send your questions, Thoughts, Comments, Stories to Monica and Michael at Kabbalah. Com. And as always, Share this podcast with everybody you know, Go to Apple podcasts, Write five star reviews, Write reviews wherever you get your podcasts and shared with everybody that you do know. And we hope you enjoyed listening to this podcast as much as we enjoyed recording it. Stay spiritually hungry.

Reviews

Feeling inspired to practice and implement alacrity into my daily life. Much gratitude 🌸