The Trust Factor
A daily lesson that focuses on achieving unparalleled success in life using ancient wisdom in modern times.
We will be discussing critical concepts as they are laid out in the book Sha'ar Habitachon - The Gate of Trust. Written 1000 years ago, the author reminds us of the values and wisdom that have allowed humanity to thrive throughout history.
The concept of trusting in a higher power that exists purely for our benefit, puts us in the drivers seat with absolute confidence to achieve greatness.
Eliminate: Fear, Hatred, Anxiety, Depression, Jealousy, Greed...forever!
* Note that some terminology will be in the original Hebrew or Aramaic which I will always follow with the English translation.
The Trust Factor
Episode 18 - You're Already a Trillionaire: Why Happiness Has Nothing to Do With Money
What if the wealthiest people aren't those with the most money, but those with the most gratitude? This transformative episode challenges our conventional understanding of prosperity and introduces a powerful alternative: true wealth comes from being content with what you already have.
We explore the ancient wisdom "Who is wealthy? The one who is happy with his lot in life," diving beneath its surface to uncover life-changing insights. Rather than glorifying financial pursuits, we examine how modern society's obsession with money often leads people to sacrifice everything meaningful—relationships, health, values—only to discover they've become "so poor that all they have is money."
Through personal reflections and practical examples, I share how taking daily inventory of our blessings—from functioning senses to loving relationships—reveals we're all "trillionaires" in life's true currency. You'll learn how contemplating mortality provides clarity and motivation, putting material concerns into proper perspective. Most importantly, you'll discover how gratitude functions as the ultimate secret ingredient to happiness and continued abundance.
Ready to transform your relationship with wealth and happiness? This episode provides the roadmap to finding riches beyond your bank account—riches that truly satisfy. Take this journey with us and learn why expressing thanks for what you have becomes the password that unlocks even greater blessings in your life.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Good news for you today. The good news is we are staying right where we are. We're not moving on to the fifth and final spiritual benefit of having trust in Hashem. That is not my intention. My intention is to stay exactly where we are, and the reason that I want to stay here is because I care too much about you guys to continue moving forward.
Speaker 1:The reality is that these ideas that we come across sometimes we come across really, really big concepts that are life changing that if we just give them a cursory surface level review, we aren't doing ourselves any justice. We are literally doing ourselves a disservice. There are gold nuggets. Some places in the world where you walk, you can find literally gold nuggets on the surface of the ground. Or you just dig a little bit deeper and you will find little gold flakes, or in riverbeds or wherever they may be. But if you've ever seen a gold mine, it's hundreds of feet deep, it goes way down, and the reason it does is because when you dive down deep, that's where you find the real money. And so when I bring you a concept or, even better, when Rabbeinu Bacha brings you a concept from Torah that says who is the wealthy person, the one who is happy with his lot in life, and we just give it a quick review and move forward to the next idea. You're really cheating yourself. These are ideas that need to be explored, and so let's spend a little bit more time understanding them.
Speaker 1:The concept of who is wealthy the one who is happy with his lot in life. There's no dollar amount suggested over there. There is no balance sheet. It doesn't talk about the person who's able to work enough to be able to afford a comfortable retirement, like you might see on television pitching this concept of freedom, 55 and that nonsense. There's no mention of money. Why? Because money is just one component of your life. We live in an age and time where the powers that be and the messengers are trying to drill into our heads that it is the most important thing in the world and in fact, we know that it is a very large evil inclination the pursuit for money and power. But if that's what you're subscribing to, if that's what you're really buying, if that's what you're really buying into, then you're mistaken and you're heading down a very, very dangerous path.
Speaker 1:I once heard a guru by way of a social media post. You know. It says wisdom you can learn from the blame, no problem. And he made a very powerful statement and he said there are some people who are so poor, they're so poverty stricken that all that they have is money. That's a very, very powerful idea. Think about that. There are people who walk around thinking that that is the Holy Grail that you will jeopardize and sacrifice all of your other relationships and all of the other things that make you who you are, in the pursuit of wealth that is fleeting at best.
Speaker 1:I often find myself chatting with friends and we say to each other, we remind each other that we're trillionaires, we're not even billionaires and we're not even millionaires. But you know what we are? We're trillionaires. How's that possible? How can I not have a million dollars and yet still be a trillionaire?
Speaker 1:And the answer is because I can sit back and take an inventory of my life on a daily basis. I recognize that I have a spectacular wife who runs my household and is an unbelievable individual. I have spectacular children who give me so much pride in all the things that they do and the people that they're becoming I'm enormously proud of. I have family. I have parents who are actively involved in our lives and care about us. I have an amazing, spectacular Jewish community. I have a business to come in and bring me an income. I have food in the fridge, I've got money in the bank. I've got a roof over my head. I got cars in the driveway. I'm living in Canada. It's a free country. Forget politics. I have every opportunity available to me every day. But most obvious and the most simple form of understanding why I'm a trillionaire it's because I'm awake. No, let me clarify, it's because Hashem woke me up today. It's because he gave me another chance at life, because I'm above ground, Just that basic. Because of that I'm a trillionaire.
Speaker 1:I constantly think, and the Torah tells you that if you're ever in a bind, if you're ever in a bad place, you should stop and contemplate death. Yeah, contemplate death. If you're in a bad place and you want to snap out of it and you want to do the right thing, contemplate death. And sometimes, growing up, I had a hard time understanding that concept. Today, I understand it full well because I employ that strategy on a regular basis. What does it mean? Not just contemplating your own death, that you're going to die one day, right, because that's a great motivator, by the way, for good and for bad. I use it for good.
