Rabbi Nachman's Advice: Joy

1) What a great thing it is when you study Torah or carry out a mitzva with such joy that you literally dance for joy. This is the remedy for saying something bad. You will be blessed with wealth and children and your faith will be strengthened (81).

2) To find true joy is the hardest thing of all. It is harder than all other spiritual tasks. You must literally force yourself to be happy all the time. Put all your energy into it. Use every kind of ploy. Often the only way is by literally doing something crazy (Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom 20).

3) Most important of all, you must be happy while you are praying. Be sure always to pray with joy. The same applies to carrying out the mitzvot. You should be especially joyous on Shabbat and Yom Tov. Even on weekdays it is a great mitzva to be happy always (Ibid. 155, 299).

4) Depression can make a person forget his own name (43).

38) Someone who is himself happy can give heart to somebody else. It is a great thing to bring joy to the heart of your fellow Jews. Most people are full of pain and worry and all kinds of troubles, and they find it impossible to speak out what is in their hearts. Someone who comes with a smiling face can literally give them fresh life. This is a very great thing. When you make another person happy you are literally giving new life to a Jewish soul (Ibid.).

5) Joy gives protection against the death of little children (Ibid. 34).

6) Try hard to turn your very depression and worry into joy. If you really set your mind to it, you will easily find that even amidst the worst troubles and suffering there is an opening which you can use to convert all the depression into joy. True joy is when you drag your darkness and depression even against their will and force them to turn into happiness (23).

7) When someone is happy all day it is easier for him to spend an hour or so with a broken heart, talking to God and pouring out his heart like water before Him. After a broken heart comes joy. The test of whether your heart was really broken is if afterwards you feel joy (Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom 45).

8) You should constantly center your thoughts on contemplating the root of all things. This is the source of all that is good and all joys. You will feel an overwhelming joy, because when one contemplates this root which is wholly good then everything good and joyous is merged into one and radiates with abundant light (II, 34).