Subscribe to the Meaningful Life Center YouTube Channel for more 🔔 https://www.youtube.com/meaningfullif... Quarantine does strange things to people. It can bring out the best or the worst in us. For many of us, being locked down at home has evoked a new appreciation of our loved ones, strengthened bonds and connections, revealed new strengths and creativity. But sadly, for others it has intensified stress, fear and insecurity. Pressures, imposed limits and constraints, push us to our limits an...
May 14, 2020•56 min
Quarantine is exposing us like never before. Stripped of so many of our otherwise conventional support systems -- our workplaces, our social circles, our cafes, restaurants, theaters, stadiums, our travel plans and vacations -- we are left now to our bare internal resources searching for stimulation. Just a few months ago, we could avail ourselves of endless places and outlets to escape feeling alone. We were able to share with others "a cup called loneliness, because it's better than drinking a...
May 07, 2020•53 min
Among the many challenges we face today, one of the most important is: How to speak to our children? What should we be telling them when so much of what we relied on has been disrupted? How do we provide security and reassure our children, both emotionally and psychologically, amid a climate of fear and uncertainty? In this time of crisis and upheaval we actually have an unprecedented opportunity to shape, educate and inculcate into our children indispensable strengths and tools that will serve ...
May 01, 2020•53 min
Just a few months ago very few of us were concerned with the question of how to balance our work life and our home life. Even if we were concerned, we didn't do much about it. The conflicts and tensions between our vocations and our homes, between our careers and our families, were usually "resolved" (or better said: unresolved) through either denial, compartmentalization, compromising our homes in face of our career climbing and social status, or a combination of the above. Foundations are invi...
Apr 23, 2020•51 min
Security is a vital need in every person's life. Children need secure homes, dependable parents and reliable schedules to grow into self-confident adults. Adults spend their lives building security for themselves and their families. Virtually every aspect of a wholesome and successful life requires solid and unwavering foundations, like a deeply rooted tree. But what happens when our conventional security blankets have been stripped away from us? Besides for feeling disconcerted and unnerved, we...
Apr 02, 2020•51 min
Today's global pandemic has upended people's entire realities. Whatever we thought was real and reliable just a few weeks ago, has now been destabilized and stripped away from us. Our schedules, our jobs, our economy, our plans, our vacations, our children's routines -- virtually every aspect of our lives is no longer what it was. And what will tomorrow bring? When our pre-existing realities are no longer serving us, we can either allow these earth-shaking events to unnerve and demoralize us, or...
Mar 26, 2020•51 min
The unprecedented global Coronavirus pandemic - Covin-19 - is effecting literally every person on earth, and disrupting every sector and industry. We turn to the medical community and our political leaders to do whatever they can to contain and ultimately eradicate the disease, as well as mitigate its economic and other effects on our lives. But how do we address the emotional and psychological toll this is taking on our psyches? Every day things change, and the unknown future is driving fear an...
Mar 19, 2020•34 min
Often, to appreciate a gift, we need to imagine what life would be like without it. What would our lives be like without joy? Without happiness? Even with the capacity for joy life can be quite difficult. Devoid of any joy, it would simply be unfathomable to imagine how unbearable existence would be. But if joy is such a necessity, why is it at times so difficult to access? Is there anything we can do to become happier people? Before we can answer these questions, we first need to understand wha...
Mar 12, 2020•45 min
Can every one be happy? The way some people describe their negativity and even hopelessness, you would think that not everybody is blessed with the capacity to be happy? But that is not true. Happiness seems to be inherent to the human condition. Look at children. They are naturally happy people. Buoyant and enthusiastic. So then, how do happy children become sad adults? When and how do they lose their positivity? How do calm children become anxious adults? And how can we retrace the steps and r...
Mar 05, 2020•42 min
Happiness is as elusive as it is cherished. We all want to be happy. Joyous people are healthier and more productive. And yet, it seems so challenging to find inner joy, especially in trying circumstances. Is there a formula for happiness? Perhaps we have to begin with the questions: What exactly is happiness? And how can we acquire it? John Stuart Mill famously said: "Ask yourself whether you are happy, and you cease to be so." "Those only are happy who have their minds fixed on some object oth...
