How does my environment affect my ability to change?

Rabbi Landau teaches that when a person enters the right environment, the right truth, and the right surroundings, the changes he was straining for begin to happen on their own. Some environments drain you, and others unlock you.

The right room changes your thinking. The right people change your direction. The right atmosphere changes your life. That is why the struggle to change is often less about you than about where you are standing.

In A Soul at Peace, Rabbi Landau cites the Rambam that it is human nature to be drawn, in one's views and actions, after one's friends and companions. The right surroundings might be a study partner who brings light into your life, a mentor who speaks to your soul, a shul that feels alive, or a book that opens up a space inside you.

Going deeper: Rabbi Landau's teaching, level by level

Surface claim

Surroundings shape a person more than sheer effort does.

Deepest human truth

Find the gate meant for your soul, and you won't need to push. You will walk in.

More questions from this teaching

• Why can't I change no matter how hard I push myself?