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 88 - Daily Reckonings: Breaking Free from the Perfection Trap
When we observe corrupt individuals amassing wealth and success, our limited perspective often leads to confusion or even resentment. However, divine knowledge reveals several explanations for this apparent injustice. Sometimes, a wicked person's wealth serves as nothing more than a temporary deposit—resources being gathered for a future righteous descendant who will use them for goodness. In other cases, prosperity becomes the very instrument of downfall, wealth hoarded to the owner's ultimate misfortune.
Life's challenges—from minor inconveniences to significant obstacles—function as divine taps on our shoulders, loving reminders to correct our course. These aren't random coincidences but purposeful nudges designed to guide us back to meaningful living. Unlike the typical approach of annual resolutions that fade by February, spiritual growth demands daily self-accounting without perfectionism. The pursuit of material wealth often comes at the expense of what truly matters: relationships, health, community, and purpose.
Take a moment today to switch off your overthinking brain and practice healthy introspection. Remember, you weren't created to be perfect—you were created to grow. Put one foot in front of the other and take that step forward. Your divine connection awaits, not through perfection, but through consistent, authentic engagement with the deeper truths that make life truly meaningful.
Good morning everybody and welcome to the Trust Factor. This is the podcast that guarantees your success when you implement its divine, age-old teachings. We are continuing along, my friends, in this discussion about now why it is that the wicked people prosper. We covered off why the righteous people suffer. We're going to cover off now the balance Hopefully I don't know if we'll get through it all today but the balance of why it is that the wicked people prosper. So we covered off number one. What's number two? It says very simple.
Speaker 1:Sometimes the wealth of a wicked person is given to him in a manner of a deposit, so it's a temporary thing. He gives it to an individual to hang on to it, which he retains until the Almighty gives him a righteous son who is worthy of that wealth Interesting. What's the idea? The idea is that the individual himself is not worthy, but he has to occupy himself in order to amass huge levels of wealth that he can then leave to his righteous son. God knows that he's going to give this individual a righteous son who's going to do good things, bring God into this world and impact positive change with every dollar that he has. And so God creates wealth with his father and says here. You hang on to this and you're already a wicked person. Okay, it is what it is, you don't want to change? Fine, but your child is going to be a righteous individual. That individual is going to inherit your wealth and do unbelievable things with it. That is just another example of one of the examples, one of the many, many examples of why God might give a wicked person money and wealth.
Speaker 1:Meanwhile, we're all on the sidelines looking at this going, oh wow, unbelievable. How come we don't have it? How come this guy has it? And he's so wicked. My friends, we know nothing. Just remember that. It will make your life a whole heck of a lot easier. We know nothing. There are millions of reasons. These I've just given you are simply two of them. Okay, let's move into number three. It might be that his wealth will be a primary cause this is kind of scary of his death or harm.
Speaker 1:It is written there's a pasuk, there's a statement that says wealth hoarded by its owner to his misfortune, Oshar shamur leva'alav le'ra'ato. It's given to him for his downfall. If that's not terrifying, I don't know what is hashem is saying. You're going to fail and I'm going to give you the means to fail. Why? Because you've demonstrated time and again that you don't want to succeed. You don't want to live a life of meaning. I've reached out and you know how this works. My friends, you should know how this works.
Speaker 1:Every time we have a tribulation, it's god tapping us on the shoulder. Every time we have a hardship, it's God giving us a little nudge, pushing you along, saying hey, hey, hey, watch your behavior, hey, watch your thoughts, watch your actions. Every time you get a nudge, whatever it is. You have a financial problem, god forbid. You have a health problem, you have a problem marrying off your children, you get pulled over by a police officer who gives you a ticket, you get a tax bill, whatever it is.