Speaker 1:I often when I find myself paralyzed because I'm not sure which way to move, or if it's the right decision, or if I want to take the chance, even though I've done the homework and I've concluded that it's the right decision, it's still very difficult to take that step. One way to motivate yourself is to recognize you may not be here tomorrow. Nobody's guaranteed 80, 90, 100 years, nobody's even guaranteed today. If you stop and think about that and contemplate that, it takes away a lot of the fear and motivates you to get moving. But sometimes I think about other people who have passed. I think about billionaires who have passed and I think to myself they passed at such a young age with so much wealth.
Speaker 1:What was it all for? I don't understand. Just to amass wealth and think to myself they took all these chances. It must have been nerve wracking and at the end of the day, look, they're six feet under. I'm still above ground, I still can change, I can improve, I can experience life, I can have amazing relationships, I can improve the lives of the people around me. So therefore, my friends, the whole concept of who is wealthy does not just lie in the amount of money that you have. Money is important. I don't want to minimize it to the point where you think I'm saying it's not important. Clearly it is. There's a very important role in our lives and it's what makes the world go round. But, friends, remember, it's just one dimension. It should not define you. If it defines you, there is a real problem. You can be wealthy if you stop and take an inventory of your life. Reflect on all of the amazing, spectacular things that Hashem has given you All of these years. I'm sure many of you have many of the things that I had just rifled off for myself.
Speaker 1:And if you don't just think about the fact that you've got eyesight, you've got vision, you've got hearing, you've got taste, you've got touch, can you imagine not having taste? God forbid, imagine not having taste buds and having to eat a meal. Why do you think God made everything have a taste associated? Eat a meal. Why do you think god made everything have a taste associated? Why do you think that the foods that we love so much are delicious? Because it encourages us to eat right, to stay alive. It's critical. Without food, you die. Food needs to be enjoyable. Therefore, they have amazing smells and amazing tastes. If you were robbed of your taste buds, it would lead to a miserable existence. Right, you've got taste buds. You've got a heart that's beating. You've got lungs that are filling with oxygen. Right, you've got legs that allow you to walk or to move. You've got hands that you can use.
Speaker 1:You've got all these different things that you can focus on to recognize how fortunate you are. And when you recognize how fortunate you are, then you become the person who is sameach bechilko, the person who is sameach bechelko, the person who is happy with his lot in life. Now I want to flush that out just for another minute, this concept of gratitude. What ends up happening is that when you review your life, when you take that inventory, you start to recognize that you have so much to be grateful for, and gratitude is another one, if not the one of the secret ingredients to success and happiness. We started off this whole program talking about me committing to you that if you go through this program and you take it seriously, you will do away with all of the negative character traits, the anxiety and depression, the jealousy and the hatred, the fear, all those negative emotions, and you will live a life of true happiness and success. One of those, if not the ultimate ingredient, is gratitude.
Speaker 1:When we sit every day and we reflect on your drive into work every morning, reflect on all the spectacular things that you have. I've rifled off probably two dozen of them. Think about them, but really think about them, not just cursory, go down deep and think you're not entitled to all those things. Nobody entitles you to them, but yet you have them, and there are so many people who don't have them. So think about that and appreciate it. You'll find yourself being grateful and then you'll put two and two together and you'll recognize that there is somebody in charge who's giving you these things. Because really, how much effort are you expending really? How much smarter are you than the next guy? Really, how much more Torah and mitzvahs are you keeping than the other person? There's no correlation, right, and the reality is you're not entitled, but Hashem gives it to you anyways because, like a loving parent, he wants you to be successful and he wants you to be happy.
Speaker 1:So if you take an inventory now, you're thinking about the things that you've had in your life, you're thinking about the good things that you've got right now and you're thinking about the amazing things that are going to come in the future. How do you know that there are amazing things that are going to come in the future? It very simple, and this is a very, very big secret that I'm about to give you over. That I hope you will take seriously. One of the best ways to be able to get more from your creator, more of the goodness that you want, is to be grateful for the things that you have, and I'll give you a small example.
Speaker 1:You're invited to a friend's house for a meal. You sit down at a beautiful table and the wife or the husband whoever it was that prepared the meal, prepared a spectacular spread, yeah, and the wife I'll use for the example lays out a wonderful meal and serves you and you eat to your delight. And you're looking at this plate and you're thinking, wow, what I ever like seconds. Wow, what I. That steak was delicious. I would love another steak, but you don't want to look like a snore, you don't want to. You know you don't want to be rude. And you, you know there's other people at the table and you know you're doing the math in your head, right, and you really want a piece. Well, there's an opportunity, and that opportunity is for you to be grateful, how you look over to the person that prepared that steak and you say that was a spectacular piece of steak. Wow, was that ever delicious? Do you know what?
Speaker 1:Nine and a half times out of 10, the next few words are going to come out of that person's mouth. Sir, it's very simple. Would you like some more? Thank you, have some more. That, my friends, is a secret to be able to get more of the things that we love in this world. Stop and reflect on how amazing, on how delicious, on how incredible this life is that gave you, and he will say to you thank you, have some more. Spend your day today, my friends, and the rest of the week and and God willing, well into Passover, employing this technique. Stop, appreciate, say thank you and you will continue to see blessings coming every single day. That summarizes our class for today, my friends. God willing, tomorrow, hopefully, we will get into the fifth and final spiritual benefit of trust. Have a spectacular day.
