Ebb & Flow with Solomon Ezra Solomon Ezra Berezin

Show Notes

Mentioning a discourse I learned in Guatemala and a personal lesson from it
The tool of Meditation
Recap of previous 5 episodes
3 kinds of commandments - orientations towards mitzvahs
4 kingdoms - inanimate (mineral), vegetable, animal, and human
Yesod - foundation, fundamental
The 10 commandments were engraved on a stone
How to do a mitzvah like a mineral
The word for decree without a reason also means engraved
24:30 What’s the difference between engraved and writing?
Become the mitzvah, engraved in your heart
Doing mitzvot in the way like a mineral is a great unifier
What did the Baal Shemtov love about the simple Jew?
28:55 How to apply this into your daily life?
Doing something as you learn, not only doing it once you understand it
Unconditional love
Is something natural a virtue?
Don’t make conditions
No need to justify real love
Sincere it is what it is vs insincere it is what it is
41:44 There’s nothing more real than what doesn’t need justification
Difference between Married and not married
Concluding this series
45:30 Life is about intimacy with G-d
50:00 What do purpose of tools become?  At first they were helping you get where you need to be. After the fact, you have gotten them where they need to be. They started off as secular personal stuff, now you’ve turned them into support for mitzvahs. They’ve become part of your Godly life so you’ve elevated them. They need you more than you need them.
The essence of Shavuot
There’s nothing more comfortable and satisfying when you can just be yourself


---

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/solomon-ezra-berezin/support

Show Notes:


the greater the darkness, the closer to transformation
relationship between mind and heart
by nature the mind controls everything
getting the heart to obey the mind is being healthy
how does the heart do its own thing without consulting the mind? It’s like sleepwalking
How do we bring back the healthy relationship between mind and heart?
animal soul and G-dly soul dynamic
each soul has its own mind and emotions
you didn’t lose control, you gave yourself permission rationally
governed by intelligence and not by emotions
dance between mind and heart, the mind must lead
“don’t get mystical, don’t get spiritual, just get healthy. A healthy person is the master of his ship.”
getting body to neurologically change its behavior
changing the animal soul’s mind
nothing more powerful than the will to get the body to behave
transformation is partly in the mind and partly in the soul
when a person feels stuck is when there’s trauma
thorough lasting change
Getting the mind back in charge
if emotions get very inflexible, it is the heart not the mind
nothing changes you more than discovering the purpose for which you exist
how does the mind affect the heart?
What kind of control does it have?
it can make the heart a little more flexible
the heart can’t think, but it let go.
loosening up the emotion
emotion is not the final outcome
don’t believe everything you feel


---

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/solomon-ezra-berezin/support

Show notes:


introducing today’s topic
what’s a stronger motivator - personal benefit or serving a larger cause?
Intention or kavana to serve
the importance of self-love … healthy or not?
don’t confuse the validity of being healthy with the obsession of being healthy
Does it make sense to say, “the more you love yourself, the more you’ll love others?”
Everyday do something you hate? — Mark Twain
Feels right or feels familiar?
When Hillel went to eat he said he’s going to feed a healthy body
Rigidity comes from self
Which is less forgiving? Christianity or Judaism?
Not judging you, but measuring what you accomplish for G-d
Awkward or Rigid
Mussar and religion
Can you spread some of your love to others?
Human nature is such that you love yourself. The mitzvah is to give some of that love to others
What does tzedaka mean?
Turn your (self) love outward
Don’t assume people don’t love themselves
The two most significant days in your life - the day you’re born and th
e day you figure out why — Mark Twain
Why was I born? Live your life knowing why you were born.
feeding others is a pleasure, feeding myself is a chore
Have a sense of humor about yourself
What’s a good self-image?
What’s the best response to how are you?
What does Baruch Hashem mean?