Speaker 1:There's a million different things I can give off to you right now that we all deal with on a daily basis in life, that make life challenging. When you recognize that, each and every single one of these, in fact, my friends, there's a suggestion that even when you put your hand in your pocket to grab a dollar and you pull out a quarter by accident, or you want to pull out a ten and you pull out a five, whatever it is, even that, or you lose a button off of your shirt. Even that is a tribulation, my friends. The smallest thing that sets you back even for a millisecond is a tribulationulation and that works to your advantage. That's god cleaning you up in this world. But the point is, he gives you these little taps on the shoulder. He says, hey, don't forget me. Hey, I'm here. Hey, don't get too caught up in this situation, right? Whether it's a business transaction or a relationship or an argument you're having with somebody, don't get too caught up. He gives you a little pat and he says slow down, I'm here, don't forget.
Speaker 1:Each one of those tribulations should be a reminder to us that God loves us and he wants us to correct our course. That's it, just correct your course. He wants you to be the best version of you. Do it. And in his love for you, he comes over to remind you because he sees you going off the path. Can you imagine? He wants to put you on rails. He wants to make sure that you've got bumpers to make sure that you don't hurt yourself or other people, and he's constantly watching you and following you and making sure to do his best without forcing your hand, because he doesn't want robots.
Speaker 1:He didn't put us on this planet to be robots. If he wanted robots, he would have created robots, right. Problem with creating robots is that the whole concept of consequence goes out the window. The whole concept of reward and punishment ceases to exist. You can't program a robot to do A and then, when it does A, you give it a reward. It doesn't work because it's a robot. So he didn't create us as robots. He created us with an evil inclination. He created us with challenges. He created us knowing full well that we're going to fail. And so what's the message to you? Listening that it's okay when you fail. It's expected when you fail, not to say you should strive for failure, god forbid. But know that when you do no big deal, you pick yourself up, dust yourself off and you move on. That's what, exactly what he wants you to do. If you do that, then you come out ahead.
Speaker 1:My friends, here we're talking about an individual who God has seen. I've tapped you on the shoulder, I've given you wealth problems, I've given you health problems, I've given you all kinds of challenges, and you fail to see them. You're not interested. You keep writing them off as something called coincidence, which we know. There's no such thing as there's no such thing as coincidence. It doesn't exist. But these wicked individuals think that it does, and it's actually.
Speaker 1:This whole concept of coincidence plays a big part in their life and they're called often when things don't go their way is a big part in their life and often when things don't go their way, the easiest way to explain them away is coincidence. It'll be better next time, right? Or my odds will be better if I just keep doing the corrupt behavior. Eventually it'll work out for me because it's all odds right. It's all coincidence, my friends. It is a corrupt way of thinking. The right way to think is to know that every time I try to make a step in a bad direction and God puts a stumbling block in my way, it's a loving father stretching his arm out from the heavens to say stop, stop, don't go there, don't do that, and if you're doing it, it's time to stop. It's time to stop.
Speaker 1:So we all have to take an accounting on a regular basis. This was our discussions in the early days. Stop and take an accounting, figure out where you're holding in life, figure out the good things that you're doing and the bad things that you're doing, and try to improve, try to increase the good things that you're doing and try to decrease the negative things that you're doing. That's it, guys. It's not rocket science. This is not some big puzzle that is very difficult to achieve. It's here for the taking. All you need to do is commit to doing it.
Speaker 1:You know, every year by the non-Jews, they have New Year's resolutions. Once a year, everybody comes together and they say, okay, this year I'm going to take on myself X to better myself, a concept that is just for us. This is the whole world, this is all of humanity. Everybody wants to be better and stronger. The difference is that, by them, they have one day a year where they stop and they take in the full accounting of their life and they say, okay, this worked out for me, this didn't work out for me, this I want to improve, this I'm doing fine at, and so they put things in place to be able to improve Doesn't always work for them, but they only give themselves one shot.
