Comment: One of the major issues in modern society is work-related stress. Regardless of the type of work, emotional exhaustion including burnout eventually sets in often more than physical fatigue.

Scientists suggest that to combat constant workplace stress, one should practice compassion and mindfulness. Burnout, chronic illnesses from unhealthy lifestyles, and similar challenges could be called the plague of the 21^st century.

The key to overcoming burnout and its associated ailments is compassion. The central message of compassion is: “If you feel bad, stressed, or exhausted, help someone else. Show compassion, and you will feel better yourself.”

My Response: This approach meets no resistance. In fact, the act itself will first and foremost heal you.

Question: To treat others this way, must one first show compassion toward oneself?

Answer: Without self-compassion, you will not be motivated to act kindly toward others. You need a foundation, a reason to suddenly develop a positive attitude toward others. For this, you must convince yourself that it is necessary for your own well-being, a form of self-preservation.

Comment: When we are stressed, our bodies activate processes and muscles for a “fight or flight” response. However, when we show compassion, the body relaxes and operates in an entirely opposite system. It calms down.

Scientists add that besides compassion, empathy is also essential; meaning, engaging with others and understanding their situations helps offset stress.

My Response: But this is not simple. The issue is that we do not teach people how to give correctly, which creates a significant problem. We are forced to give at any work: whether I am working on some piece of hardware on a machine, tending cows, or making money, it does not matter where or how. Even if I work with people.

We are not taught how to give. We are taught to quickly complete tasks and take what we need, but this is incorrect.

Such an approach creates a disconnection between the work itself and my desire to derive something from it. The work becomes a source of depletion rather than fulfillment.

If I approach my work in a way that allows me to feel fulfilled while giving, I will feel great at the beginning, middle, and end of the day. But teaching people this mindset is not easy. It requires the correction of one’s nature.

Regardless of my job or role, I should be able to work joyfully and feel that by giving, I am filling myself up. This is the art or the science of fulfillment, of reception—the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Question: What does it mean to “give”?

Answer: If I were working for the benefit of my children, would I feel depleted by giving to them? No, not at all, because I already work for their sake and do everything for them.

The issue lies in learning to feel others, strangers, as close ones. This requires education. People must be taught to understand the system we live in, that we are all interconnected in an integral network. In this system, anyone who fills others is, in turn, filled through them.

We need to uncover this system and begin to feel it. Then there will be no difference between giving and receiving or between strangers and loved ones. We will realize that we all exist within a unified system.

Question: You once explained the difference between animalistic and spiritual energy exchange. In the corporeal realm, one gives and the other receives, leaving one depleted and the other filled. In spiritual energy exchange, however, the energy flows through everyone, filling all without stopping at anyone.

How can we achieve this? What steps are involved in learning and applying this method?

Answer: I would advise people to attend our classes and learn how to work in a true collective where giving to others simultaneously fills oneself, and this applies to everyone. Ultimately, this leads to a state where the more people in the group, the greater the fulfillment each person experiences.

Such a person feels that when he comes to work tired after sleeping, and so on, he gets a lot of energy at work and leaves with bright eyes and cheerful after eight or ten hours of work. He goes home full of energy. In the evening, he thinks about how he will return to work. And all his relatives and family are delighted to meet and greet him like this.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 1/1/19

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