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He experiences disgrace. if you are depressed, you will not succeed in anything, your prayers for the good. Therefore, the initial and central work
will not be accepted, and you will suffer damage to your marital of my will is to believe that everything is for the good.
He becomes squeamish. relationship, your income, your children’s education, and so forth. In order to attain that faith, I must learn His Gates
On the other hand, when you attain joy, Hashem will be with you, with Thanksgiving and I Said Thank You and I Was
He experiences pain in the heart. and you will maintain a connection and bond with Him. Therefore, Saved, and every day I must devote at least half an hour
you will attain all abundance and success in all areas, whether
His enemies are elevated. physical or spiritual. to the work of the will to attain complete faith.
Although the books of our generation certainly cannot be
He is polluted by nocturnal emissions. Such learning will fill you with a very strong will to work on compared to the works of earlier generations, when it comes to
acquiring the trait of joy and distancing yourself from depression as
His animalistic power of imagination grows stronger. far as you can. And once your will is aroused, the first and foremost practical advice, it is worthwhile learning contemporary books.
They have the tremendous advantage of having been written by
step in acquiring the trait of joy is to set a time to engage in the
He cannot be fervent on behalf of Hashem, and it is work of the will every day (as I explained in previous chapters). authors who have encountered and experienced the problems of
this generation, who understand the generation and its special
very hard for him to pray. difficulties, and who relate to and can answer its specific questions.
In practical terms, the two central pieces of advice to
His mind and awareness are in exile. He cannot settle acquire every good trait are a) learning in the way I modeled For instance, My Covenant of Peace addresses the harm done
by modern technological devices, and In the Garden of Wisdom
his mind, and he cannot repent. He experiences losses in here and b) engaging in the work of the will. relates to self-blame and lack of self-esteem. Even if the ideas
all areas. He loses peace in his home, he cannot properly presented in these books appear simple and familiar to you, they
educate his children, and he suffers. All of this constitutes We Learn and Pray are deeper than the sea.
a disconnection from Hashem, which draws onto him all
of the troubles and sufferings in the world. You must constantly continue learning about the topic of Thus, when you review such ideas over and over again, you will
joy and you must continue to seek practical advice on how to be amazed at the depth that you will find in them. The goal of
acquire joy, such as recognizing your good points and rejoicing in learning is not only to know the material but to internalize it into
We Learn and We Are Inspired them, recognizing the many ways in which Hashem helps you in your heart. And you accomplish that when you review the material
different areas of your life, thanking Hashem for everything, being over and over, and devote your prayers to it.
These examples of the good qualities of joy that I gathered here lighthearted and humorous, singing and dancing. And the principal
are very few, the tip of the iceberg. Much more than this is written way is attaining the inner wisdom at the core of joy and transforming
in the holy books. From this brief compilation, you may see that everything that you learn into prayer. Here is an example of a short Hearing Torah
if you just study these books for a few minutes you will find many prayer on the topic of joy:
pearls that you can study over and over. By learning and reviewing, Similarly, our generation is the recipient of a wonderful gift: the
you will realize that joy is the primary and most necessary condition Master of the universe, I have learned that ability to listen to audio recordings on every conceivable topic.
to progress in life, because everything depends on the trait of joy. when I am depressed You are not with me. Help In general, much more practical material can be presented on an
me distance myself from depression as much as audio recording than in a book, and material on an audio recording
Every day, you must read the summary that you have made, is internalized much better than material learned from a book,
and you must continue to gather more material from other books. possible. Help me remember that depression is a because it echoes in the listener’s mind. Many students have told
In this way, you will receive tremendous inspiration to want to great sin and that You hate it. Help me remember me that at the moment that they faced a challenge, they were saved
distance yourself as far as possible from the trait of depression and that I cannot succeed at anything when I am by the words that they had heard in my classes or on a recording,
to work on acquiring the trait of joy, because you will see that depressed. Completely eradicate my depression. which echoed in their ears.
Hashem is not together with a person who is depressed. Therefore, Have compassion on me. Help me work to acquire