6 Steps to Living in the Moment—Living a Life Devoid of Stress, Worry & Anxiety
Rabbi Adam Stein is an insightful young spiritual leader known affectionately around Stony Brook as “Rabbi Adam.” He is the Chabad Rabbi servicing Stony Brook University on Long Island, New York. After graduating from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in Political Science and Judaic Studies, he embarked on a search for Kabbalah-inspiration. He spent six years in Israel and attended Talmudic academies in Jerusalem and Kfar Chabad, where he became fluent in the Hebrew commentaries on the Kabbalah. For the past 15 years he has been researching the notion of transcending time and space within the Chabad strand of Kabbalah and sharing that inspiration with students.
His book & webinar, “6-Steps to Living in the Moment—Living a Life Devoid of Stress, Worry & Anxiety,” was born from his classes to students.
Rabbi Adam’s website is www.RedefineTime.com.
I met Rabbi Adam about six months ago and invited him in one evening to explain his meditational ideal. His innovative insights into the tradition of Kabbalah and of mysticism more generally impressed me as so relevant to our Institute’s Questions 5, 6 & 7 that I wanted to feature Rabbi Adam on our second Institute newsletter of September.
See what you think of his 6 Steps:
www.RedefineTime.com (a 6-Step webinar offering a new approach to Living in the Moment Living a Life Devoid of Stress, Worry & Anxiety By Doing Simple Deeds)
By Rabbi Adam Stein
At some point in my life I started to search for something. I felt there was an inner good to the world, an inner peace. I wanted to awaken those feelings within me and connect to everyone on that level. I made sure to hang out with honest and morally motivated people, and I adhered to philosophies that said we could make the world a better place. I dabbled in eastern philosophy and transcendental meditation. Eventually I started learning Kabbalah.
For centuries the wisdom of the Kabbalah has been a guarded secret. Each generation had its masters, sages who understood its depths and then passed it on to their disciples. In turn, those disciples would further their teachers’ methodology, dig deeper and reveal even greater secrets.
The more I learned, the more I wanted to be a part of this process. Fifteen years of researching the “Chabad” strand of Kabbalah has led me to a previously unknown “secret”—the force of creation that propels the present moment to “be.” The way to tap into this power is by “Living in the Moment.”
Generally, “Living in the Moment” is associated with “mindfulness,” an exercise in which a person learns to cope with stress, worry or anxiety by engaging in a moment-by-moment awareness of thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations. Kabbalah’s approach to “Living in the Moment,” however, is much more than a coping skill. It is a gateway to the “ultimate reality.” Almost every spiritual tradition addresses the notion of an “ultimate reality,” for all agree there is more to life than meets the eye.
Since human experience exists within time and space, such traditions often focus on transcending time and space via a meditational ideal. Kabbalah, however, defines the “ultimate reality” as that which exists simultaneously above time and space, yet within time and space—within the human experience of every day action. The “Living in the Moment” webinar at www.RedefineTime.com, therefore, is a 6-Step process in which simple deeds become truer expressions of the “ultimate reality” than the meditational ideal.
Steps 1-3, “Transcending Time & Space” by “Living a life devoid of Stress, Worry & Anxiety”: When a person relates to the present moment as a go-between the past and the future, they become trapped in time. Past failures will cause them to worry about future consequences.
However, as soon as a person connects to the force that is propelling the present moment to “be,” that moment will come alive from anew—standing alone and unto itself, completely detached from time. In such a moment, a person will experience a present sense of “being” as an oasis in time, free of all stress, worry and anxiety.
Steps 4-6, “The Power of a Simple Deed”: The goal is to tap the force of creation and experience a present sense of “being” in all that you do. However, it all depends on whether the impetus to act is based on a desire for the act itself or whether the act is seen as a go-between for some future result.
For example, consider the difference between those who want to do business for the sole sake of doing business verse those who want to do business to make money. A desire to make money is a desire for a future result. A desire to do business just to do business is a desire unto itself. It just “is”. There is no fanfare, no personal gain. When a person acts without concern for future result, they become completely focused on the act at hand, anchored in a present sense of “being” and detached from time. Nevertheless, such acts remain within time and affect the future. By tapping the force of creation and “Living in the Moment,” a person can change every aspect of their life.
Instead of thinking that the only way to experience comfort and solace is by becoming detached from time and “smelling the flowers,” a person can lead a very busy life, yet still experience an inner peace and tranquility in all that they do. The more a person taps into this power, the more they will become engulfed in an aura of good, causing a ripple effect of good things to happen. For in this approach is the power of good—a power which enables you, your deeds and the force of creation to become the “ultimate reality.”
Rabbi Adam Stein is the author of Living in the Moment—Living a life devoid of Stress, Worry and Anxiety. He is now offering his book as a 6-Step webinar. Sign up at www.RedefineTime.com