I’ve been on a self-help journey for a while now. The books, the podcasts, the internet posts—I can’t get enough. A few months ago, I heard a Kabbalah teacher named David Ghiyam interviewed on a self-help podcast and I was captivated by the content.

Soon after, I watched Ghiyam’s online Kabbalah One seminar. Everything I was learning seemed to be truths I already knew intuitively, but hadn’t yet put into words. I began to understand, on a deeper level, that everything that exists comes from one source.

We were created from that source. It’s not that God is in each of us; rather, each of us is in God. The Creator energy made us, the destroyer energy, and everything else in this world. We are all energy, and everything we generate is either sourced from pure Creator energy or from destroyer energy (which, yes, was also created by the Creator)—also known as Satan.

You know those cartoon depictions of someone trying to make a decision with a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other? Turns out, that’s a fairly accurate representation of how we operate. Once I started becoming more aware of the energy I was using to respond to my environment, I learned I need to pause when I felt reactive.

Pause. What a pleasure. That’s the first lesson in Kabbalah One. If you feel reactive—if someone hurts you and you want to hurt them back—wait. Reactive energy is sourced from destroyer energy. Pause and give yourself space to process and respond sourcing the energy of the creator.

Then we say, What a pleasure, even when it feels like anything but. We say it to recognize that the challenge is the very elixir we need to heal our soul. We acknowledge the opportunity for growth.

When I go to CrossFit, I suffer and sweat to strengthen my body. Kabbalah has taught me how to use life’s challenges to exercise my soul.

Even though I want to be a full-on believer, I still have a habit of defaulting to skepticism. I think what I believe most in is belief. Belief itself creates our perception, which shapes our experience of the universe. That’s why I’ve decided to choose my beliefs carefully. Kabbalah has given me what seems like the perfect framework to curate my beliefs.

A couple of months ago, I learned that David........

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