The Secret of the Good Point: Finding Good Points

We have discovered the bad. We've discovered that we have negative perceptions. We've discovered that negative beliefs get us stuck in life. What do we do? Remember the secret: we also have good points within us.

The secret of the good point is the work of enlarging the good. Instead of fighting the bad – we focus on enlarging the good. To enlarge it in our lives and in the lives of those around us.

The goodness within us is eternal and infinite, but the way we discover it often passes through many small points, through practical and everyday things through which the good within us peeks at us.

Often, the good within us waits for us surrounded by many negative and inaccurate things. Like gold that comes out from the earth's belly when it's immersed in mud and filth. The diamond needs to be cleaned and then polished – and so do our good points.

What to do:

Search and find a good point within us. Find something good that we do. This point needs to be specific. It's not enough to settle for the general idea that I am good, but to find something specific where my goodness is expressed. The easiest way is to identify specific behavior where one can see the good in me.

Rabbi Nachman explains: "One just needs to search and find in oneself some small good."

That is, I need to let go of my judgment for a moment and not enter for now into an internal negotiation: Is this good? Is it big or small? Is it big enough compared to other things in me that are not good? These questions are unnecessary right now. I need to stop this internal dialogue for a moment and simply find a thread of something good. A tiny point of good that I found in my actions.

After we find the good point and examine it, we'll usually discover that it too, unfortunately, is not perfect – finding the good point won't be enough. There will always be negative forces within us that will prove that even the good we found is not perfect. We could have done it better. Our action is partial and not perfect, of course. Don't panic! This is part of the process. We're looking for good points. The goal is not to become perfect people overnight.

We should not panic when we discover that even the good point we found is not perfect. As Rabbi Nachman says: "And even when he begins to look at that good thing, he sees that it is also full of wounds and there is no soundness in it, meaning that he sees that even the mitzvah and holy deed he merited to do is also full of ulterior motives and foreign thoughts and many blemishes."

A deeper examination will reveal that although it's not perfect – there is good in it. And this good is exactly what we want to preserve and enlarge. We want to address precisely the good point itself, the good we found in it, even if we discovered it's not perfect (as will happen in most cases, if not all).

"Nevertheless, how is it possible that there isn't some small good in that mitzvah and good deed? Because after all, however it may be, there was at least some good point in the mitzvah and good deed he did."

Enlarge the good point. Make a big deal of the fact that I have a good point. Between me and myself, I should rejoice in my good point and not dismiss it casually. To rejoice in it, enlarge it, observe it, and relate to it. Like "zooming in" with a camera, I focus and enlarge the place I'm looking at.

Finally to rejoice in something found within me. Finally to truly rejoice in the truth revealed in me and not just in external things.

"...that one needs to judge oneself favorably, and to find in oneself some good point still, in order to strengthen oneself so that one won't fall completely, God forbid, but rather the opposite - give oneself life, and make one's soul happy with the little good one finds in oneself."

Find additional good points. We want to expand the same process of finding the good point, and find more and more good in our lives. Go back to the first step and search again for a small point of good and go through all the stages with it.

"...and likewise one needs to search further, to find in oneself yet another good thing, and even though that good thing is also mixed with much waste, nevertheless one should extract from there also some good point."

Finding the good within us is an ongoing and long-term work. Each time we can find good in different points, and remember to enlarge it.

By enlarging the good in my life, by enlarging the perception of good in my life, I can break patterns that hold me back and neutralize the thought patterns and beliefs that block me from reaching my true good. I can also increase the spiritual and economic abundance available to me.

Finding good in my life means finding the lost treasures within me. This can bring immeasurable joy. It's surprisingly simple and amazingly powerful in ways that are hard to imagine. But you need to do it. You need to try it, not just read about it. Go out to find good points and rejoice in them.

A short story:

After being fired from two different jobs for two different reasons, I realized I needed to think. Something wasn't working out for me, although it wasn't clear what.

I started to think about my life. Where I work, and why. Am I really using my talents, or just "getting by" with what's available? A dismissive voice inside wondered: Do I even have talents?

To be honest, I'm good with people. I know how to explain things in an easy-to-understand way. There, I have good in me! I have a good point. If only I did something with it. If only I looked for a job where I could connect with people and explain things to them instead of the boring jobs I keep choosing for myself over and over. If only I started appreciating this good point of mine.

Wait, wait, the inner voice answered me. Of course you like to explain things to people. Because you're full of ego! Ego? I asked in alarm. Yes, the voice answered. You like people listening to you because it makes you feel better about yourself. You don't care about them at all. You just want to promote yourself so that others will appreciate you.

I looked the inner voice straight in the eye and asked: Tell me, Mr. Inner Voice, apart from the fact that I get honor and prestige from it, as you describe here so dramatically, does this ability of mine benefit anyone or does it only serve me? The voice fell silent, sank into thought, and then answered: To be honest, you're right. Despite your biases, it also helps others.

Great! I said with a shout of victory. So I'll enlarge my good point and apply in my life what I need to do, and meanwhile, if I'm exaggerating, help me and remind me that I actually want to do good and help others and not just increase my honor. Okay? I asked.

If it had a face, the inner voice would surely have smiled.

"For the little good that is in us is all from You, 'for everything is from You, and from Your hand we have given to You.' And even this little bit of good is mixed with much waste, so that even the little good needs great corrections through Your abundant mercy, that it may be clarified and rise before You, and how can such a coarse and distant person merit through a little good less than a drop in the sea. And I have no support or staff except for Your abundant mercy. And if, God forbid, there enters my heart, God forbid, the error of pride and arrogance, then I am lost in my suffering, God forbid. For how shall a youth, devoid of all good like me, be worthy?"

(Likutei Tefilot, Part One, Prayer 10)

Exercise:

Look for a good point in your life. Observe this point. If the thought arises in you: "Come on, this might be a good point but not completely good, there's a lot of ego in it," continue to look for good within the point itself. Even if there is ego there, there's still true good there, even if partial. It's worth continuing to search, and to observe the good hidden within us.

"When a person begins to look at himself and sees that he is far from good and full of sins, then he may fall because of this and won't be able to pray at all, therefore he is obligated to search and seek and find in himself some good, because how is it possible that he hasn't done some mitzvah or good deed in his lifetime? And even when he begins to look at the good he did, he sees that the good itself is full of wounds and there is no soundness in it, because the good is mixed with ulterior motives and much waste. Nevertheless, it's impossible that there isn't some good point in the little good, and so he needs to search and seek until he finds in himself another good thing, and although this good is also mixed with much waste, nevertheless there is in it some good point, and so he should search and seek more, until he finds in himself more good points, and by finding in himself some merit and good, through this he truly comes out from the scale of guilt to the scale of merit and can return in repentance through this, and through this he can give life to himself and make himself happy however he is, and then he can pray and sing and thank Hashem."

(Meshivat Nefesh, Sign 26 − based on Likutei Moharan, Sign 282)

The secret of the good point is the work of enlarging the good. Instead of fighting the bad – we will engage in enlarging the good in our lives and in the lives of those around us.

From the book "The Secret of the Good Point", by Ran Weber, writer, therapist and workshop facilitator in the spirit of Hasidism. For contact: ranweber@gmail.com