Feb 27, 2020•44 min
Psychology - the study of the soul - is not a modern phenomenon. It is an inherent part of the human condition. As long as human beings have been in existence, we have been seeking and struggling to understand what makes us tick. What forces shape and define us and our behavior? How much potential do we contain? Are we intrinsically selfish or selfless? How much of our lives is controlled by pre-wired circuitry and how much is in our control? Can we overcome fear, insecurity and distrust? What i...
Feb 20, 2020•41 min
Why be honest when we see deception everywhere we turn? We all consider truth and honesty as true virtues, and no one likes being called a liar. So why is it that so many people lie? And why is it so easy to lie? Is deception a natural part of the world order, or is it an aberration? Can we maintain our integrity and succeed in a duplicitous world? Please join Rabbi Jacobson as he, in his inimitable style, digs into the core roots of deceit and deception. If all of existence and each single bein...
Feb 13, 2020•52 min
Six Revolutionary Principles that Can Transform Your Life Become a LEADER L ong Term/Mission E mpowerment/Initiative A ctualization: Potential opportunities; Action oriented D etermination/Persistence E mpathy R edemption Applied to and Impacting: Relationships・Education・Personal/Emotional Issues・Technology・Religion...
Feb 10, 2020•1 hr 11 min
Fear is one of the most powerful and misunderstood forces in our lives. It's formidable impact on virtually all our decisions, and lack of decisions, is compounded by the fact that fear is invisible and silent. You can't see or touch it. And you certainly can't measure it. Even though we feel, at times, palpable fright, most of fear's effects on our behavior cannot easily be traced to fear. We often justify our indecisiveness and lack of commitment with other reasons and excuses than fear, even ...
Jan 30, 2020•43 min
Many of us carry painful memories of hurtful experiences in our pasts. Some of these memories remain etched in our psyches, at times even haunting and disrupting our lives -- in ways that we are aware of, and often unaware of. How many of our emotional fears, insecurities and trust issues are a result of old scars? How then can we move on from these deep wounds? Can we free ourselves from the tentacles of difficult past experiences? Is it possible to forgive if you cannot forget? Please join Rab...
Jan 23, 2020•47 min
Lying at the heart of all relationships -- personal, social, professional, political -- is communication. The manner in which spouses, parents and children, neighbors, friends, co-workers, employers, employees, communities and nations speak and listen (or don't) to each other carries the key to thriving, lasting, and healthy connections. Even when there is concern and love between different people or groups, very often they are lacking the tools to properly express their feelings. In effect then...
Jan 16, 2020•44 min
Ahh. Comfort zones. They sound so... comforting. Do you anyone that likes to leave their comfort zone? And yet, every form of growth is dependent on going out of comfort zones. As long as you stay safe in your predictable and conventional routines, nothing new will be born. That is why it is so difficult to change and break out of our habits and patterns. The inertia of the status quo generates enormous force. But being an invisible power, concealed in lethargy, we grossly underestimate its impa...
Jan 09, 2020•46 min
As we enter 2020, the third decade of the third millennium, many of us are wondering what the future holds. We are currently experiencing plenty of changes. Polarization and upheaval is in the air. The road ahead will certainly offer us many opportunities while also presenting us with many challenges. But we are often trapped by nearsightedness, in which we only see the here and now and cannot see beyond our noses. What will the next decade bring? How will our future look? Are we entering a new ...
Jan 02, 2020•40 min
As the curtain comes down on the second decade of the third millenium (2019), and we prepare to enter its third decade with the year 2020, many of us are wondering what the future holds. We are currently experiencing plenty of changes. Polarization and upheaval is in the air. The road ahead will certainly offer us many opportunities while also presenting many challenges. But we are often trapped by nearsightedness, in which we only see the here and now and cannot see beyond our noses. What will ...
Dec 26, 2019•40 min
Nothing triggers our emotions like going home and seeing our parents and families. Etched in our psyches, for good or for bad, are all that we experienced in our impressionable childhood years. During this holiday season, when many of us spend time with our families, all types of feelings arise. For some, it’s a beautiful time, evoking the warmth and love of our relationships. Others, at the other extreme, dread going home. Their toxic and dysfunctional families make them anxious and fearful. Ma...
