How to FEEL ALIVE

famous dream in the Bible Jacob's dream Jacob's Ladder where he falls asleep on the Temple Mount he's traveling on his way from his hometown in Israel he's going to to a much more difficult and hostile environment falls asleep and has a dream in his dream he sees a ladder a ladder that firmly planted on the ground but the top of the ladder is reaching and touching Heaven itself and then he sees Angels going up and down this ladder that's where God Appears to him shares a vision a promise Don't Be Afraid wherever you travel I

will be with you and give you the power and strength not only to survive but to thrive famous classic verse where he says to Jacob God says to Jacob I promise you that your children will spread literally spread all over the Earth from east to west from north to south and Jacob wakes up realizes this is a very special place a holy place and this gives him the strength to be able to continue his journey where he would meet his uncle the the criminal the the Wy and deceptive love on ultimately build his family there

spend 20 years and then return back home the truth is it's the Story of All Our Lives the story of Jacob is the story of each of our souls coming into this world a soul a pure Divine Transcendent entity enter entering into this material existence and facing the challenges of life and we know how difficult life can be even when a person is completely blessed we still have challenges whether it's health issues financial matters relationships emotional personal psychological internal interpersonal everyone's got their pack pack we call their Peele their baggage their challenges their issues and

we deal with it in many different ways some of us are challenged more than others but nobody is immune to the wear and tear and the challenge and the difficulties of Life the ups and downs of life and sometimes we feel alone we feel we can't make it we don't know where there'll be Hope from especially as we go on in life some of us develop resignation you know to a point where we don't feel that we really can live up to the aspirations and dreams and the idealism of our youth everyone has their story

you all know your story to some extent at least what is so powerful about this story is that the fact firstly that it happened so many thousands of years ago and it's still relevant today as just as it was then the story that we come into this world yes with many challenges but we're also for every challenge given strengths you know when people are faced with something really difficult we often ask why why did this happen to me and why not why why am I not blessed like others are always looking the grass seems Greener

elsewhere without really knowing that who knows what other people are going through but that's why we ask why the real question that we have to ask is not why but we have to ask ourselves is where do we get the strength to deal with it and what we're really looking for is not answers but strength especially when we're dealing with true real serious s setbacks so in this case Jacob was entering a very dark place he was going to deal with a lot of uh forces that were in every way possible would challenge him and

yet we find that's where he built his family and his home and ultimately empowered his own children until this very day the Jewish people with the ability to endure anything and that's because he understood the story of the latter that though we live in this Earth but we also given the capacity to build a ladder to build a bridge an interface Between Heaven and Earth an interface between spirit and matter an interface between function functioning surviving and Transcendence that's what a latter represents it represents elevation but not elevation in a form of Escape but in

a form of integration where we connect Earth and Heaven and upon it are angels and they're going up up and down question is asked Angels come from Heaven they should first be going down then up and the answer is no because the Angels were with Jacob down below and the ones below with him helping him supping him protecting him Al first went up and then the Angels come down we're also told this lad represents prayer that has four wrongs four stages true prayer is emotional growth or emotional Journey like a ladder so the latter has

so many different symbolisms in the context of our own lives that the first thing we need to know to deal with any challenges you need to build a ladder in your life you need to know there's a ladder available to you that you're not stuck in one place you can climb and the interesting thing about a ladder is not you don't have to jump ladder has rungs step by step by step and when you do that you recognize that you are life is a journey and like every Journey a journey does have ups and downs

and downs and ups and uh all kinds of twists and turns that's exactly what a journey is the interesting thing is that we sometimes create the illusion that life is static that we become couch potatoes we become immobile especially in today's modern age all you got to do is sit in your couch you have a uh a a remote you're changing channels and you're moving from one place to the next but you don't have to move you could just sit in one place everyone else is moving for you you're living you're living vicariously through others

that's the key thing to remember just feel your heartbeat your heartbeat never stops you're not one not no one else is beating you your heart you have to beat your own heart which means there's the contraction the expansion of the heart the breath the exhale and inhale life is mobile always remember that we're always moving from one place to another even if you don't feel feel that way even if you feel trapped or locked or paralyzed or Frozen that's how it is I've shared often this story with a cardiologist that came to one of my

classes one of the sweetest people I know but had a lot of challenges in his life personal other issues once he came to me really exhausted he says you know I can't take it anymore please pray for me just I have one day of total Serenity total peace total quiet calm he had a good sense of humorous I said to him so doctor you want to have like a flat line he said no no no not that calm we all know a flat line especially a cardiologist knows a flatline is not what you want to

see on a cardiogram you don't want to see a flatline you want to see waves that's what a cogram is is healthy waves you want it to be balanced not extreme Peaks or deep valleys but that's life life looks like that a wave constantly moving like that a flat line is a sign of a stopped heart sign of death because life should never stop it's always moving and unfortunately we sometimes slow down we slow down and don't realize that if you want to maintain growth in life you need to ride and align yourself with the

rhythms of life like flow with the waves not resist them and not fall back you constantly need to go with the waves and when the waves are going up you rise with them and when they go down you go down with them that's what a wise person does you navigate you learn to navigate you can't control it another illusion in our lives that we think we can control things you can't control circumstances you control how you navigate them a good swimmer is exactly that they know how to navigate the waves of life so the latter

represents all of that in many ways it has that the elements of growth of movement of up and down and it's a constant flow it's what it is a constant pulsating flow that's what life truly is the cabalists referred to it the the flow of R and Shu which literally means it's from the vision of Ezekiel in the prophet he says he saw the energy running and returning to and fro can also be translated as as um tension and resolution contraction and expansion so there's always that need in life you see every electric current a

