There is a wonderful word in Yiddish which I love, called “haimish”.  It usually refers to one’s home.  It loosely translates into something which is homey, cozy and friendly. 

I get such a deep feeling of warmth and satisfaction when someone comes through my door for the first time and uses that word to describe how they feel about my home.  For if someone comes in to my home and says it is haimish, they are not commenting on how it looks but how it feels.  I would have a sense of loss if someone could not feel haimish when in my home, no matter how impressive or unimpressive it might look.

One can have a mansion and feel proud when people come in and say how impressive or gorgeous it looks.  But it is just that, it is simply how it looks.  It is superficial. 
A person who has spent exorbitant amounts of money on fixtures and furnishings may feel a sense of pride when walking into their home, but it is a shallow feeling unless their home is also haimish.  In that case, they have achieved the best of both worlds.   

Where you live is not just an apartment, a bungalow, a house or a mansion.  It is your home.  It is where your spirit should be at peace.  Do not feel embarrassed if it doesn’t look fancy or impressive.  Just make it haimish and you can feel good about your home, just as others will feel when they are in it. 

You are an integral part of a family, a team, a group, a society, of life.  Therefore, you should love the work which you do.  Your work is beneficial to you and to others, so you have a purpose.

You also have authority, whether over one or many.  However, you should not love this power which has been granted to you.  It is a burden shared by you and by those with who you use it.  So use your authority in a manner that your beliefs or sentience would obligate you in order to make your purpose a good one.

If you believe in Creation according to the Bible, then in my view God created our world as a gift for us.  That gift was given to us in the fashion of a jigsaw puzzle, in many pieces.  It is up to us to put the puzzle together, so we can see the whole picture and help to form a more perfect world.

To say that you don’t walk alone if you walk with God is a nice expression, but it doesn’t make much sense.  It is like saying that you don’t swim alone if you swim with the ocean.  You swim with fish, because the ocean itself doesn’t swim. 

We are part of God in the same way that aquatic life is part of the ocean.  The ocean is all around aquatic life.  God is all around us, as well as all around and in everything in the Universe.   

Therefore, no matter what your situation, no matter what your belief system, God is always with you.  You are never, ever alone.

You are defined by your behavior, your interests and your nature.  Do you act differently around various people, groups or situations?  Do your parents or children know you the same way that your friends do?  Do your friends know you the same way as your associates do? 

Try this experiment some time:  Ask those in your various circles to define you.  Will you get the same descriptions?  Will you hear a quality about yourself which will surprise you? 

Those definitions define you.  When others know you as you know yourself, and if you acknowledge yourself the way others acknowledge you, you can rest assured that your soul is at One. 

The more consistent you are in how you lead your life, the more pure your life is.     

There is a voice which you can sometimes hear, a soft mental message from your conscience or even from your subconscious, which whispers to you when you are about to make a choice. You aren’t a prophet, but you can be granted a glimpse of the future from your intuition, your senses or your past experience.

When your heart has chosen a path, it’s often challenging to listen to the voice of your healthy mind; but that voice is a very precious gem which should not be discarded.  So when you think you hear it, turn up the volume!  It comes from the One, from the Life Force around you and inside you.  It is your guide to events and a life which will be better for you.

Most of us feel that division among us is not good, for divided we fall.  But this is not always the case.  Sometimes division can be very good.  For example, dividing ourselves from negative influences, be it an individual, a group or a society, is good.

It is when we separate ourselves from positive influences that it is not good.  If you separate from positive sources because you feel that you are higher or holier than they are, your inflated ego and misguided thinking get in the way of your good spirit and karma.

Good is good, no matter the quality or the quantity.  You know deep down that you are good.  Divide yourself from that which is not good, surround yourself with any source which has goodness in it, and your spirit will keep smiling.

See?  I can sense that you are smiling already.

It is not for you to judge events in life, as they came to be through divine determination. Just accept them, even if that’s hard to do. It will help to bring you spiritual tranquility.

What if someone can’t find happiness because their situation seems so hopeless and bad that they just can’t manage to get their spirit to feel free and joyful? Does this mean that they are condemned to a life of misery? Not necessarily.

If they continue to serve their fellow man and do good deeds in their life, regardless of what goes on around them or how uninspired they may be, their soul will find freedom and joy, be it in this life or in the World to Come.

Most of us know of, or have heard about, the benefits of meditation. For those of you who don’t know how to meditate, here is a simple method you can try to experience those benefits:

Get comfortable somewhere free from distraction. Close your eyes; inhale deeply through your nose; exhale deeply through your mouth. Now focus on nothing but your every breath, it’s flow and it’s energy. After a while you will feel a little better. It’s that simple. May you and your spirit enjoy the experience.