TABLE OF CONTENTS. Jacobson and the Meaningful Life Center. Introduction: Birthday Greeting from Rabbi Simon. Postscript: Do You Matter?

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2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Intoduction: Bithday Geeting fom Rabbi Simon Jacobson and the Meaningful Life Cente STEP 1. Pesonal Intospection STEP 2. Intensify and Initiate STEP 3. Give Additional Chaity STEP 4. Paye and Meditation STEP 5. Connect With You Song STEP 6. Thow a Paty! Postscipt: Do You Matte?

3 BIRTHDAY GREETING fom RABBI SIMON JACOBSON and the MEANINGFUL LIFE CENTER Happy Bithday! You bithday is a window into you soul. The wold in which we live is like a had cust that is vey difficult to piece. On you bithday something special happens: a doo opens up that eveals the fuit within the custy shell. Because time is like a spial, the same enegy that the univese invested in you at bith epeats itself on you bithday each yea. This enegy is the pupose of you existence you pesonal mission. You bithday is theefoe a day when you can tap into who you eally ae and why you wee put hee on Eath. Bith is you beginning. Today is an oppotunity to emembe that day, to celebate and give thanks, and to eflect upon how well you ae fulfilling you mission. Today is you day to commit to a life guided by etenal pinciples, by using the abilities and esouces you wee bon with to pefect youself and society, and to make the wold a beautiful and saced home fo the Divine. A bithday is a time to ethink you life: How geat is the dispaity between what I have accomplished and what I can accomplish? Am I spending my time popely o am I involved in things that distact me fom my highe calling? How can I stengthen the thead that connects my oute life and my inne life? A bithday can also teach us the concept of ebith. To ecall ou bith is to ecall a new beginning. No matte how things went yesteday, o last yea, we always have the capacity to ty again. You bithday is a efeshe, a chance fo spiitual egeneation. On you bithday, pefom a special act of goodness. It is easy enough to say you ae thankful; it is fa bette to show it by doing a kind deed, something that you did not do yesteday. Do it simply because you inne goodness, you soul, wants to expess its thanks fo being bon and alive.

4 1 PERSONAL INTROSPECTION Take some time to eflect on you achievements and goals. Seclude youself fo a while on the day of you bithday and etospectively eview you conduct of the past yea see what needs impovement and make good esolutions fo the coming yea.

5 REVIEW YOUR YEAR How to use this chat: Examine the fagmented pieces that make up you life. Ae you spending time doing what you love? Ae you living up to you own mission and pesonal expectations? Is thee a common thead that connects them all? Below ae eleven themes. Take some time to eflect and take stock on the yea that passed. You esponse will be a good indication of whee and how you should focus you enegy in the coming yea. RELATIONSHIPS: Immediate family, extended family, fiends, acquaintances & cowokes CHILDREN: Positive paenting, spending quality time togethe, teaching values, teaching boundaies HOME: Ceating saced space, guests, feeling of safety, being satisfied with you lot WORK: Attitude, accomplishments, failues, making wok meaningful CHARITY & MONEY: Budgeting & saving, chaitable giving, woying about money, valuing money too much USE OF TIME: Well-used time, wasted time, pocastination, down time PHYSICAL HEALTH: Eating, execise, sleep, medical issues INTIMACY: Respect, tust, love, vulneability TECHNOLOGY: Too much technology, not enough technology, use of technology fo the good, messages sent via technology COMMUNITY: Made new fiends, connectedness, helping within the community, level of, and esponse to, loneliness LEADERSHIP: Found new leadeship oppotunities, caeful use of powe, poviding new pespective, helping othes to find thei own leadeship oppotunities

6 2 INTENSIFY & INITIATE Access you soul, which adiates on you bithday, by intensifying all you existing good activities, and initiating new ones. f Life ests on thee pillas: MIND, HEART, ACTION. On this day do something to stengthen each of you thee pillas, and commit to doing this in the coming days of the yea: 1. Stimulate you mind by studying something meaningful 2. Connect emotionally with a loved one though a heat to heat convesation 3. Designate time fo saying a heatfelt paye o fo mindful meditation 4. Incease acts of goodness and kindness 5. Give additional chaity 6. Connect with you song 7. Feed you soul though spiitual eading My new commitment is:

7 5 WAYS TO INITIATE YOUR NEW COMMITMENT Take fist step. Cultivate you desie to take action and ceate excitement by spelling out exactly what you ae going to do and get stated, even if it s taking one small step. Change you daily itual. We tend to get stuck in ou daily outines. Rathe than being glued to you egula cycles and behavios, incopoate a new itual o ty to be spontaneous. Examine you hesitation. Unwilling to change? Take an honest stock of what is stopping you; then go to the oot of inaction and addess it. Shae and declae! Tell a fiend you new commitment. By speaking you plan out loud to someone, the commitment is tansfomed fom being an idea to being spoken into existence, giving it moe powe to become a eality. Repeat. Use enduance and pesistence to get the job done. Just as the inetia of outine pevented you fom stating, use the momentum of action to keep the ball olling.

