Happy Thoughts Archives - Wise Old Sage

Rav Kook, aka Rabbi Kook, is a well-known and revered figure in Israel whose influence is felt through all of Jewish and Israeli society and throughout the world. He was a poet and a scholar, a leader and a spiritual healer, and his inspirational quotes and wisdom are just as relevant today as they have ever been. Here is a collection of Rav Kook quotes that is worth keeping handy for inspiration, elevation, and consolation.

Uplifting quotes from Rav Kook

1) When you feel empty, know this

“When you feel humiliated, empty, lacking all spiritual strength, when you fall and stumble, realize that a great light has been prepared for you.”

Orot Hakodesh III, p. 252

2) Be true to your inner self

“There are free men with the spirit of a slave, and slaves whose spirit is full of freedom. One who is true to his inner self is free, while one whose entire life is merely a stage for what is good in the eyes of others, is a slave.”

Olat Re’iyah

3) The song of the soul

“It is not at some particular time or period that the soul generates wisdom and expression, song and holy speech, but rather at every moment and every hour, it pours forth rivers and streams of milk and honey.”

Orot Hakodesh I, pp. 172-3

4) When you fall, consider this

“When you feel that you have fallen because of a weakness of the spirit of ethical awareness, consider that from the depths of the abyss you must draw forth precious pearls.”

Orot Hakodesh III, p. 252

5) Do not set aside any exalted goal

“Do not set aside any exalted goal that you envision, even if it appears that the obstacles are many: from the outside, or from your own personality.”

Arpelei Torah, p. 42

6) When the light of our soul bursts forth

“When the light of our soul bursts forth, we must immediately give that light its freedom, so that we may unfold, visualize, imagine, grow wise and attain, aspire and yearn to the highest heights, to the source of our root, to the life of our soul, to the light of the life of the soul of all universes, to the light of the supernal God, to His goodness and beauty.”

Orot Hakodesh 10:2

7) Absolute goodness

“In the fullness of the soul, we sense the necessity of absolute goodness, the impossibility of its not existing, and the unceasing longing in the depths of our heart to rise to it, to approach its heights, to gaze upon its pleasantness.”

Orot Hakodesh II, pp. 466-67

8) Darkness is just diminished light

“In truth, all darkness is merely diminished light.”

Orot Hakodesh II, p. 455

9) The roots of mindfulness

“Let us remove all grumbling

Let us rise above smallness of mind and of heart

Let us rise beyond hatred and resentment

Let us absorb the fresh love from its source in Eden

Let us connect the branches of mercy to the roots of mindfulness”

Orot Hatechiyah, 24

10) Love for others

“Love for others must be alive within our heart and soul: love for every individual and love of all the nations.”

Musar Avichah

11) The Divine Soul

“A Jew is obligated to believe that a divine soul, whose essence is entirely one letter of the Torah, dwells within him.”

Orot Hatorah 11:2

12) Wings of the spirit

“Rise up.

Rise up, for you have the power.

You have wings of the spirit, wings of powerful eagles.

Do not deny them, or they will deny you.

Seek them, and you will find them instantly.”

Orot Hakodesh I, pp. 83-84

13) Unconfineable spirit

“Confine me not in cages,
Of substance or of spirit.
My soul soars the expanses of the heavens.

Walls of heart and walls of deed
Will not contain it.”

Chadarav, p. 39

14) This is what the most purely righteous people do

“The most purely righteous people do not complain about evil;
Rather they increase justice.

They do not complain about godlessness,
But increase faith.

They do not complain about ignorance,
But increase wisdom.”

Arpilei Tohar, p. 39

Special thanks

This special collection of Rav Kook quotes would not have been possible without the kind help of Rabbi Yaacov David Shulman and Rabbi Chanan Morrison both of whom have translated/produced a number of books and articles based on Rav Kook’s teachings. Thanks very much to both of them.

Rabbi Yaacov David Shulman is himself a writer, translator, and editor specializing in Torah and literary texts. In addition to his books based on Rav Kook’s teachings, he has books about the teachings of Rebbi Nachman and the Tanya, biographies of important rabbis, and a bunch of others. He has a rather large amount of articles focused on Rav Kook’s teachings available for free on ravkook.net. For his latest books & blog, see ydshulman.com and for his online portfolio, see shulman-writer.com.

Rabbi Chanan Morrison also has a rather large amount of articles focused on Rav Kook’s teachings available for free on his website http://ravkooktorah.org. And his books are available at http://ravkookbooks.com most of his books are based on Rav Kook’s teachings and he also has an analysis of the Kuzari.