positive a negative that's what that's what CA creates energy like a pump like the pump of the heart creat energy you need to always have these two movements the fluidity and not allow ourselves to become stagnant and static and Frozen in place that's not what life is about life is movement the fluidity of Life the pulsating motion the pulsating of of subatomic particles of a life that of a world that is dynamic not dead today we know that that is constantly Dynamic whether you see it or not and connecting to that really allows you to

get through the challenges of life because you realize everything's on a journey to another place so while you're there recognize you're the story is not over the narrative is not over it's frames each frame leading to the next one this is what Jacob was implanted in him in that dream and he realized the power of that that yes he's now on a journey he's going to a darker place than he was but it's a journey and there's a purpose in each leg of this journey and when you Embrace that and you sense that sense of

mission and purpose that's what gives you the ability to navigate that you always remain the captain of the ship it's not always going to be easy because at times you can feel so down and so in the in the so in the the the in the in the abyss that you feel there's no way out but keep in mind as long as you keep moving there's always a way out the Trap would be where you give up and don't recognize that you're on that Journey you deceive yourself or you allow yourself to be deceived by

the fact that you've come to a dead end never never a dead end it's a constant source of movement so the latter captures that idea in a sense each of us has to find a way to pray you know I say this in a universal sense not in any particular parochial or religious context prayer is allowing your heart it's called service of the heart allowing your heart to move and not be and not be locked and not be trapped to constantly have that because besides the contraction and expansion which is the physical heartbeat there's also

the emotional heartbeat the emotional heartbeat of recognizing that emotions are always shifting and emotions are by Nature a a uh a a are by Nature constantly on the Move that's what an emotion is That's What feelings should be like there's certain things in life that need to be solid like solid foundations that you want in place unwavering but there are other things that you want to experience the the beauties of life and the changes and the shifts of the seasons of mood s of the ups and downs of the twists and turns but when you

are recognize that it's all part of that bigger picture it's a whole different story take music music is all about movement music is also emotional movement and that's where you see where life comes where a person comes most to life it's not even how old you are how young you are the people can be you can be 90 years old but have that fluidity have that movement have that musical touch that that light touch that dance in your step where you constantly feel that that certain lightness of spirit that's a story and that's the story

of dealing with everything in life you know we're living now in times of a lot of volatility everyone knows that we're in some form of transition some historic events that are taking place you just sense it you sense uncertainty you realize that if anything happens today it shouldn't be a surprise because surprises are constantly around us the world is going through shifts there are wars being fought I speak now about the Middle East in Ukraine you know you you turn on the news you never know what the next piece of news is going to be

we only we hope and pray only for good news but then things happen there are setbacks and there are challenges and there are deaths unfortunately and there's Bloodshed and there's worse brutality but there's also the beautiful spirit of human beings the nobility the Elegance the eloquence of our spirits that emerges in times of challenge and that's what we're called upon we are in a unique time in history and we have a responsibility because firstly to ourselves and to our children and to our families because every time is leading to the next time you want to

be able to look back at these times and say how did we do and the key thing is not to feel like you're some bystander or onlooker or spectator that you are part of the unfolding drama you're part of the journey you're the traveler and the travel and the journey is on a ladder that has it that's going up and down and it's a ladder that is Binding Together Two Worlds the world of Spirit and the world of matter that's what we all need to recognize our job is to spiritualize the material world to recognize

that money and power and all material possessions are not a mean an end in itself they're means that we have to tap them for their energy to be able to feed beautiful things in life to feed kindness and graciousness and gratitude and bringing light into the world and even when there is a dark moment or a few dark moments that Darkness can also be harnessed and channeled and trans and and converted and transformed into light and energy and Jacob stands as a role model an example of someone who did that thousands of years ago documented

and remains a story that still in so many ways captures our imagination there the dream the journey the ladder the ladder that connects a ladder that connects Earth to heaven and Heaven to Earth so when you ask the question where is Heaven meet Earth the answer is right at your doorstep it's up to you to build those ladders it's up to you to climb them to bring them back down to grow and feel that sense of tension and angst to grow to higher places but then at the same time to integrate it and bring it

back down to earth and I'll conclude with a beautiful story that I share often having my book t a meaning for life that one of the great Mystics and one of the great rebis when he was a young child he was playing with other children on a ladder and all the children were afraid to climb to the top of the ladder he was the only one that climbed to the top his grandfather the great RAB Z of theadi the the author of The Tanya he asked his grandson afterwards he said to him I was watching

you play with the other children why were you the only one that had the courage to climb to the top of the ladder so he said very simple Zade Grandpa he said when the other children climbed they kept looking down so they saw how high they were they were afraid to climb higher when I was climbing I kept looking up I saw how low I was so it motivated me to climb higher so it's all how we look at life when we look down when we look at people who are less accomplished than ourselves it's

not the great motivation when we look at the past but when you look ahead you look at others that have accomplished much you look up you see New Horizons it motivates you it pushes you to climb and that's what we need to think of in life looking up looking up seeing the ladder going up keep on climbing and climbing and climbing but always remember that every climb needs to be integrated it needs to be internalized you need the balance the wave you need the perfect balance of the tension and the resolution may we be blessed

with only having good news to share and when there are the different twists and turns and the different um vicissitudes and waves that lift Lift Us and sometimes bring us down keep in mind it's all part of that cycle it's all part of one cycle that leads us to a journey goes Higher and Higher and integrates it into all our lives and into every fiber of our beings be blessed and be well this has been Simmon Jacobson we're here every week this is a Sunday special that we do every week 3 p.m. eastern time so

obviously it's recorded in archives so please sub subscribe to all our offerings our web our YouTube channel our website is Meaningful life.com love to hear your feedback your thoughts your comments and of course always share with anyone you see fit be blessed and be well thank you