8 3 GIVING ADDITIONAL CHARITY You bithday is the day when you soul was sent to eath to give to othes to illuminate the wold with you special light. What bette way to enegize this than by being exta chaitable on you special day? 5 WAYS TO GIVE CHARITY Give Daily Fill...Give...Repeat. Place a chaity box in you home o office and put a coin in it evey day. The vey act of giving, even a small amount, tains us to be geneous. Additionally, placing a chaity box in a place edefines the entie space as a cente fo kindness and caing. When it is full, give it to an oganization whose mission you suppot. Give With Joy How you give is moe impotant than how much you give! Don t begudgingly toss a coin into someone s ovetuned hat. Give with a smile and genuine wamth. Make the ecipient feel geat, athe than shameful, about having to ask fo help. Give Moe Than Money The highest fom of chaity is to empowe anothe. Financial giving is only one component of chaity. You have way moe to offe than the coins in you pocket, such as you time, expeience, and advice. If you have an expetise in something o an employment oppotunity o a loan, giving that can be fa moe valuable than a one-time donation. Thee is an expession that you can give a man a fish and that will be dinne fo one night, o you can teach a peson to fish and now he can feed his family fo the est of his life. Give to Those Closest to You Sometimes we can be blind to those who need us the most ou closest fiends, family, and colleagues. In ou attempt at being geneous, we can neglect to give to the people who need us the most ou best fiends and family. It s easie at times to give to those we don t know o to oganizations since we ae judgmental about whethe ou close fiends tuly need help. Give Anonymously The highest level of giving is when we do so anonymously, without ulteio motives while peseving the dignity of the ecipient.

9 4 WHAT IS PRAYER Paye is a convesation, a dialogue between you heat and you soul. It is had because it takes pactice and wok to develop the skills necessay to convese fom the heat. This is why paye is called sevice of the heat. As such, it is not an intellectual expeience it is an emotional expeience. If study is execise fo the mind, paye is execise fo the heat. 5 SCIENTIFICALLY SUPPORTED BENEFITS of Routine Paye and Meditation 1. Stabilizes you mood, making you moe emotionally consistent 2. Inceases you esilience to stess and attenuates anxiety 3. Impoves self contol-empoweing you to absob and dissipate negative enegy without having it affect you Makes you moe fogiving Offsets the negative health effects of stess

10 STEP 1 Fee up eal time. Find a quiet space away fom any distacting sights o sounds. Get eveything else out of you mind and elease youself, by focusing inwad. Listen to youself beathe. Close you eyes. Sing a song to youself. Ceate the mood an oasis. STEP 2 Concentate on you inne soul the invisible foce within that makes you tick. Allow youself to feel and speak to you deepest essence. Then ealize that you soul is pat of a much lage essence. That lage essence is called G-d. If you wee able to speak to you essence, what would you say? STEP 3 Open you emotions. As you ecite the wods, speak to G-d with the awaeness that He is the essence which sustains and enegizes you soul. Allow the wods of the paye to open up you deepest emotions befoe G-d. STEP 4 In you own wods, ask Him fo eveything you need in life. Be completely open and vulneable. Expess you feelings about the most impotant mattes in you life.

11 5 CONNECT WITH YOUR SONG Evey soul has it own unique song. One way to connect to you own special song is though the Psalm that coesponds to you age the new Psalm that you begin eciting on you bithday, when you soul etuns to the point when it fist enteed this wold and began singing its own melody. Evey yea on you bithday a new dimension of you song emeges. You access that enegy by mindfully eading you new Psalm each day of the yea. What is the Book of Psalms? The Book of Psalms (Hebew: Tehillim) is a collection of 150 songs compiled by King David that people aound the wold have been eciting fo centuies in times of paise, thanksgiving, cisis, paye, and need. Find you Psalm: Take you age, add one, and that is the numbe of you Psalm. Example: If you ae tuning 32, you begin eciting Psalm 33 on you bithday and evey day hencefoth until you next bithday when you begin Psalm 34. NEXT STEPS On you bithday, ead you new Psalm. Familiaize youself with its geneal theme, and the message of each vese. Look fo paallels between you life and you Psalm. Each day, pefeably in the moning (afte payes), designate time to ecite you Psalm, concentating on the message that most elates to you state of mind on that day. Allow you Psalm to help you find you voice and sing you song. Begin a daily jounal to document how you Psalm speaks to and helps you deal with you expeiences and challenges.

