From Pressure To Purpose: The Kabbalistic Guide To Growth

Good morning,

Everyone.

Good evening,

Good afternoon,

Wherever you are,

And welcome to this week's Weekly Energy Boost.

My name is Elisheva,

And today I have the good fortune of sharing the mic with Daniel Naor,

Who is a pretty regular guest on Weekly Energy Boost and is here to share with us so many insights and practical uses of the energy we have this week that's coming both from,

As we spoke last week with Miriam Ashkenazi,

The planets are pushing us in a certain direction,

But also from the point of view of the Zohar and the Torah,

We're being pushed in the same direction.

So I do want to say,

If you didn't hear last week's episode,

If you didn't hear the first episode of 2026,

Definitely go back and listen to it.

It's valid,

I think,

Through March.

So if you're,

Anytime you can catch it,

Please do.

Weekly Energy Boost is a seven-day spiritual weather forecast where we provide our listeners with the most practical and powerful tools to navigate the coming seven days.

We do that by gleaning through the teachings of Kabbalah and extracting the most powerful lessons,

Wisdom,

And tools,

Not only to help you navigate the coming week,

But really wisdom and tools that you can use any week of the year,

Any year of your life.

And once in a while I have the opportunity to read from Karen Berg,

Who is the founder and was for quite really a revolutionary figure in the expression of Kabbalah in the world.

And normally I read things that she's written at the end of the episode.

I actually wanted to start this week's episode with a couple of paragraphs from an article that Karen wrote a number of years ago to sort of set us on understanding the pressure that we might be feeling this week and how we can turn that pressure into diamonds.

So the article is from 2018,

So it's quite old,

But hey,

We're here.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is thousands of years old,

So it's totally aligned.

Karen writes,

I've often heard it said that first,

The creator will send us a pebble.

If we do not hear the message,

Then the creator will send a stone,

Then a rock,

Then a brick.

If the message is still not received,

The creator will send a boulder.

The creator is always extending himself first from a path of mercy and love before creating challenges for us.

We are loved and because of this we are given what is called free will.

There cannot be manipulation or coercion in the presence of love,

For love is freedom.

The creator cannot transform us in any certain way.

We must walk our path in life.

We will have guidance on the way,

But it must be our choice to walk our own path.

Our world is built on such incredible mercy that it is possible for some of the worst crimes to be committed and the perpetrator not see any retribution for years or for lifetimes.

We are given what is called time.

Time is the space between cause and effect.

Time is mercy and it allows us to change our ways and to repair any damage we have done.

The system of life is fair,

Compassionate,

And founded with love.

If we find life to be throwing boulders our way,

We need only to pause for a moment and observe our choices in life.

Are we walking in the path of love and sharing?

We have asked the creator to help us grow into beings of light.

We have asked his help to awaken his essence within us.

This week,

We take a peek into the mirror and see ourselves and where we are heading.

We are willing to listen to the messages and gain the courage to hear what they are saying.

This week,

On the journey of life,

We recalibrate our hearts and check our course.

Have we gone off path?

If so,

This is the week to get back on course and move toward the light.

And to me,

I guess we could end the episode here.

But of course,

We always love to bring in really practical and essential teachings from the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Every episode,

I think that's the goal.

But this week,

More than ever,

I think we're looking at an opportunity that we do get multiple times during the year.

But if we really embrace it this week,

The effort that we make this week is a catalyst for the months to come.

So Daniel,

I want to turn the mic over to you.

Everybody hears from me every week.

We want to hear from you.

What does pressure mean energetically?

What can we learn when we feel pressure in our lives?

Yeah,

Thank you.

Beautiful quote from Karen,

First of all.

I'm a little bit taken aback because this morning in my prayer and meditation,

That was kind of the main message that I got.

I heard this voice like,

You are loved and the Creator loves you.

And I connected with it in a different way,

Like beyond an intellectual knowing this morning.

And then when you start reading it,

It all came together.

Pressure,

Kabbalistically,

Is the light knocking on our door.