Dec 19, 2019•51 min
The million dollar question: What is the secret to finding a healthy and enduring relationship? What criteria should I be looking for? How can I know if someone is compatible with me? What defines compatibility? How can I identify my true soulmate? You may be surprised to know that the mystics mapped out the soul in five dimensions, which in turn offers us a blueprint for finding your compatible soulmate. You don't want to miss this program with Rabbi Jacobson, in which he lays out these five le...
Dec 12, 2019•45 min
You would think that the aspiring soul would be seeking to become more awake and aware, to heighten its cognizance and consciousness, not to learn how to... fall asleep. Yet sleep contains fascinating secrets and mysteries of regenerating our psyches and our souls. Learning how to sleep -- and how to fall asleep -- can teach us how to become more awake and more aware. What is sleep? What happens when we sleep? What can we do to have a more restful and peaceful sleep? Please join Rabbi Jacobson a...
Dec 05, 2019•45 min
Inside each one of us there is a place in which we are all alone. Even those that love us and those we love, even those we trust and open up to, cannot fully enter that core center of our beings -- the space that defies words, expressions and definitions. After all our relationships and interactions, after all our partying and fireworks, even when we may not feel all alone, at the end of the day a part of us walks alone. Is that alone space an asset or a liability? Does it reflect our uniqueness...
Nov 28, 2019•43 min
Do you feel that you matter? That among 7.7 billion people on earth, and trillions of other forces in the universe, you are indispensable and your life is vital? This is not a small or academic question; every decision you make, every move you take, is effected by how much you value your life. If you feel that your life doesn't matter much, then all your life choices and relationships don't matter that much either. If your life is negligible then everything you do is also negligible. Please join...
Nov 21, 2019•42 min
Morality is a big word, which means different things to different people. What exactly is morality? Is it absolute or relative? Are moral values something we can all agree about, or are there different opinions on what constitutes a moral act? Can certain behavior be considered by some as moral and by others immoral? If so, how do we determine what is the moral standard to abide by? And if we all have our standards, how can we create a universal co-existence? The list of questions goes on and on...
Nov 14, 2019•43 min
What do you see when you look around you? Do we all see the same thing? Ostensibly it would seem that all healthy eyes observe the same empirical reality. The fact is, however, that what you see is not (usually) what you get. Observation is not just what is visible to the naked eye, but far more than that. Despite knowing that fact, here is a mysterious paradox: We all understand that there is more to everything we see than meets the eye. And yet, we are easily seduced by externals, to the point...
Nov 11, 2019•42 min
Manifestation? "What exactly is that," you may be wondering. Well. in short it's about being present -- about "showing up" and being immersed and invested in your life experiences. How often do we have our foot halfway our the door, afraid to commit due to the risks involved? How often are we not fully present in a relationship or even a conversation? It may be for good reasons -- lack of trust, fear of being hurt, past disappointments and wounds. But we can also be trapped in our patterns and "...
Oct 31, 2019•41 min
We all have, at some or another, wronged or hurt another person -- a loved one, a friend or a stranger. What can and should we do about it? Are we aware of the full impact and effect our behavior has on ourselves, others and the universe in general? And do we appreciate the potency contained in correcting our errors? One of the most noble and courageous human acts is to ask for forgiveness and make amends over damage we may have caused. And this is the best time of the year to do so. Please join...
Oct 03, 2019•47 min
At one or time or another, many of us feel stuck in our lives. Unable to move forward. It can take on the shape of resignation, hopelessness and even depression. It can be more subtle as in feeling old and worn out, without the energy to create change. And it can even manifest in cynicism, as in the more things change the more they stay the same. What causes us to feel stuck? Are they objective or subjective causes, meaning are they true external obstacles or only ones in our mind? Is it perhaps...
Sep 26, 2019•45 min
"Do you believe in miracles?" is one of the most common questions asked. But before we answer that question, we need to first define the meaning of a miracle. Is it a fantastical, nature-suspending event (like the parting of the sea), or is it an awesome and unique event (like giving birth)? Our sages teach us that one experiencing a miracle often does not recognize the miracle that has transpired. Other scholars say that nature is simply a "continuum of miracles" whose repetition make them seem...
Sep 19, 2019•44 min