Share your thoughts

Which of these quotes speaks to you and why? Let us know in a comment below.

“A wandering mind is exactly like a horse that wanders off from one path onto another path that you grab by its reins and lead back, against its will, to the correct path.”
— Rabbi Nachman

There are a lot of similarities between thoughts and horses.

Some are tame and take you where you want to go, while some are not.

You can only ride one horse at a time just like you can only think one thought at a time.

And, just like with an untamed horse, if the thought takes control of the mind, the mind can get rattled.

Add to that all the stressors and stimulations in our lives — messages, meetings, finances, health, relationships, kids, etc—peace of mind can seem out of reach.

But the good news is that we’re the masters of our own minds. We’re the riders, not the horses, and we have the ability to take charge of our travels.

So, like horses, some thoughts are wild.

But you don’t have to try and tame every horse that comes along. Because, unless you’re a cowboy at a rodeo, wild and dangerous horses are not meant to be ridden. So if your current horse is wild and dangerous, it’s time to get rid of it and get yourself a new one.

The same is true with thoughts.

If one thought is harmful or dangerous — it’s not a good fit for you and it needs to be sent away. Don’t worry, it doesn’t have a life of its own and you don’t need to take care of it. It won’t be hurt or insulted, because it never really existed — it was just a figment of your imagination. It doesn’t exist.

12 tips to get rid of negative thoughts

Here are a few gem tips for getting rid of negative thoughts.

1. Find another thought and think it instead

“One cannot think two thoughts at once. Consequently, when negative thoughts arise, you do not need to fight them. Make an effort to think positive thoughts, and the negative thoughts will disappear.”
Rabbi Nachman (Likutei Aitzot: Machshavot, 11)

The human mind can only devote full attention to one thought at a time. Making a conscious effort to switch gears and replace one thought can, in many cases, beat it. Especially if the substitute thought is more engaging and enjoyable then the negative one.

2. Label your thoughts

Just like horses, thoughts can be labeled and kept track of. And just like horses, some thoughts are good for certain occasions and some thoughts are good for accomplishing certain goals.

Here are some labels for thoughts:

Inspiring
Happy memory
Self-hate
Wild
Destructive

Once you’ve labeled the thought, the next step is to consider what it is good for. Perhaps it’s a good thought to think at another time, but not now. So leave it be. Or, perhaps it’s a negative, debilitating thought which you are welcome to deal with more harshly.

Don’t worry, being tough on negative thoughts doesn’t make you a mean person, actually, it can make you much stronger, happier, more positive.

Below are some more tips on how to go about being tough on negative thoughts.

3. Scold negative thoughts

A negative thought doesn’t have the inalienable right to enter your mind. In fact, a negative thought has no rights at all. It’s not a person. It’s not oppressed. It’s imaginary but it can do damage if you let it, so it needs to be sent away.

One should scold negative thoughts and banish them from his psyche and from his mind so that they don’t come close.
Rabbi Nachman (Likutei Moharan 5)

A negative thought is wrong to come anywhere near you. And if it tries to tell you otherwise, if it tells you it has a good point, if it tells you that your neighbor agrees with it and that you really need to be more open-minded, that means you’ve already begun listening to it and it’s high time for it to get going.

So we’re not just saying to be closed-minded to negative thoughts, we’re saying that you have every right to berate and scold them for having the audacity to get anywhere near you. You, your mind, and your psyche, are important and you have every right to protect yourself. Remember that.

4. You don’t have to ride every thought that comes along

If a wild and destructive horse came crashing into your window, your first consideration wouldn’t be, “is this happening because there is something wrong with me?” Nor would it be to jump on it’s back and let it take you wherever it’s going. No way. Instead, you’d quickly realize that this is a problem.

You might turn into a scaredy cat and tense up at first. Or you might be stronger than that and take action. But either way, you’re not going to get on that horse’s back to go for a ride.

You see where this is going. Don’t let your thoughts take you for a ride. You are the rider and you can choose the direction you want to go.

5. Slash its tires

Perhaps you think there could be some sort of benefit in taking that wild and destructive thought for a spin. Perhaps you’re still convinced it could be useful. You don’t want to be rude, after all.

Well, here’s an example of what that logic can be compared to (I hope you’re enjoying these comparisons)…

Say a car pulls up and the driver offers your inner child some candy. You’d slash the tires before letting the child get seduced for some stupid candy. There probably isn’t even any candy (astronomically moot point).

Holding on to the belief that every thought is a gem and should be embraced to enrich your life isn’t doing any good. If a negative thought promises candy, then it’s a kidnapper. It’s not good. Call the police, slash the tires, but don’t take that ride.