Like Karen was saying,

Sometimes the wake-up call will always come first with mercy.

Everything is mercy.

Then we need to learn how to translate the universe's calling for us.

And we get sometimes lost in translation.

So what is in the beginning oftentimes pressure,

We reactively translate into stress and overwhelm and limiting beliefs.

I can't handle it.

And then it spirals downward.

But initially,

That calling of the Creator,

It's like Karen was saying,

Is really love and mercy.

And that pressure wants to elevate us,

Wants to lift us,

Take us to the next level.

Like it says,

The Creator will never give us something that we are not able or capable to handle.

So like Karen was saying,

First pause and see,

Okay,

What is this pressure trying to show me,

Teach me,

Elevate me towards?

But the first consciousness that we want to inject when we experience pressure is translated correctly.

It's the light of the Creator.

It's the Creator.

It's love.

I know it might not feel like that,

But this is what's underneath it.

And when I start to plant that seed,

Inject that consciousness,

I'm already changing the energy into love.

And from there,

Growth is possible.

Why is it that avoidance is the wrong choice?

I mean,

You said a minute ago,

Right,

I can't handle this.

And yet at the same time,

We learn from so many sources that we're never given a drop more than we can handle.

Yet you see so many times people saying,

I know I need to work on this.

I know I need to change it.

I know I'm my own worst enemy.

And yet we stay in these self-defeating patterns or habits.

Why is that?

What really resonated with me starting like from this week,

I got this message that it's really,

It sounds cliche,

But it's really the central point.

If we would learn to make the central point of our life,

There's so many lessons and teachings,

But if we would be able to make the central point of our life about love,

It says that the entire spiritual system,

The entire Torah,

All of the precepts,

All of the rules,

Everything is geared towards only one thing,

To get to a place of love thy neighbor as yourself.

And so there are three different levels to it,

Three lessons around,

Or three places where we can elevate our love.

And it will answer this question,

Hopefully,

That you ask me.

One is the love of ourself,

The love of our soul.

And that's where we fall so many times,

Because when something's triggering us,

The reason why we are triggered,

Or we're going into reactive mode,

Whatever that might be of self-criticism,

Self-doubt,

Judgment,

Overwhelm,

It's because we don't have enough love for ourselves.

We don't have that love for ourself,

And therefore the lack is triggering us,

Because we think we're not good enough.

So we're going into all kinds of branches emanating from that lack of self-love.

Love for ourself,

Number one.

Then it's love for people.

We also came here to learn how to extend that love,

Because if I'm just into myself,

And I'm happy with myself,

And I'm all good,

We were set in an environment where we're here to interact,

Because the way that we will learn how to love ourself is also mirrored through loving others.

And that is only a training wheel to help us to get to the ultimate,

Which is really loving the Creator.

But it's really all the same.

Loving ourself truly is loving the Creator.

Loving others truly,

Unconditionally,

Is loving the Creator,

And it's loving ourself.

So really,

In essence,

It's all one.

But this is the cure for everything,

And also to what you asked,

Why do we go there?

The answer will always be,

Not enough love,

Not enough love.

That's the central point that we need to elevate.

Makes me think of a few weeks ago,

We were talking about guilt,

And Eitan emphasized the idea of celebrating mistakes,

That when we're hard on ourselves,

We're almost giving ourselves a pass to do it again.

I beat myself up,

The sin is cleansed,

And then I can do it again.

And we had so much feedback from that piece of consciousness of,

If you can really appreciate how you missed the mark,

And to love the fact that the universe,

The Creator,

Is constantly giving you opportunity after opportunity,

And your failure is not actually a failure,

It's a part of the path to achieving whatever your next level is,

Or the best version of yourself,

But keeping it in context of what you just shared,

Coming from a loving place,

Coming from a compassionate place,

Because that's what the Creator's doing with us.

And I think it's very easy in these weeks,

Right?

We're now in the second week of this eight-week journey of feeling far from our perfected selves,

In a way,

And making our way back there is really what these weeks are all about.

