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you could feel anxiety thick in the air I interact with many people of all walks of life and I can sense people are on edge and it makes sense know you have wars raging in Ukraine in the Middle East when you have the political polarization in this country and in general there's so many moving pieces that create a lot of uncertain C where are we headed even some of the positive developments like AI technology which is improving our lives but because it opens up new panoramas that some consider to be a Pandora's Box is it

a panorama or a Pandora's Box so anything that's new is sometimes unsettling you know recently or recently this week dealing with the tragic brutal coldblooded murder of a young 28-year-old Rabbi in the United Arab Emirates s kogan which still so shocking for what was he killed person serving a community travel there simply to help people killed simply because he was a Jew so that alone opens up so many questions and yet another cause for anxiety yet we're told and this goes back to the miracle of human immunity that's built into our very beings into the

very Cosmic system very f fascinating tamic statement that God before every illness precedes it with a cure the Cure precedes the illness every challenge is preceded by all the instruments and tools and resources we need to deal with that challenge so I was thinking you know we're entering Thanksgiving with that I want to say Happy Thanksgiving to all of you Thanksgiving is about gratitude what is gratitude what is its deeper significance besides the civility of it cordiality the right thing to do someone does something nice for you you say thank you youve been blessed in

some way you show gratitude to those that have helped you gratitude to God for God's blessings to you or however you feel those blessings come to you so it seems to be the most normal thing to do but there's a lot more to it and when we probe and explore the real soul we'll call it the anatomy of gratitude Will Come Away with more tools and more resources to actually deal with and even resolve anxiety because at the end of the day we'll start with anatomy of anxiety anxiety can be dissected by a sense of

unsettling UNS disorientation unsettled you know when things are going smoothly and you're very comfortable and you're SEC feel secure you usually are not going to be anxious where does anxiety come from when something is not working the way it should in your mind something you expected didn't happen something you didn't expect did happen so it's connected to doubts to uncertainties to unpredictable situations surprises that's what happens we human beings thrive on certain predictable situations security you know where your home is you know at the end of the day no matter how hostile the environment you're

in you're going home there's a certain Comfort here's your room here's your bedroom here's your living room here are the people you know know the coordinates of our lives are critical to keep our equilibrium it's like being on a ship you know there's a captain and you see it's going in a smooth Direction but as soon there's a storm especially in your comfort zone in your hear in the place you should be receiving nurturing that can be very traumatic look at children children are the best example because children are most impressionable what can disturb the

trajectory of the Healthy Growth of a child and security of a child is unpredictable situations parents get divorced now what do you do and a child doesn't have all the sophisticated tools my father is here my mother is there until now they were both under the same roof I came home I I know what to expect now some weekends I stay here some weekends I'm there or in general when children move from one place to another I'm not saying there is there's never a reason to do so but a big factor has to come into

play children need to know they come home they know where their addresses they know where their bed is they start moving from place to place some type of nomadic lifestyle you always see it's going to create certain elements of insecurity and fears because you don't know what's coming next now we all understand that we have to be armed to be able to deal with all situations surprising unexpected situations but the more well the more you're prepared for it you know a good swimmer becomes a swimmer over time you don't become a good swimmer immediately it

begins that you first develop secure tools self-confidence self-esteem and once you do that then you're ready to explore new terrains someone that's forced to explore too early and has not developed that confidence will often not succeed so that's what's called training that's what's called priming someone so in our early formative years educ educational years children are taught how to build that type of confidence so when they have to go out and there's a situation that may be unexpected or even disturbing or a setback they have the resources but if that's done too early if a

child comes out of the mother's womb too early I don't just talk on a physiological level on an emotional level they're not ready yet there's a period in our lives that we need to be completely completely engulfed completely immersed and absorb absorbed completely surrounded by a nurturing Embrace and our early formative years a child at home has to have a home a bird can't fly until it has a nest first it has a nest and slowly develops and learns from the adults the ability to go out so anxiety will always be a result of something

that was aborted or something that was severed or something that was Disturbed prematurely so what's the counterforce to that is to create secure foundations so even if there has to be something has to happen in a person's life we need to move elsewhere for whatever reason good reason or something has to happen that's going to be somewhat unsettling the critical thing is to create resources that counter that it's like anything in life like Shak absorbers if something's going to shake up you want to have other factors that are going to somewhat brace that shock or

brace the pressure or brace the the the Collision if you wish to be able to counter it so it doesn't completely destroy a person's morale and psyche and overwhelm us that's why it's so critical to have foundational Eternal values in your life the foundation of a building is invisible we don't see it it's deep beneath the ground under the building nobody wants to live in a foundation but without it the building cannot stand we look at the building we see the Cosmetics see the different floors that are built the Furnishings yes there are some foundational