---

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/solomon-ezra-berezin/support

Show Notes:


relating our episode to Yitzchak digging wells of his father Avraham
what are the servants of Yitzchak? Thoughts, speech, action
observing and thinking
The servants must know their master
Who is your master?
Know where you’re going to be healthy
what it means to be “in alignment with Hashem?” Less about me
Beyond my “self”
Affirmations and Positive thinking
Miracle of affirmation is: I say I am okay even though I think I am not
Power of positive words and act of smiling
14:30 - Dig to the living waters (neshama) through the servants, which can move the soul to a better place
16:30 - Don’t stop doing
The amazing effect of song
18:15 Never wait until something is right before you let your servants do their work
20:00 intermittent fasting
Cause and Effect with eating
Is food giving you life or are you putting the food to its use? Who’s the recipient or the actor?
28:40 Eat by conviction, not by taste buds
31:00 Story of Reb Shmuel Munkus
Every now and then break the habit of what you’re eating
36:00 Practicing a little self respect
Awareness helps... even if not immediately
Having what to eat is a blessing and a reward
38:40 What did I do to deserve this meal?
46:20- 47:05 Joke about an atheist
Foundation of mindfulness when it comes to food
G-d said to eat
Never be a servant to a servant


---

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/solomon-ezra-berezin/support

How do we get healthy?
Mindset aspect of health
Attitude towards [seeming] problems
Nisah means to elevate
There is a cause and effect to everything
Relationship with food
It’s not by bread alone that man lives- don’t become subservient to the food.
Mindset #1:  You’re the master. eating for a purpose
Tools to help notice if hungry or feeling stressed
When you’re feeling down, you eat which means you’re begging the food to give you life -
It’s unhealthy to eat when you’re needy
Food cannot give you life, it can maintain the life you have
You cannot sit by the table with a sour face - Rabbi Friedman’s mother
why do we eat in the first place?
Mindset #2: I am Healthy
Healthy Mindsets are most important than health [25 min]
The question is not about how healthy is the food, rather it’s how healthy are you?
Food can be Healthful, but food itself is not healthy
Be a healthy person - one attracted to food most healthful
Eat for a Heavenly purpose - you are Heaven compared to the food.
You are what you eat. What you eat becomes what you are. The objective is for the food to become you, not the other way
Spiritual side of Anorexia
Eat until you’re not hungry, not until you have no appetite. The hunger has to be satisfied, not the capacity
Mindset 3: Approach it with enthusiasm
Eat less and don’t be picky
Healthy attachments
Mindset 4: Flexibility
What’s my purpose?
Power of words and describing situations


---

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/solomon-ezra-berezin/support

Show Notes:


How we can live in harmony physically, mentally, and spiritually
how do you define health for yourself
don’t get too serious about your health - making health your focus is not healthy, similar to making happiness your focus is almost guaranteed to make you unhappy1:40-2:40
it’s a necessary condition, but it’s not life.
What do you want to be healthy for? The question you’ll have to ask sooner or later3 - 7:50
One’s Personal Beliefs about health - Be enthusiastic about life
Fear should not be what drives - what is your life governed by?7:50 - 12:40
How can one make this simple and specific? Journal activities12:41 - 17:30
Who should be conscious of their health?17:30 - 19:00
The best attitudes towards health19:00 - 22:00
Not just what we eat, but how we eat it22:15 - 24:00
Eat like a Mensch: Master your eating, don’t let eating master you24:12 - 30:35
What to ask when you sit down to eat?30:35 - 31:20
Go to sleep hungry31:20 - 32:13
Rabbi Friedman’s approach with health32:13 - 35:00
Don’t be particular with foods35:01 - 38:24
Food is not an event, it’s just a tool38:45 - 41:45
A good Relationship with the food41:50 - 42:40
Eat in response to Hunger vs in response to Appetite42:41 - 45:00
Always have dessert45:05 - 46:30
Why eat at all?46:31 - 49:00
Conclusion49:01 -


---

Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/solomon-ezra-berezin/support