12 6 THROW A PARTY! Celebate meaningfully by binging family and fiends togethe in hono of you bithday to shae in deep convesation and manifest genuine joy. THE MEANINGFUL BIRTHDAY PARTY PLANNER Pick a location whee you can ceate saced space. Choose a time and date as close to you bithday as possible. Look up you Hebew bithday. Wite you guest list. /send out you invitations. Make a menu just snacks ae fine! Optional: Invite someone who inspies you to shae a stoy o lesson at you paty. PLAN THE MEANINGFUL DIMENSION OF YOUR PARTY Bainstom meaningful convesation topics. Pepae some insightful stoies to tell, fom you own life o someone else s. Lean a lesson about living a conscious life with the intention of shaing it with you guests. Ask you guests to bing a favoite spiitual saying o lesson. Pepae a paye o blessing fo each of you guests on you bithday you have exta paye-powe! Have a chaity box at the paty, and give all you guests coins place a coin into the chaity box. THROW YOUR SPIRITUAL BIRTHDAY PARTY! An hou befoe guests aive, set a beautiful table. Spend the moments befoe you guests aive in quiet contemplation in ode to set you intention fo you gatheing. Enjoy you bithday gatheing by singing, dancing, and having meaningful convesations with you guests! Announce to you fiends and family you commitment to a new good deed! (Encouage them to do so as well!) Welcome you guests with wamth and joy! If you choose to have a candled bithday cake at the paty, light the candles, instead of blowing them out.

13 DO YOU MATTER? Would the wold be any diffeent if you ween t bon? Do you wake up in the moning feeling like you have an impotant ole to play in the gand scheme of things? Most of us gow up in a wold whee life is dispensable, whee ou individual contibutions go unecognized, whee thee is no eal sense that life ous o anyone s is significant o meaningful. At the oot of this estlessness and discontent is the deep-seated conviction that I Don t Matte. It is a belief that if I wee to show up someplace o not, o make some kind of contibution o not, it would not fundamentally affect the wold o the people that live in it. Think about that fo a minute. If you don t feel like you make a diffeence in the wold, how excited can you be about the things you do and the choices you make? When you wake up in the moning and you feel like what you do that day doesn t matte anyway, how committed o passionate can you be? But hee is a message that will change you life foeve: Bith is G d s way of saying you matte. This means you ae absolutely necessay. You ae indispensable to G-d s vision of the wold, chosen to fulfill a mission in this wold that you and only you can accomplish. Like musical notes in the gand Divine composition, each of us has ou unique music to play. We must each challenge and ask ouselves: Do I eally matte? I have posed this question to audiences acoss the county. The knee-jek esponse is usually: Of couse I matte I feel that I am impotant. My family, fiends and wok colleagues value me. But let me ephase the question: Would it make a diffeence if you wee neve bon? Remembe, befoe you wee bon, it would not have been a catastophe if you did not appea; no one would miss you because no one was expecting you. Of couse, we can justify ou existence once we ae bon. But does ou existence have any meit beyond ou justifications?

14 You ae an indispensable musical note in life s symphony. Ieplaceable. Peiod. The wold would be diffeent if you n wee not hee o if you do not fulfill you calling. The only absolute eason why you tuly matte is because you wee chosen by G-d to come to this wold. The wods Bith is G-d saying you matte ae not my own. They ae taken fom the Toah, which states the single most impotant tuth you will eve hea: Yes, you matte, not because you think you ae impotant, o because othes tell you that you ae, o because of you buying powe, monetay value, looks, pefomance o poductivity level. You ae impotant because G-d put you hee. You ae an indispensable musical note in life s symphony. Ieplaceable. Peiod. The wold would be diffeent if you wee not hee o if you do not fulfill you calling. You have been allotted a cetain section of this globe, with cetain talents; people you will meet; expeiences you will have; places you will go; objects you will obtain all ae allocated to you in ode fo you to tansfom them, to leave them diffeently fom how you found them. And this changes lives foeve. Etenally. When you know that you and you contibution ae cucial, it infuses all that you do with a compelling sense of ugency. I believe that this simple, clea message is peventive medicine fo much of the tagedy and suffeing that plague ou wold today the shootings, the hated, the suicides, the was. We need to each to evey peson, to evey child, evey paent, evey educato, evey leade, with the message: You matte. You life and what you do with it mattes. You ae indispensable to G d and to this wold. f

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