beams here and there but the main thing that you see is the outer Dimension you don't see that inner Foundation psychologically is the same story there's a foundation as matter is an interesting statement in the cabalistic literature that foundations on Earth are beneath the building foundations on the spiritual level are above the building and it makes sense first you begin with the foundation and then the rest flows from there but in this world it's from the bottom up so to speak no first you start with a mission statement and then you build a company you

don't start a company and then look for a mission statement you don't build a building and then then build a foundation but the foundation is actually higher conceptually because it precedes the building everything is built upon it so again bound below but it's upon literally but above the foundation is the higher level and the building comes beneath it so what are these foundations these are Eternal values I always found that some what I guess ironic that they call Financial investment Securities remember the Prudential Rock security if anything is insecure it's money because money doesn't last

and you see how people hoard it and you realize because everything in this material world is temporary is impermanent so how can you build real security and a foundation on something that in itself the foundation is wavering so therefore we need to look for Eternal foundations Eternal foundations are the values are the values upon which we build you know there's that uh analogy they give Professor is giving a class in time management so he wants to make a demonstration for his class in time management and this is what he does comes in one day with

an assistant an empty aquarium with a few sacks big sacks puts them on the floor he says class look at this aquarium is it full or empty empty an empty aquarium we're going to fill it up now he open sack number one sack number one there are big boulders rocks puts them in as far as he can reach that's that is this is this uh is this tank is this aquarium full well full relatively speaking he opens number two it has small Pebbles he pours the pebbles in they fill all the crevices and now is

it full some say yes well there's a third sack third sack fine gravel fine gravel is able to fill the spaces that the Pebbles didn't fill all the way till the top is it full now so most class most of the class students said yes a few saw another sack so they realized something more to come but what pictures of water and he pours in the water so of course water is even finer than the gravel the water spills over from the top of the aquarium is it full now everyone says yes it is so

you have the Rocks the small Pebbles the gravel and the water he says what's the lesson we learn from this so one student raises his hand very simple he knew there was a time management class that even when you think your day is full there's always room to fill to put in something else to schedule something else so even though we thought it was full you always see there's more you can add sounds right with time management the teacher the professor says no the lesson is that if you don't put the boulders in first you're

never going to get them in if you started with the water and then the gravel and then the Pebbles you never get the stones the stones are the foundations the values that you hold there that you cherish that you cannot live without now many of us take that for granted until there's time of trouble or a setback but that's the key and secret to life all success all security is built on those Boulders those foundations those pillars often once a person is struck by the storm that's when we try to build our pillars but it's

very hard to build a a ship a a strong ship or a powerful Tree in middle of a storm you have to prepare in the years of plenty and not take it for granted so the first step is to write down what are those values that are indispensable that are not optional or arbitrary and one of them maybe one of the big ones is gratitude there are others as well obviously but let's talk about gratitude now as a counterforce to anxiety and to the other uncertainties that can throw us disorient us demoralize us unsettle us

gratitude in addition to obviously the obvious that is the right thing to do to say thank you it also demonstrates that you're not focusing on yourself you're not taking your gifts for granted you don't feel a sense of entitlement you're humbled and you always know that you're not a self-made person whether it's your parents your siblings your friends your Educators your community strangers people have helped shape who you are now that doesn't mean that you don't have your individuality but you recognize that you're not this self-contained Island that is the first step toward creating something

Eternal because the ego like money is very temperamental and everchanging and very insecure frankly what is eternal is when you give when you show gratitude when you thank what you're doing in the process is understanding the bigger picture it's not just what I've gained and what's in it for me it's understanding that there are other people that need to be acknowledged that were dependent on others is the counterbalance to arrogance and to self-contained life or the survival of the fittest dog eats dog attitude which may feel very comfortable for some short term and instant gratification

but it's never long term love love is essentially a form of gratitude it's obviously more than that but it's also it's not about me me me and seeing the other person just an extension of yourself that's not true love true love is transcendent that it's not what that person is doing for you it's how you can go beyond yourself as you experience another person respecting their space their dignity their values their their contributions so another way of putting it is called Transcendence so gratitude goes into that category of values that are Transcendent and that fits

the bill for a truly Eternal found Foundation that's why it does counter and can help resolve anxiety because it's taking you away from yourself anxiety at the end of the day going back to what we said before the unsettling element the trauma the traumatic aspects the unpredictability causing that insecurity so if it does indeed happen what's the counter Force what could you do let's say you did grow up in a broken home on God forbid where you didn't know where love was coming from from or you grow up with an an unhealthy parent a dysfunctional