6. Write it down and burn it

My Dad taught me this one. It’s really simple. If you have something on your mind that’s bothering you and you can’t seem to shake it, write it on a piece of paper and burn the piece of paper. No fuss, no muss.

I tried it a few times and it worked nicely. The act of transferring a thought to a piece of paper makes the thought more defined and limited. After all, it’s all there on the paper. Then burning it, well, that’s just fun. And symbolically it gets rid of the nagging thought.

Of course, always be careful with fire.

7. Stop beating yourself up about beating yourself up

Here’s one that’s pretty funny, actually.

Somebody, let’s call him George, gets carried away by a negative thought. He knows better but, in a moment of weakness, he engaged with a negative thought and it’s really brought him down. Now he’s feeling awful.

So, now that he’s wounded, another negative thought comes along saying, “you know, you really muffed up back there by getting all worked up with that negative thinking – you are a negative thinker.”

But George is smart enough to see that that’s just another negative thought so he doesn’t listen to it.

And that brings us to the next rule…

8. Redefine yourself

You are not a negative thinker.

If a negative thought tried to cozy up to you and convince you that you’re somehow attached to its type of thinking, just appreciate the humor in it and go on.

Oh, the irony of it all. Negative thoughts try to get you to think them and then, if you do, they try to get you to identify with them by telling you that you are negative, just like they are, because you thought them.

Being attacked by negative thoughts doesn’t make you a negative thinker, it just makes you human.

9. Pray

There’s nothing like speaking to Someone who truly understands you. And you can’t, no matter what you do, trick, or be fake with, Him – there’s no reason to. It’s an intensely freeing and invigorating experience.

And if you are plagued by negative thinking, prayer is a great way to rewire and refocus one’s mind. It’s about being focused and in the moment, a form of mindfullness. The ultimate form of mindfullness.

10. Go back in time

What does one do with negative thoughts that are confounding to the point where they really get out of control. They can be overwhelming. They can be exhausting. And they can double back and cause, seemingly, endless confusion.

There are times when one’s thoughts can get them very very confused. And as much as they try to push the thoughts away, the thoughts keep getting them more and more confused. In that case, the essential advice is not even to begin thinking those thoughts at all, and to completely remove your psyche from them. Then you can go about focusing on whatever business you want to think about.
Rabbi Nachman (Likutei Moharan, Part 2, 51)

Confusing thoughts are confusing because your mind gets engaged with them. Perhaps you’ve tried to disprove them or understand them on a deeper level. But just by giving them the time of day, the negative thought gets traction. So what do you do to get out of it?

Time travel. Start over from the beginning and don’t get involved with the thought in the first place. And if you’re wondering, yes, your mind can time travel – it lives in different times all the time – and that’s one of the problems. It agonizes about what happened in the past and then worries about what will happen in the future, all-the-while avoiding the present.

By going back in time, to before the thought ever happened, you can just decide that the thought never gained access to your mind in the first place, thereby using the mind’s time-travel mechanism for good.

If that seems a little crazy, it’s not as crazy as letting oneself be abused by a thought.

11. Speak to a friend or loved one

If there is concern in a man’s heart, he should speak about it.
Wise King Soloman (Ecclesiastes 12, 25)

Sometimes just having another person to speak with can be really helpful. In some cases you might even end up laughing at how silly it was to obsess over the negative thought/s in the first place.

Of course, it’s important to speak to someone who has your best interest in mind.

12. Speak to a professional

Some negative thoughts can be much more burdensome than others. Whether they be related to a traumatic experience or a genetic predisposition or whatever it may be, they can be overwhelming.

So while this article has some great advice, it is not meant to be a replacement for proper psychological care when necessary.

And just as it’s every person’s personal responsibility to get help for physical ailments, it is also important to get help for psychological ailments from a competent professional whenever necessary.

One final thought about bad thoughts

Negative thoughts are literally dangerous. They are bad for your health because they can raise your stress and anxiety levels and, by extension, may cause more serious health issues such as heart disease. So negative thoughts are obviously bad for health.

But they also prevent you from living.

You are where your thoughts are. And by welcoming a negative thought into your mindspace, it puts you in a bad space until you get rid of the thought. Remember, your mind is yours and just like no one has the right to violate your physical space, a negative thought has no right to violate your mindspace.

If you’ve read this far (or even if you skipped around some) I have confidence that you’re in a good position to keep your mind safer from negative thoughts. And like we discussed above, if a negative thought does sneak into your mind, don’t beat yourself up about it. But if you still want to beat someone up about it, take your frustration out on the negative thought itself and launch it to outer space.