"Start the Washer": Moran Eisenstein Shares a Wonderful Tip for Polishing Spiritual Garments

We all face challenges, moment after moment—if not from outside, then from within, in the form of negative thoughts. How do we deal with this? "Negative thoughts are our greatest enemy," writes actress Moran Eisenstein, who has also become a mentor and is currently conducting workshops on personal development, from a spiritual perspective. "Many of us struggle with various demons and negative thoughts, and it is an endless battle in our minds."

 

"Negative thoughts lead to anxiety, but it always starts with a small negative thought, which grows slowly like a snowball and becomes uncontrollable."

Eisenstein confesses that "there was a period in my life when I took pills to deal with it, but as soon as I felt more capable of handling my issues and became balanced, I stopped."

 

She says that pills can indeed alleviate severe mental states in specific instances, and she is definitely not against them, "but personally, my belief is that the solution must be found within ourselves, because taking a pill is like putting a Band-Aid on an open wound: it provides temporary calm and balance, but that doesn't mean we've solved the situation. We haven't truly cracked it and understood where the pattern of negative thinking originates. We haven't truly delved into the depths of our soul."

 

 

And what if we have tried to delve into the soul, but it simply didn't work?

On her Facebook page 'Imush', Eisenstein argues that this happens because "we quickly gave up, realizing it might be too big for us, decided something was wrong with us, and ran to the doctor to get a pill. So the pill works wonderfully and thank Hashem for the Cipralex, but... has the problem been solved at its root? No!

 

"There is no magic solution, and I wish there were. So consider that negative thoughts and patterns are like dirty laundry in the mind and soul. There are tougher patterns, just like there are dirtier clothes that require more effort to wash. Take any bad pattern or thought and imagine with your eyes closed that you are taking it out of your mind and putting it into an imaginary washing machine," advises Eisenstein.

 

Then, when the 'thought garment' is in the imaginary washing machine, all you have to do is "let it wash inside your thoughts, clean it, and turn it into a cleaner and healthier thought by separating emotion from logic. Tell yourself: 'I control my thoughts,' and repeat it like a mantra. Take a non-progressive thought and turn it into a progressive one."

 

 

 

Who is responsible for controlling thoughts? Certainly, we are, every moment. "Always remember that controlling it depends on you, because just as you introduced the negative thought, you can also remove it. Yes, it requires a lot of willpower to work on and sometimes it's unbearable to the point of inner pain, which I personally know. Looking back, I could even cry because the pain was immense. It is hard to confront our patterns.

 

"But I didn't agree to live this way, and I didn't agree to give in to living my life in a manner where something controls me—and I know for a fact that I caused it myself. I gave it a place, and instead of satisfying the thoughts, I made them hungrier and hungrier. Almost everyone has this space, and I'm sure everyone knows exactly what I'm talking about."

 

So in conclusion—can we do laundry on Chol HaMoed? The answer is, when it comes to thoughts, you can and should do laundry. "Take your thoughts out for cleaning, and do a washing cycle for your soul and mind. If you didn't succeed the first few times, try again and again. I promise you that if you persist and wish to change, one day, after much dirty laundry, you will get white, clean laundry and know you are on the right path."