6 90-Minute Audio & Video Lessons
Contentment. Happiness. Satisfaction. Confidence. Good moods. Enter any bookstore and encounter a colossal army of self-help guides that promise to point the way to these highly prized emotional goals. Why do so many humans find the pursuit of optimism such an endless battle? We yearn to experience the benefits of positive emotions: we long to feel enthusiastic, happy, optimistic, serene, self-assured, and hopeful. But so many of us are bogged down by negative emotions, such as anger, shame, fear, guilt, worry, and disappointment. Life has much beauty and brilliance to offer, but we can neither sense nor sample it if we are mired in negativity. Often, our internal oceans of adverse emotions leave us bereft of vigor and verve. Can we turn our inner tides? The Rohr Jewish Learning Institute’s team of scholars researched this topic exhaustively, and we are proud to present Worrier to Warrior: Jewish Secrets to Feeling Good However You Feel, a realistically optimistic six-week course on personal transformation. Worrier to Warrior recognizes that the issue of negative emotions has plagued humanity since the dawn of time. The lessons draw on ancient Torah and Kabbalistic concepts to deliver refreshingly new and doable solutions. The result is a groundbreaking paradigm shift that opens the door to a new view of oneself and one’s purpose, cures negative emotions in their myriad forms, and gently guides participants through the process of converting undesirable emotions to healthy, empowering, and optimistic thoughts and feelings.
LESSON ONE
Achieving Authenticity
If you feel that your good deeds and accomplishments are not a reflection of your actual, less altruistic self, you are in good company. An estimated seventy percent of society reports feeling uncomfortable when praised for a good deed when they know that their hearts are not fully there. There is even a label for this experience: impostor syndrome. Many report a lack of motivation to make appropriate decisions simply because they feel that their good act will lack authenticity. This session addresses this syndrome by guiding participants to discover that place of authenticity within themselves and to use their newfound awareness to introduce a significant and lasting shift in perspective.
LESSON TWO
Reframing Faults
Self-disappointment can be debilitating. Many of us are frustrated at repeated cycles of determined resolutions followed by abys-mal failures to follow through or maintain. Others despair at the constant need to wrestle with prominent character flaws, such as pettiness, greed, thoughtlessness, lack of integrity, or spiritual in-sensitivity. The result is a destructive sense of inadequacy. This session explores human nature to discover the dynamic that produces these seemingly unfortunate feelings in the first place. It then charts a course that empowers participants to maintain genuine optimism and positivity about themselves and their goals in life.
LESSON THREE
Redeeming Guilt
Guilt. Anti-guilt. Guilt-at-the-anti-guilt. We all slip, sometimes more than less. It is only natural and healthy to experience a measure of regret or guilt as a result. However, those emotions can become paralyzing and distressful. Simply ignoring the emotions will only backfire, greasing the path for repeating the original errors and experiencing even more devastating guilt. This session tackles the negativity associated with guilt, demonstrating a strategy to divert the energy created by guilt into a catalyst for positive change—empowering participants to take control of their guilt before it is able to take control of them.
LESSON FOUR
Peering through Pain
Suffering. Crisis. Bereavement. While maintaining a happy and optimistic attitude is a wonderful goal, the sincere, burning flames of suffering and sadness can be incredibly difficult to douse. Well-meaning reminders that time heals or that G-d knows what is best do little to heal the searing pain of open wounds. This session rises to the gallant challenge of sensitively enhancing our internal perspectives to allow the sun to shine despite the reality of our suffering. It succeeds to the extent that the suffering can even open the shades with its own hands.
LESSON FIVE
Finding Fulfillment
Unexpected emotional potholes on an otherwise smooth internal road can leave us bewildered and deflated. Life seems to be going well in terms of health, finances, and relationships. Despite all that, we might fall into a funk and feel unexplainably lackadaisical or unhappy—and nothing at all seems to lead us to smooth sailing. Is something missing? This session explores happiness and the human pursuit thereof. It guides participants in determining whether they are in fact running toward or away from inner contentment and fulfillment, and it charts a pothole-free path to more joyful and exciting living.
LESSON SIX
Rewarding Relationships
Relationships can be the most rewarding and the most challenging features of life. Healthy relationships are key to positive emotions—but they are so much easier said than done. This session explores the workings, dysfunctions, and triumphs of human relationships and formulates a steady approach to allow-ing relationships to flourish despite inherent difficulties