parent who one day could love you and the other day could hate you who one day could be beautiful and nurturing and other day can be aggressive and and violent alcoholic parents other addictions absentee all these things that throw us and cause anxiety and whatever you meet anybody afterwards when you grow up you don't know with where where love is coming from so it's distrust all the forces that eat eat up like a cancer eat at our inner psyche yes all the forces that contribute to anxiety and to fears and inhibitions and insecurities so the

key thing to remember what does nurturing do for you why is it so vital and why is the lack of it caused such anxiety because it creates that foundation for you it gives you the foundation something you you can rely on you know I can always rely on this Foundation of my building of my home if you have to question every day will this Foundation crumble or maybe it's not going to hold up the building maybe it's not going to nurture and love me what do you think is going to happen you're going to constantly

be in fair when is the next earthquake happening when is the next explosion or eruption so what's the counterforce to that type of insecurity is building security building security means get yourself out of your own way don't allow ego to be in place because at the end of the day what's happening is is that your ego becomes also very self-protective now because I have to save myself you know people in the flight or fight mode they're always on alert always the antenna up there's no Comfort CU I don't know what the future holds I don't

know who's my real friend who can I rely on who can I trust gratitude among others similar virtues introduces Transcendence something Beyond yourself that beyond that you should have had when you were a child that would have given you that love and that Foundation you now need to create and you create it one way is through showing thank you through expressing thank you showing gratitude obviously love healthy love should be on that list trust kindness empathy but we're focused on gratitude but you'll see the common the common denominator between all of them is Transcendence Transcendence

from the of the temporal of the impermanent of the forces that don't create security but create the opposite of that they create insecurity and hence anxiety so you think of it that way yes Thanksgiving saying thank you showing gratitude is a tremendous gift a tremendous tool now we should do so even if it doesn't have the psychological benefits simply because it's the right thing to do but imagine the when you understand the benefits from it it's like oxygen you need to breathe you can't just inhale you also need to Exhale it can't just be about

you me taking an air you need to give out you can't just contract it has to also expand your heart that's what a heartbeat is life is that give and take you're breathing there's a rhythm the calist call it tension and resolution there's a yearning a longing and then there's integration is the secret to life and anyone living in the moment and just trying to say let me just hold on to what I have ultimately it's going to backfire you need those Eternal values when you see people who naturally say thank you show kindness gratitude

and often that comes from from their childhood or maybe you've developed it there's a certain refinement about it there's a certain vibe that even comes you know you see it someone says thank you to you tell me how you feel you always feel good and I don't mean feel good in a superficial way you feel acknowledged you feel dignity you feel respected and when someone doesn't know how to do that there's a certain element I mean we could override where're human beings we're resilient but there's something lacking the circle is not complete the breath is

not complete the exhale and inhale didn't happen completely a person received and they didn't give back and I don't mean in the reciprocal way in the sense TI forat just the healthy balance the healthy cross-pollination the healthy inter connectivity between life which is so vital to to the environment to Nature to the human body the human body is saying thank you to each other all the time not necessarily with those words but there's a certain acknowledgement as one valve opens another closes as they interact with each other as one does their part in the assembly

line whether it's digestion or respiratory or the nervous system or the circulatory system or the the neurological system Liz goes on so it's time to align ourselves to those rhythms that's why Thanksgiving yes I know it's become commercial has all kinds of other superficial aspects to it but that's why it has that power because it reminds us and remember the idea goes back thousands of years simple thank you in the morning we say mod I talk about this prayer thank you for returning my soul to me every morning say that it's a powerful meditation a

powerful thought firstly gratitude second of all it focuses on life where life begins your soul not your body not the temporary but the permanent so yes it's not just the saying thank you it's the attitude of gratitude that can resolve anxiety does it mean it's going to automatically eliminate negative experiences in life challenges setbacks tragedies no but it definitely helps you navigate them definitely helps you maneuver helps you ride above those waves even when the storms come we should only be blessed with beautiful experiences and then also say thank you you don't have to wait

for a negative to remind you build those Eternal foundations make a list of these Eternal values that's what helps us ride through the vicissitudes of the temporary and impermanent World in which we live and where we can actually fuse the Eternal into the moment Infinity into the finite thank you so much Happy Thanksgiving this has been Simon Jacobson of meaningful Life Center meaningful life.com please subscribe to our offerings to our growing YouTube channel that cover and address really every topic that is relevant to us please share with others and of course always love and welcome

your feedback your thoughts your comments your insights be blessed and be well may we have many things to thank for many blessings to be thankful for and always acknowledge those blessings thank you this program is brought to you by the meaningful Life Center please help us continue our programs make even a small contribution at meaningful life.com donate