So,

Infusing that process with love.

I'm not perfect,

But even my imperfections are perfect for what I need to do in this life.

I heard one,

Someone said it,

It just struck me,

This idea once,

When someone said,

You know,

When we go into a place of like,

Oh,

I made a mistake,

And how could I,

And we spiral downward into this movie,

To take ourselves back and say,

What do you mean?

You think you have the power to make mistakes?

You think it's you?

It's like another twist to it,

Right?

Thinking that it's such a pride and ego to beat ourselves up because we think it's us,

That's the biggest flaw to begin with,

Right?

Even the mistakes,

If we truly embody and believe that everything is the light of the Creator,

And everything is from the Creator,

Then it's including those mistakes.

It's part of the process,

It's part of the journey.

I don't have the power even to make mistakes.

Even that,

The Creator wants me to go to a lower place,

So I can elevate from there,

That I can go to my next,

But it's part of the process.

Also,

That is from the Creator.

So if we take ourselves out of that picture,

Right,

Then even that,

You know,

Even that is from the Creator,

It's good as well.

I don't have the power to even make mistakes.

I love that,

And I think it also speaks to,

Right,

One of the themes that comes up,

And in Karen's article it goes into this deeper,

And I think it's one of those universal themes for us when we talk about feeling a boulder or feeling pressure on us,

Is that many times we find ourselves in repetitive situations,

Or even if it's not a repetitive situation,

It's a similar,

I always feel overwhelmed,

I always feel threatened,

I always feel manipulated,

I always feel abandoned,

Right?

We have these themes that run throughout the course of our lives,

We call it tikkun,

And so many times when someone's tikkun revolves around the point of control,

Which I believe everybody has a little bit of it,

Some people definitely more than others,

That the universe will continue to throw boulders so that the individual releases the need to feel in control,

Right?

We're not saying that they do control and they need to stop controlling,

It's that sense of control that provides the safety and security for that person,

And the universe is in a loving way,

Which even though it feels terribly threatening and vulnerable,

In a loving way,

The boulders are really meant to help us lean into surrender and acceptance and like that unconditional love that you're talking about.

I wonder if we can give our listeners a kind of process to go through this week as we start to see those areas in our lives where our fists are clenched,

That we're controlling the situation,

The narrative,

The optics,

The.

.

.

Even I think beating ourselves up is a function of control,

Right?

Totally,

An addiction,

An addiction.

So please,

Let's.

.

.

I don't know how,

But I feel like that's.

.

.

I don't know,

What comes to me,

I want to give a personal example,

Just because I feel like this week was personally so rich for me with so many opportunities and lessons,

And beside the lesson that I shared that came around love,

A continuous lesson,

Even until this point,

And I'll give some specifics,

Elisheva,

You already know,

These opportunities to surrender,

To let go.

For me,

In particular,

The surrender or letting go,

In general and specifically this week,

Was about trusting the heart or going with the mind's calculation.

There were so many opportunities where I had a heightened sense of what I didn't have before necessarily,

Where I tapped into the program of my mind,

I was able to recognize it and say,

One second,

Wow,

It sounds so convincing,

It sounds so reasonable,

So logical,

But all it was really,

It's insecurity and trying to control and trying to know and the annoying and fear.

So I was able to recognize it for the first time with that clarity and step back and said,

Let's see what my heart has to say,

And even though it was scary,

I had to make a decision this week and I wasn't sure,

And I watched,

I witnessed my mind trying to control,

And even spiritual,

Trying to ask my teachers,

But I realized it's all going outward,

Trying to control externally,

Whereby I realized what the Creator is trying to show me is elevating me to the next level of trusting my heart.

So it was a leap of faith,

I just surrendered and trusted the answer that came from my heart.

I believe it was the right choice,

But there's no wrong right or wrong here.

And even up until this point,

Elisheva,

You and I were talking about it because I have a flight to catch,

I need to leave in like 15 minutes,

And even to this point,

My mind's like,

Elisheva is asking me,

Can you be part of the weekly energy boost,

Can I do it with ATEN this week?

