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 140 - Time Waits for No One: Reflections on Living with Purpose
What will your life's dash represent? That tiny line between birth and death dates on a tombstone holds your entire life story. Are you creating one worth telling?
The urgency of time's passage hits differently as we age. Weeks blend into years, children grow up, and suddenly we're contemplating our legacy. This raw, reflective episode invites you into that sacred space of self-examination that shouldn't wait for our final moments.
We explore the fifth category where trust applies in our lives: our duties toward others. These interpersonal responsibilities—giving charity, teaching wisdom, guiding others righteously, honoring parents, inspiring repentance, and showing compassion—form the foundation of a well-lived life. Each interaction becomes an opportunity to fulfill divine purpose and create meaning that transcends our limited time.
The conversation takes a fascinating turn when examining fear as a motivator, particularly in parenting. While previous generations often relied on physical punishment, today's understanding reveals more effective approaches. Fear of consistent consequences—not physical harm—creates powerful teaching moments. This modern understanding mirrors the divine approach: our actions naturally lead to positive or negative outcomes not as arbitrary punishment but as logical results.
Time is precious and limited. Each passing Friday, each year that slips by, brings us closer to the end of our dash. Rather than finding this depressing, let it be your ultimate motivator to live intentionally according to timeless wisdom. Take a moment today to reflect: are you creating a dash you'll be proud of?
Subscribe to The Trust Factor for weekly guidance on living with greater purpose and alignment with divine principles.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Trust Factor. This is the podcast, the only podcast, that's going to guarantee your success when you implement its divine age old teachings. This morning, I'm sitting in synagogue and, just like you've heard from me many times in the past, I'm contemplating. What am I contemplating? It's Friday. We blinked, and it's Friday. I'm going to keep saying that. You know why? Because Friday is just a weekly deal.
Speaker 0:But every once in a while, especially when you get on in years somewhere probably starting in your 40s for me and certainly continuing into my 50s I find myself often sitting down and thinking how fast is this moving? This life is just going so quickly. Kids are growing, they're on to the next chapters of their lives. Friends of mine, family members, are moving into chapters of their lives where they're becoming grandparents. Guys, it goes so quickly. So it's not just week to week, it's literally year to year. Before we know it, we're going to be looking back and thinking to ourselves wow, where did life go? The end is near and here we are sitting thinking have we done everything that we set out to do? Do we feel good about the life that we've led? You don't have to wait till you're on your deathbed. God forbid. You should be doing that often, because that's a huge motivator to sit and contemplate. Have I done what I've expected of myself? Have I done what my creator expects of me? Have I elevated this world? Is it something that I can be proud of when I look back on my life? Can I be proud of it?
Speaker 0:I remember suddenly about a poem that was read, called the Dash. You guys, some of you may have heard it. A friend of mine introduced me to it many years ago. Maybe one day I'll read it to you, because I don't remember it by heart. But it's a beautiful poem that talks about the dash on somebody's tombstone. You know, I lived from X year to Y year. It's not about the when I was born and when I died. It's about the in-between. It's the dash. How did you live out that dash?
Speaker 0:If you don't sit and contemplate, take the time to reflect on your life on a regular basis, then time will pass you by and before you know it, it will be too late. So, friends, live your best life today. And the best way to live your best life is to take these teachings Learn from your creator, the one who created you and gave you your instruction manual, told you what to do and told you what not to do in order to be successful. Do it. If you haven't been doing it up until now, now is the time to start. Don't delay. If you've been doing it up until now, it's time to take your game to the next level. My friends, time is short. Time is short.
Speaker 0:My friends, let's continue on with this book. Before, actually, I continue on with the book, my wife reminded me this morning what I saw last night. If you don't have a copy of this book the Art Scroll version of the Shara B'tachon the pocket-sized version, I believe is being given away for free. Go on the ArtScroll Facebook page. I saw a post there last night. My wife sent it to me this morning. Hopefully it's still going on. If you want a free copy of the book, go to their Facebook page. That's where I saw it. Link through there. Hopefully you'll be able to get your own copy of the book.
