Emuna Therapy

Triumph over Adversity

Are  children who undergo severe adversity likely to develop psychological and psychiatric problems later in life?

The psychological studies say that they are.

But that's not the case for all children. Especially kids who are raised by parents who live in accordance with the emuna principles of faith. For them, an adverse or traumatic event can even elevate them to greater levels of emotional and spiritual development than their peers. Here's how it works.

 

 

How To Get Accepted

   

photo by: hl4rbc

Research has shown that people who expect to be liked by others are received with greater warmth and acceptance that those who anticipate rejection. The reason is fairly intuitive. If I believe that you will accept me, I'm going to treat you with more warmth and as a result you'll like me more. When we anticipate rejection we then act less friendly towards others and consequently they don't like us as much.

From a spiritual perspective, the person who demonstrates his emuna, his faith in G-d, by expecting and anticipating acceptance and good will from others is rewarded from Above with more social success. The researchers coined a quasi mystical term to explain their finding. They call it "acceptance prophecy." That sounds nice. But you really don't have to be a prophet to make friends, you just need to believe in G-d and He'll send you the nice kind people that you believe He wants to send you.

Now take a moment and ponder this: Okay, science has shown that social optimism works (with people!) So if people, with all their flaws, reciprocate warmth when you expect them to do so, how much more will G-d, in His perfection desire to reciprocate warmth, and love, and health and livelihood, and well-behaved kids, and wisdom -  if you just believe in Him?!

Certainty And Uncertainty

Is it true that certainty is a deep-seated psychological need? Or has it just become popular to think it is in a culture of "seeing is believing" - a culture that is devoid of Faith?

Psychology does not differentiate between the mind of one with Faith and one without Faith - this leads to faulty conclusions - for the two brains are not alike. The person of Faith thrives on uncertainty, he craves the mysterious and unknown. For him it is the unknown that stimulates him and gives his life meaning.  It is his freedom to choose Faith not "certainty" that fills him with the vitality of drawing ever-closer to his G-d. See more in The Firmest Foundation.

Check out this week's line up of other great articles courtesy of Breslev Israel: 

Blue-Chip Investment - By Rabbi Shalom Arush

The Turkey Holiday - By Rabbi Lazer Brody

Ovadia's Courage - By Tal Rotem

A Message From Above - By Yael Karni

Let It Shine - By Yehoshua Goldstein

Family Planning and Emuna - By Rajel Hayyim

Spotting The Fakes - By Rivka Levy

Making The Darkness Glow - By the Lubavitcher Rebbe

A Spiritual Antenna - By Racheli Reckles

A Taste of his Own Cooking - Rabbi David Charlop

With Blessings,

Dr. Zev Ballen

 

Unlocking Your Real Power

We agree with psychologists that say a vision and persistence are essential for achieving mastery in anything. But if a person tries and tries and still doesn't "succeed" - then what?

This video is about your real power - where it is - and how to access it fast. I hope you enjoy it!

 

Blessings for a great week!,

Dr. Zev Ballen

Having Unwanted Thoughts?

  

                                               image credit: DavidNewEngland

What is the best way to rid yourself of persistent, intrusive thoughts that frustrate you or make you blue? The answer depends on who you ask. 

Researchers say that the strategies that have some promise include: focused distraction, stress and load avoidance, thought postponement, exposure and paradoxical approaches, acceptance and commitment, meditation, mindfulness, focused breathing, attention training, self-affirmation, hypnosis, disclosure and writing.

Whew, that's a mouth full!

I have a great research idea for these guys. Take a group of people who suffer from persistently irritating thoughts and teach them to say "thank you" for them. I'm sure that they would find that expressing gratitude for annoying thoughts would prove more effective in alleviating them than suppressing them or using any of the above techniques.

If you have emuna coaching questions, remember to call me today. I'll be on the phone from 10-11am and 7-8pm Israel time.

Simply dial your county's phone number below and enter access code: 218660. 

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Blessings,

Dr. Zev Ballen

Sponsored by Breslev Israel

 

Short On Time?

Four new studies (Mogiler, et. al., 2012) have shown what people with emuna have always known. That, contrary to logic, giving away time that you don't have can make you feel like you have more of it.

What a beautiful observation of the Truth.

Where I have difficulty, as usual, is not in how my colleagues observe reality but in how they interpret it.  Psychologist Jeremy Dean concluded that the people, in these studies, who were generous felt better because of  odd "perceptual" alterations that their brains were subject to. He mentioned "10 ways that the mind warps time."

Aren't you curious to know about the spiritual orientations of the people that were studied?  The researchers might have come up with very different conclusions if they would have asked different questions that assessed the participants level of spirituality and emuna. Then they may have found that the deeper truth is that the people felt better for completely different reasons.

People with emuna feel really good about giving even if they objectively don't have much to give because they believe that G-d who is constantly looking after them will be pleased with their generosity, and in turn, will surely give them back everything that they need and more.  When people have little and give regardless, they are actively demonstrating and strengthening their emuna which is the greatest source of joy.

Blessings for the new month of Chesvan,

Dr. Zev Ballen

Emuna and Creativity

By Dr. Zev Ballen

Psychologists have studied hundreds of brilliant and creative people. Yet when these people were asked how they came up with their novel ideas, none of them could explain how they did it. Do we need creativity to serve Hashem? Tune in and find out. 

 

With Blessings,

Dr. Zev Ballen

Self-Control Strategies

By Dr. Zev Ballen

Self-control is essential to our success. In this lesson you will learn where the science of self-control merges and where it differs from the way of Emuna. There are many practical tips here to get your week off to a great start!

 

With Blessings,

Dr. Zev Ballen