It's like,

Yes,

But my mind is calculating and like,

Oh,

It's going to be tight,

But this,

But that,

Trying to ask ChadGBT,

How is an international flight with only two hours before,

Is it okay?

Asking my wife,

Asking this,

And at some point it's like,

Stop one sec,

What are you doing?

That mind trying to control,

What are you doing?

What is this whole scenario for?

We're talking about Tycoon,

What's the opportunity to elevate and shift here?

And I caught myself,

It's like,

Surrender the mind,

Surrender the control.

And then like a little voice creeping in,

But are you being irresponsible?

What if you do miss your flight?

It's like,

No,

No,

It's like,

It's safe to trust what I already know,

It's safe to trust the heart,

It's safe to like,

And it's a moment of decision,

Like Karen was saying,

What you read from Karen,

Right?

We have to be given that free will.

So it can never be a hundred percent,

You will know,

Like,

There's a moment where you know,

Where you don't know,

But you choose,

You just choose.

And the moment we make the choice and we trust,

That's when,

Then we know,

Right?

But there has to be the struggle of free will.

So sharing my process helped some of our listeners to maybe.

.

.

Well,

I love that you brought us into your process,

Because I think the way you described it,

It's easier for someone listening or observing to recognize how much we are enslaved by our calculations and our rationalization.

And,

You know,

I'm all for technology,

But even trying to get all the data and statistics and information,

That's not why we're here.

It's a great tool and it's useful and it's,

You know,

In the right time and place,

But we are here for the purpose of enslaving ourselves.

And that metaphor really,

I mean,

I know we've used it over the years,

But I think it's a really great way,

Like,

Do you want to live your life enslaved by the need to justify,

To rationalize,

To,

You know,

A lot of people,

And we spoke about this a couple months ago,

A lot of people don't take action until they have all the information,

All the reassurance,

All of the security to know that they will be successful.

We're not here to be successful.

We're here to live in the flow.

And a lot of people are good at saying,

I'm going to go with the flow,

Right?

There's another version of Daniel that would say,

Okay,

I'm going to surrender and then go back to controlling.

The whole idea is to live in that space where we're guided,

Right?

Where we're not like,

You know,

You,

I felt when you were speaking,

Like,

To be able to be led by your heart,

To take information and data and then put it on the shelf and say,

Where am I being guided toward?

When you ask those kinds of questions,

Going back to what I shared in the beginning,

That the creator is,

The system is based on love.

So when we respond with anything opposite or anything other than love,

It's like we're taking ourself out of that system and deciding,

I want to suffer.

I want to struggle.

I want to lose sleep.

I want,

I mean,

We all know that stress is one of the biggest factors in health and longevity.

We have a choice.

And most people don't realize they have a choice.

We have a choice.

We can choose to,

Again,

Listen to all the data and the information,

But then check in with ourselves and ask those questions.

If I,

I've used this before in different episodes,

If I truly loved myself,

What would I do?

How would I respond?

If I was unconditionally loving toward my partner or toward my child or my parent or my sibling,

How would I respond?

And letting even,

That's why some people say,

What should I do?

I don't know what to do.

If you did love yourself,

What would you do?

And that takes you to a different space where you can make those decisions,

Again,

Not from the limited rational mind,

But from the unlimited,

Unconditional place of the heart.

Yeah.

And placing it in the frame that it is a journey and the main plot here and the focus is learning,

Building a relationship with myself,

With my heart,

With the creator,

Right?

And I'm getting to learn,

Getting to learn to know myself.

And most importantly,

Through these experiences,

Every little experiences where I choose trusting my heart over the calculation,

I'm gaining more trust in myself.

I can trust in the guidance that the creator implanted inside of me.

I can trust that navigation system,

Right?

So there's no insignificant experience.

Every experience leads up towards more and more deeper relationship with the creator,

With myself,

And building that muscle of trusting myself in that.

