ESSAYS| 2017

ESSAYSss| Winning Essays

How to Kick Bad Habits to the Curb

By Rivkah Shanowitz, Montreal, QC

Essays 2017 / Finalists

MyLife Essay Contest 2017   Preface What  is  a  habit?  A  habit  is  a  routine  behaviour  that  is  followed  regularly   to  the  point  that  it  becomes  involuntary.  This  behaviour  then  gets   stored  in  the  Basal  Ganglia,  the  sub  conscious [1]. There  are  many  pop-­psychology  books  today  that  deal  with  overcoming   habits.  Luckily

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The Dynamics of Happiness

By Rafi Chemel, Toronto, ON

Essays 2017 / Finalists

MyLife Essay Contest 2017 Introduction The current age seems to be fraught with a strange paradox. On the one hand, never before has there been such an abundance of material wealth, prosperity, technological development and medical breakthrough. To put it simply, life is better than it has ever been. Yet simultaneously, the rate of depression

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Why We Need a Break

By David LIchtenstadter, Brooklyn, NY

Essays 2017 / Finalists

MyLife Essay Contest 2017 We all love to relax and to be entertained in the time that we know that life has real meaning and we have serious goals to achieve. So it is intriguing why we have the urge for these acts and to know if they are at all permissible. In today’s day

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Committing to Your Purpose in a World of Cheap Substitutes

By No'a Bat Miri, Milford, CT

Essays 2017 / Finalists

MyLife Essays Contest 2017 Many parents loathe the day their little one discovers the word “why.” It’s not simply that children can be quite indefatigable in their exploitation of this subtle weapon that bothers a parent, but the thought that this is where her failure begins: after feeding, cleaning, and giving all of the other

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The Heart of the Matter

By Gale Levin, New Haven, CT

Essays 2017 / Finalists

MyLife Essay Contest 2017 It is a basic tenet in Judaism that everything in the physical world is a reflection of the spiritual world. This makes sense since G-d looked to the Torah as a blueprint to create the world. (Midrash Beraishis Rabbah 1:1) So, in order to understand the workings of our soul, it

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Retroactive Healing: It’s in Our D.N.A.

By Nechama Dina Zwiebel, Kingston, Pennsylvania

Essays 2017 / Finalists

MyLife Essay Contest 2018 Contemporary Issue: Challenges and Healing in all relationships “Been there, done THAT!” “I wish I could go back to before that happened!” “If only I could do it all over again!” “I wish we could still be friends.” “I wish that never happened…!” This is wishful thinking, but not reality –

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The Soul: A Source of Inherent Self Worth

By Shaul Wolf, Brooklyn, NY

Essays 2016 / Student Winners

MyLife Essay Contest 2016 Abstract: Anxiety is the most common mental health condition in the USA, closely followed by depression. A staggering 40 million adults are effected by anxiety disorders – 18% of the population, and an equally unsettling 14.8 million adults are effected by depression – 6.7% of the population. Tens of billions of

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שמחה – “עקרון הוודאות” ש”פורץ גדר”
Authentic Joy Is within Reach and It Changes Everything

By Yeshaya Marantz, Safed, Israel

Essays 2016 / Student Winners

MyLife Essay Contest 2016 חשוב גם להבין שבאמת יש על מה לשמוח, ולא רק לנסות להיות שמח. לאמץ השקפת עולם שמחה במקום רק להתאמץ לשמוח. לפעמים, כדי לצאת מהעצבות צריך לצאת מעצמך, אבל, אפשר גם להיכנס לשמחה על ידי שתיכנס לעצמך האמיתי. ואז, במקום לשאול איך להיות שמח, השאלה תהיה על מה יש להיות עצוב

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Getting Past Depression by Getting Past Yourself

by Aryeh Gurewitz 

Essays 2015 / Finalists / Winning Essays

First Place Winner of the MyLife Essay Contest One of the most famous aspects of Chassidic life is its emphasis on the importance of joy. Less well known but equally fundamental is its negation of depression. In line with this, Chassidus provides a wide variety of insights that can help avoid depressed moods(1). However, many

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