"We can lament because rose bushes have thorns or we can rejoice because the thorn bushes have roses."- Abraham Lincoln
This week's Parsha details the rules regarding Kosher food. The introduction to this section states; these are all the animals that we can eat, then follows by detailing the restrictions. This method parallels the language that God uses when he tells Adam, the first man, about the rules of the Garden. God states, from all the trees you may eat, then he details the one restriction.
Both sections deal with restrictions, but that is just one way of looking at it. At the outset of each, we are told about what we can enjoy in these categories. The wording of each section directs our focus on the positive not the negative aspects, this is the key to happiness.
Happiness is a choice and perspective; what you have, divided by what you want. The sages teach us “Who is rich? he who is happy with his lot.” If you focus on what you don't have you will always be unhappy. Ted Turner, the billionaire, was genuinely unhappy when he could not buy CBS.
Lewis C.K. did a great bit on the Conan O'brien show. He starts by stating, everything is awesome but no one is happy... "Flying is the worst one because people come back from flights and they tell you their story and it's like a horror story. They're like it was the worst day of my life. First of all we didn't board for 20 minutes and then we get on the plane and they made us sit there on the runway for 40 minutes. We had to sit there.
Oh really, what happened next? Did you fly through the air incredibly like a bird? Did you partake in the miracle of human flight, you non-contributing zero? Wow, you're flying! It's amazing! Everybody on every plane should just constantly be going, oh my God, wooooow!! you're flying, you're, you're sitting in a chair in the sky.. You know, here's the thing. People say there's delays on flights, delays really, New York to California in 5 hours. That used to take 30 years to do, and a bunch of you would die on the way there and have a baby. You'd be with a whole different group of people by the time you got there.
The way you look at something shapes the reality of that experience. At times it is difficult to cultivate the proper appreciation because naturally we get used to certain things. One technique I use is to try and deprive myself of something, then when you partake in it, you experience it in a completely different way. This is one aspect of the concept of fasting, if you never fasted a day in your life you do not appreciate a meal the same way you appreciate that first meal after a fast.
A comedian was walking with someone from the third world through a park and they reached a fountain. The gentleman from the third world asked, what is this? The comedian explained, we have so much clean water that the extra water we have we use as decoration and create these things called fountains, then after we have bought everything possible that we wanted with the extra money we take it and throw those coins into the fountain, and wish for a better life.
**Bonus Internet Paragraph **
My favorite Meme's on the internet are first world problems and third world problems. When juxtaposed upon on another it puts in to perspective our own pain and suffering.
1st world problem's 3rd World problem's
Traffic Trafficking
My phone battery died Genocide throughout my homeland
I burnt my lip on my coffee My entire village was burned down
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