Gratitude is the solution to most emotional crises, in my experience. When you are able to express thanks for what you have, you are less inclined to feel sad about your present circumstances, or to feel a need to change them urgently.
The challenge, I have found, is thinking your way into a grateful space. My friend Scott Adams has mentioned before that you can almost never think your way out of sadness. You usually have to engage in some kind of physical change.
Yesterday, a friend suggested a walk along the beach. It turned my whole day around. I live near a spectacular beach but had not been there, really, since the winter. I was suddenly aware of all I have in my life and around me.
Thank you.
This week's show will be slightly different from the norm: we'll focus on clips and topics, rather than guests -- and that, hopefully, will mean more input from the callers (unless you are all watching football on opening weekend).
Topics:
Tune in: SiriusXM Patriot 125, 7-10 p.m. ET / 4-7 p.m. PT
Call: 866-957-2874
This week's Torah portion includes several laws about conduct in civic and personal life, the common theme of which is boundaries -- setting bounds to what one may do at home, at work, and even in the battlefield.
One noteworthy passage concerns Amalek, the evil nation that attacked the Children of Israel as they made their Exodus from slavery to freedom. Deuteronomy 25:17-19 commands Jews to obliterate Amalek's memory.
The South African government accused Israel of genocide on the basis of a story about Amalek in the Book of Samuel, in which King Saul was commanded to wipe out the entire evil Amalekite nation.
Because Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quoted this week's portion -- "Remember what Amalek did to you" (25:17), the South African government claimed he was commanding soldiers to commit genocide.
It was an absurd and malevolent misreading of the Bible and of Jewish tradition. The commandment, as observed by Jews today, is to remember the evil of Amalek and fight ...