Speaker 0:Now let's continue. We are talking about the fifth category, where we apply trust. The concepts that we're going to cover over here, the factors of our life that are going to be included in here, are mesmerizing. Listen to this. We now proceed with the explanation of how trust is applied in the fifth category, namely the duties of the limbs. Ie mitzvah acts doing good deeds and doing God forbid the opposite, he says whose benefit and harm directly affect others. So now we're talking about the other people in our lives, right, such as listen to this giving charity and tithes number one, teaching Torah wisdom, kind of like what I've been doing in this podcast Instructing people to do right and admonishing them against doing wrong. Again similar to what we've been doing over here Keeping secrets, speaking kindly on behalf of other people and doing kind things for them, honoring one's parents, inspiring the wicked to repent and to return to God, advising people as to which ways are beneficial for them, acting compassionately towards the poor and having mercy on them, and bearing people's insults when one tries to inspire them in God's service and when one encounters them or frightens them by teaching them about God's future reward and punishment. You know each one of these topics. We could spend a lot of time on. I mean a lot. So it seems to me he's grouping all these together and saying, look, these are basically issues about how we interact with fellow men. How do we interact with our friends and family, our acquaintances, even our enemies and random strangers. How do we deal with them in a way that we, as somebody who trusts in God, should approach them in a way that we come out successful? The last one over here is interesting because he talks about when you frighten somebody by talking about reward and punishment.
Speaker 0:You may have noticed in the podcast that oftentimes when I refer to reward and punishment, I refer to them as consequences. Why? Because we're living in a fickle generation. We're living in a generation of people who have very thin skin, who get easily offended. A lot of people, to their own detriment, have been pushed away from religion because they don't want to equate punishment with God. They don't think that God should be something to be feared. It should be only love and only good. The problem is we aren't only loving and only good. We do things that are the opposite, that are hate-filled sometimes God forbid and that are terrible for us and for the world. So what? We are supposed to be okay with ourselves being hateful and not loving and doing the exact opposite, but God? No, god has to just continue to be loving and full of goodness and kindness and love, but when it comes to us behaving badly. He's not supposed to change the way he is, he's supposed to be just that all the time. And the answer is it's ridiculous.
Speaker 0:Fear, my friends, fear of punishment is a tremendous motivator. It's what kept you in check If you had good parents growing up. It kept you in check. It made you make sure that you weren't stepping out of line, because if you did step out of line, you feared your parents. Hopefully you didn't fear your parents because they were beating you. Sometimes they did. I mean that's what the older generation did. Certainly my parents' generation and even some of my generation. We did get beat from our parents. We were hit constantly as a form of discipline. Today there's no need, and there was no need even in those generations.
Speaker 0:The problem wasn't the children, it was the parenting. Today we understand better. But my children did it through words. I did it through actions. I stood by my principles when I eked out my punishment. That punishment was eked out right to the letter of the law. I stood by my word Even when they came back and tried to do better and try and lessen the punishment. It was very, very rare that I lessened it. Why? Because it's not a game. I do it once or twice. I stick by my word and my kids understood very clearly that Dad means what he says when he ekes out punishment. He means it and because of that they're smart kids and they're good kids and they have their heads on straight and they recognize that doing bad things doesn't benefit them. So they didn't do them. Very simple, right. Shocking concept. Previous generations had very little understanding of this, but fortunately today we are much more well educated.
Speaker 0:There is no reason to hit your children. Generally speaking, with the vast majority of children with good parents, there is no need to be violent with your children. Police aren't violent with you when they pull you over on the street. They don't beat the heck out of you because you were speeding or you ran through a red light or a stop sign. But you still fear. You're still terrified that you're going to get pulled over. Why? There's still going to be a punishment or a consequence for doing something wrong. It's not going to come with a beating and that's going to stop you or at least make you think 10 times before you repeat the same action, before you speed again or blow through a stop sign or an intersection. You're going to think a dozen times because you don't want that pain of getting fined, of getting your license suspended, of having your insurance premiums go up. There are consequences that don't involve physical violence that are very effective.
Speaker 0:So for me, when I give over this podcast, I talk about reward and punishment as positive and negative consequences, partially because the generation is weak and fickle and can't handle certain realities, and also because it's true. That's exactly what it is. When you drive your car into a brick wall at 100 miles an hour, you're going to end up dead. That is not punishment, that is consequence negative consequence of your action. When you do good by other people and good comes to you, that is not reward, it is a result, it is a consequence of your positive behaviors. My friends, that's how this works. Some people have cloaked it and referred to it as reward and punishment. I prefer to look at it as consequence, positive and negative consequences. God willing, we should have more, many more, of the positive consequences and very, very few of the negative ones. Have an amazing Shabbat, have an amazing rest of your day, have an amazing weekend. We'll pick up again on Sunday.