Yeah.

I think it's also,

I have to throw this out here every once in a while,

How the weekly energy and the energy of the month are so aligned.

We're just now in the last week of the month of Capricorn.

And I always feel like when we're at the end of something,

I want to make sure everyone takes advantage of it,

Right?

It's not going to come back again for another 12 months.

That Capricorns are an earth sign and earth signs are typically very fastidious,

Very serious.

They like frames and coloring in the lines.

They're hard workers.

Usually they're ethical.

Think about the earth.

It's grounded.

It's strong.

What's interesting about Capricorns,

And I think this only exists in Kabbalistic astrology,

Is that every sign has an external element and an internal element.

So while the Capricorn's external element is earth,

Its internal element is water.

And for all of us in that quest to fight off the boulders that get thrown at us or rationalizing or justifying why we can't or why it's not the right time,

Underneath that hard surface is water,

Is emotion,

Is flow,

Is sensitivity.

And we can all use that energy as we wrap up the month of Capricorn to really tap into that.

I use the word fluid,

Obviously I don't mean liquid,

But it's like that the part of us that feels that the flow is its natural state,

That's our soul.

And the very Capricorn like to say,

Oh,

I'm going to get outside of my comfort zone and I'm going to come back to my comfort zone.

A lot of people approach spiritual growth like that.

I'm going to bear down and I'm going to go through it and then I'm going to come back and I'm going to exhale.

The whole goal of the spiritual journey is to live in the flow,

Not to go with the flow when it's needed and then come back to my box or my cave or my rigidity.

So thinking about how we can shed that hard exterior,

Like let the crust of the earth shake off that dried mud and really live in that sense of flow,

Which is 100% based on what you started with,

Daniel,

Which is really love and alignment with the light,

With my soul.

I want to give you a minute,

At least,

If you have anything else to share.

It's such a valuable time to get to spend with you.

If you have any other messages for our listeners for this week?

I think in regards to what you shared the last week of Capricorn,

We're also in this period of time of what's called Shovavim.

It's a few weeks in which our tikkun will be more in our face,

So to speak.

So taking everything that we've talked about today,

For our listeners,

To really imprint it within us,

This reminder,

Whatever it is that you can do to remind yourself,

Because there's so many teachings and we live in a time where we have too much information.

What we don't have enough of is taking the time to slow down and to reflect on one thing.

So if really the whole purpose of our spiritual work is only to get to the state of love,

Love thy neighbor,

Love yourself,

Love the Creator,

Then we have to take time to not just hear it,

But to reflect on it,

To internalize it.

So I don't want to add more things to share or inspiration,

But I want to take actually all of ourselves,

Including myself,

One step back to slow down and to invite you this week and onwards to go deeper into the truth that you know resonates the most with you.

For me this week it was love.

It might be something else,

By the way.

It might be something else.

Maybe there's something that resonated with you this week or from what you listened to that you said,

This is what I need to focus on.

Everyone's Tikkun is so unique and everyone,

The whisper that the Creator puts in our ear,

Only us can hear it.

So we should never go out and compare or take anything as,

Oh that's a must,

Daniel said we have to work on love,

Or I read this,

Or the Ralph said,

Or Karen said,

Like what is the whisper that the Creator is whispering to you,

To your soul today?

And so make that the central point,

Take more time to go deeper into that rather than the need to take on more information per se.

Absolutely.

I'm going to record that last part and save it as my ringtone so I remember,

Because I have these moments of clarity,

Like you said,

And then life starts moving and it's the end of the day and I realize what I,

You know,

I forgot what my focus was.

So like you said,

If we can hold that space for being connected to that one thing,

Whatever it is for each one of us,

What an amazing week we're going to have.

Yeah.

Thank you so much for being here.

Go get your flight.

Thank you.

Glad for the opportunity.

But as always,

Like,

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Share.

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And we are so grateful for your help in getting that light out there.

And as always,

We'll see you next week on the Weekly Energy Boost.