RABBI DONIEL FRANK | Director, M.A.P. Seminars, Inc., Marriage and Family Therapist

Click here to download PDF transcript for Ki Savo

We often find that success breeds success while failure feeds future failures. One of the ways to explain this is that in order for us to succeed, we have to believe that we can be successful. And since success itself is the basis to believe that we can succeed, that means we have to be successful in order to succeed. And the same is true with failure. If, historically, we’ve been failures, we’ll believe that we will remain a failure. And when we feel that we are failures, we are unlikely to rally the resources we need to be successful.

How do we change this pattern? If we have to succeed to be successful, how can we achieve our first success? And how can we break a pattern of failures to get back on a successful track?

In this week’s parsha, Moshe and the kohanim remind the people about their privileged status as members of Hashem’s nation and the need for them to subordinate to His laws with the words haskais and shema Israel. What does haskais mean?

According to the Seforno, and his words are elaborated upon by the Shem Mi’Shmuel, it means that they should “create an image in their mind; that they should visualize and listen.â€

But what does that mean?

The Jews were being asked to take on the great responsibility of being Hashem’s people. And that could be intimidating. It can scare away those who feel unworthy and unable to live at that level. So Moshe tells them to use a powerful technique. He tells them to visualize themselves being Hashem’s nation, and in that way, gain the confidence to live an exalted life.

That’s the power of visualization. And it answers our question. Because even if we have no history of success, or if our history is filled with failure, we can change all that by using our minds to manufacture a healthy image of ourselves and a vision of our personal success. If we can create these images in vivid and realistic detail, it will have the same impact on our confidence and our future performance as actual successess do.

These mental images can be created by past performance, or even by the words we use to describe the future. For example, when we tell a child not to spill the milk, we cause him to think of an image of his spilling milk. And what’s amazing is that, however the image is created, we instinctively follow it. We’ll step into that image and play it out. And that’s why if we tell a child not to spill the milk, rather than telling him to hold it carefully, we make it much more likely that he’ll actually spill the milk – because that’s what his mind sees.

So if we don’t take hold of our imagination, and our language, then our minds will generate images and maps that are only reflective of past performance. For successful people, that works fine. They’ll automically imagine future success. But those who have failed will continue to fail, because in either case, they will dutifully follow their respective mental maps.

The way to break old patterns is to recognize that whenever we face new opportunities, our minds can operate independently of our past. We don’t need actual past successes to move forward into our future. Our imagination is powerful. We only need to create the picture we want for ourselves, step into it, and do the things that we thought we could never do.

DEDICATED TO A REFUAH SHELAIMA FOR YITZCHAK ben DEVORAH

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