What do you do when life gets really tough? When someone or something is just making you miserable? Or when your inner self is creating its own barriers that stop you from progressing?
When a challenge seems too daunting to confront, some people simply choose to avoid it. The Rebbe Maharash, Rabbi Shmuel, takes a different approach. He would say: “TheWhat do you do when life gets tough? world says, ‘If you cannot crawl under an obstacle, try going over it,’ but I say, ‘To begin with, go over it!’ ”
But what does “go over it” mean, practically? The following possible application comes to mind.
Zoom In
Let’s look at physical obstacles—the things that stand in our way.
When we’re on ground level, a mountain doesn’t seem like something we can “go over” very easily. It would take effort, time and patience.
Actually, from ground level, everything looks big. It’s all 3D.
Through our regular human perspective, our life challenges can also be intimidating. Everything is bigger than us. Just like physical obstacles, we see them up close; they can take over us. It seems like they cannot be ignored, and we may not see a way out. Because we are limited.
Now, if we leave our regular human view and tune in the truer reality—the bigger picture—then suddenly, everything that was huge becomes small.
The Big Picture is so much bigger than us: G‑d’s Eternal Universe.
A challenge that is overtaking us at this present moment is just a small pixel of the big picture. We are zooming in to it; it is blocking our vision. We can’t think past it.
The Rebbe Maharash’s teaching helps encourage that our life not become our challenge.
Zoom Out
“To begin with, go over it!”
Don’t let your challenges become overwhelming! Let’s zoom out. Imagine the view from the sky. Look down from your airplane window.
How many miles of buildings, houses, trees and people did you just glide over in moments? The huge mountains look so flat and powerless now. Everything is 2D.
Challenges can shrink to a level of insignificance when we realize that we can be in full control of how we react to our challenges, despite the way they seem to want to control our life, freedom and happiness.
This teaching of the Rebbe Maharash, to just “go over” our challenges, gives us a new frame of mind, a new perspective. It’s empowering.
As a people who are “part of G‑d above,” there is a soul inside us that is not limited to any one pixel, and helps uplift ourselves over our challenges.
So take a look out the window, and enjoy gliding over the challenges in your life. Wave to them, feel empowered and thank G‑d for lifting you up.
This article originally apeared on Chabad.org here
Artwork by Sefira Ross for Chabad.org