Speaker 1:So what happens? What happens when you go to the gym the first week of January? The gym is packed, can't find the treadmill, can't work out on any machines. Everybody's paid their dues, everybody's committed. Come February 1st, half the people are gone Come March 1st. You can pick any piece of equipment you want. It's all available. Why? Because they tried once and they threw in the towel. It didn't work. Oh well, let's wait for next New Year's. That's not our way, my friends. Our way is, every single day, multiple times a day.
Speaker 1:It is the basis of our existence is to not be content with where we're holding, to always strive for bigger and better. I'm not excluding monetary, I'm not excluding material. We live in a material world. Material wealth is important, it serves a very important purpose, but we need to know how to use it. And it's only one dimension of our lives, my friends. It's only but one simple dimension. That's the biggest key here. Most people make it the holy grail. Most people make chasing after material wealth the only thing that's important, at the expense of everything else that makes them a human being.
Speaker 1:What about your spouses? What about your children? What about your parents? What about your community members? What about your physical health? What about your emotional health? What about all these different things that you could come up with to try and make you a well-rounded individual, somebody that would be well-liked by the masses because you're a well-rounded person? No, most people are not well-rounded. Why? Because they are so far skewed to one side or another, and usually that skew is to material wealth if they're living a secular life.
Speaker 1:So, my friends, the risk is that you become like this individual. God forbid a million times. You work and you work, and you work, and you amass amazing amounts of wealth at the expense of all those things I just mentioned. Right and at the end of the day, god having sent you so many messages, so many love taps, so many opportunities to connect back to him, and you shunned every single one of them, you become, god forbid a million times, this individual where Not for you, you don't deserve it. It's for your children and maybe your children's children. They, god knows, will be righteous people and they will be very much deserving of this. Or worse, my friends, this becomes the thing that brings you down, that takes you out of this world or gives you a life of misery. Your money comes to harm you. Like we said, this could be the situation Number three that God says I'm giving you this wealth because it's going to be your downfall. God forbid a million times.
Speaker 1:So, my friends, let's remember, take an accounting, do an inventory every day, multiple times a day. Don't beat yourself up, don't knock yourself and pat yourself into the ground. That's not the purpose of this, because what you're going to end up doing is being paralyzed with fear, being paralyzed with anxiety about am I doing right, am I not doing right? Am I good enough, am I not good enough? That's not what we're talking about over here. We're talking about doing an introspection in a very healthy and positive way. My friends, you should do that on a regular basis. Don't be scared to do it.
Speaker 1:The only reason you would be scared to take an accounting is if you feel and you've diluted yourself to believe that you're perfect or that you need to be perfect, and if that's the way you feel, then it's time to undo that. It's time to let go of that burden. That's exactly what it is. It's a yoke, it's sitting on your shoulders and it's weighing you down. This constant desire to be perfect, to be good, to appeal to everybody, to make everybody happy.
Speaker 1:If that's you, my friends, it's time to change. The time to change was a long time ago. The next best time to change is today. Stop it. He doesn't expect it of you. You shouldn't expect it of you. You are not a perfect individual. You can strive every day to improve yourself, but the only way to do that is to be able to take an inventory. And if you're not willing to take an inventory because it might expose your flaws to yourself, then you're never going to grow. That's it, my friends. Do it, put one foot in front of the other, take a step in the right direction.
Speaker 1:Don't think I often say switch off your brain. Switch off your brain. Our brains are operating full-time these days, in this generation, our brains do not stop. We are stuck in an age of information. It's coming at us from every single direction. It is simply not healthy. Switch off your brain. I gave an entire class on it yesterday. The constant overthinking and overworking and overdoing it is not healthy. It's going to tear you apart and there are ways to be able to undo that one day, god willing, we'll discuss it. It is friday, my friends. Have a spectacular shabbat, have a very meaningful shabbat and, for those of you in the us, have a meaningful july 4th. Hopefully, you get to spend it with your family and your community. It's a long weekend over Shabbat, so it should be doubly as effective and successful. Have an amazing Shabbat, my friends, and we'll speak on Sunday. Thank you.
