How to Reverse Engineer Your Life for Purpose, Impact, and Legacy with Rabbi Daniel Cohen

Today on the podcast, I'm talking to my guest about how do we reverse engineer our lives so that we ensure our life is one of influence, impact, service, and showing up to change the lives of other people by our daily choices.

It is a powerful conversation.

We're going to talk about creating legacy, and we're going to talk about how can we see God all around us and how do we be a part of the missions he wants us to participate in.

Welcome to Faith Fueled Living, the podcast that equips you to live well spiritually, emotionally, physically, and purposely.

Each week, we'll dive into conversations and biblical truths to help you strengthen your faith, pursue meaningful work, care for your whole self, and live in line with what matters most.

Hi.

I want to introduce you to our guest today, Rabbi Daniel Cohen.

He's a speaker, author, and personal development mentor whose entire life has been shaped by the calling he feels to inspire people to live their best lives, including and especially in the in their second ag careers.

For nearly 20 years, he's been the senior rabbi at Congregation Agadath Shalom in Stamford, Connecticut, the largest modern Orthodox synagogue in New England.

He was also rabbi for many years to Vice President Joe Lieberman.

Rabbi Cohen's philosophy draws from a variety of spiritual, practical insights resonating across religious and cultural boundaries.

He co hosts the nationally syndicated radio show the Rabbi and the Reverend, where he engages in meaningful dialogue about living a life of purpose alongside Reverend Greg Dahl.

His messages are for everyone and not constrained to any one faith or philosophy.

Hi.

Today on the podcast, I would like to welcome our guests.

Rabbi Cohen, I'm excited for this conversation today because we're going to talk about how do we create a life of legacy, how do we live from our calling, and how do we have more impact each and every day in our lives and lives of others?

And how do we live not just a good life, but a great life?

And how do we seize the opportunities to do good in the world and to grow to our greatest potential that God wants and has for us?

So, Rabbit Cohen, thank you and welcome to the show.

Thank you very much for having me.

I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you.

Thank you.

So you, you know, besides actively being the senior rabbi at a congregation, you obviously speak and you talk and you have a radio show.

You know, you're doing lots of things.

You've written a book or actually, you know, more than one book.

And so I guess I'd just start asking you, you know, what does life look like today?

And what is the message you're most Sharing with your congregation and beyond.

Great question, by the way.

I would say one of the things that I think about a lot is we're living in a world where there's a lot of reasons to create anxiety.

There's a lot of depression, there's a lot of sense of how in the world will we get to a better place.

I mean, people are feeling very much overwhelmed by, I think, not only the pace of life, but just a lot of the divisiveness and the rancor.

And it can become a very depressing place.

And what I want to always encourage people to think about is we can't change the world, but that doesn't mean we can't change the world of one person every day.

And there's a unique spiritual footprint that every single human being is tasked with accomplishing every day that's uniquely different than anybody else.

So to me, one of the main messages is that, you know, the world changes not in one fell swoop.

Certainly we believe God is sovereign, but don't underestimate the power that you can do.

Maybe it's in your family, in your community, with a friend, and that one little light can actually make a big difference.

I think we've all seen that just a small welcome or gesture or check in may be what that person needed most at that time and gives them a sense of renewed hope.

And we never know where those ripples are going to go.

Absolutely.

I feel like this, this message, this lesson in the last handful of years has continued to hit me very hard in other.

Or I've been more present and aware to it, I should say.

You know, so my dad passed last February, and through that he had Parkinson's, so he was, you know, he continued to get worse.

But as the days that I would be over there, and I have four other siblings, so we're fortunate and blessed that we're able to help my stepmom, you know, through that and.

And participate in helping him.

But one of the things I would often be reminded of is the moments, the days that we would go over there, that that was the most important thing I could be doing, right?

It wasn't anything else.

It didn't matter if I have a long list of things I wanted to accomplish, but it was in the moments, it was in the giving right of the time, just being there to support him.

And my son.

One of my sons came home from college a couple years ago, was during COVID and he came home struggling with severe depression.

And it was the same thing.

I remember writing a post and Doing a podcast saying, like, I think the most important thing I did today was make him peanut butter toast.

Right.

In other words, it's in the moments.

And I think when we're so busy, as you alluded to, when we get so caught up in our own agenda of work or to do's, we sometimes forget or do not recognize all the moments that we have an opportunity to do the smallest and bigger gestures, to show kindness and love, and just to be present with that person and to.

Be available to people you actually touched on a lot.

First of all, give your, your family much comfort.

I know your, your father's soul is certainly very much present today.

You know, you touched on the notion of, like, in that moment when you were with your dad, like, that was the most important thing you could do with your son.

And think about a quote from Mark Twain where he said, the two most important days of your life, the day when you're born and the day when you understand why.

And sometimes when you know you're in that right place, in that right time, it sets your soul on fire.

And that could be the most important moment of your day.

And part of that, though, is, and this is also the challenge, you use the word presence.

You know, most people have what's called cpa, which is continuous partial attention.

They're never focused on any one thing.

And that's a very important orientation towards life because, you know, like it says with Moses in front of the burning bush in the Bible, you know, he.

It's.

There's an idea within Judaism that a lot of people walk by the bush, but nobody noticed that it was burning and not being consumed.

To notice that a bush is on fire you can do in a second.

But to notice that it's not being consumed, you need to pause for a few seconds.

And sometimes the miracles, the opportunities are really right in front of us, but we just need to be fully present with the person there.

And just one other point.

I was talking to some of my nieces and nephews and I asked them a question.

I said, how often during the day do you feel that you have somebody's undivided attention?

And they said, it almost never happens.

And I said, one of the most important life skills is for you to be the kind of person where people can say about you that when he's speaking with me or when he's listening to me, there's nobody more important in the world than me at that moment.

Yeah, I mean, I think with just the continuing bombardment of all of our digital devices and things around us that can take our attention away.

Right.

Distraction.

You obviously talk about it in the book and I talk about it regularly as well.

But it is hard, right.

We are being bombarded.

We're being pulled towards these things that keep our focus off of being fully present.

And I find it hard even in my own home.

Right.

Whereas I'm present.

Even my husband, not saying he's not ever present, but sometimes he'll think he can multitask, you know, and listen to me.

And I have husbands seem to do that a little often.

Like, oh, I'm listening.

Or are you really?

I know.

And I have heard that wives or women need more like.

Like you need to look at us and talk to us.

Right.

More than even men.

And so anyways, the point though is I think that's become a lost art if we're not careful, right.

That like you said, the norm has become that we are distracted or in so many situations, we're not fully present.

Present.

And giving someone our undivided attention, you know, that's definitely a challenge.

What would you say you would just tell people, like, here's a simple way, other than maybe setting our phones down, which I think we can both agree on that.

Yeah.

I mean, I do think that, you know, let's go back to the kind of premise of my book, which is that God forbid somebody got news that was just really like earth shattering for them or something, that really rocked their world, they would drop everything and be solely focused.

So what I like to really remind people of is that, you know, we should never live with a sense of entitlement and always understand that there by the grace of God go I.

And life is lived not in years, it's lived in hours and minutes.

So what I would say, I mean, here's a simple meditation and this is really important.

It says in the end of the book of Psalms, which is an amazing work written by King David, what's the last psalm that he has on page 150 or Psalm 150?

He says, with all of my breath, I give thanks to you.

What's happening there?

Basically, when I breathe in, it's a recognition that God is investing me with his life and love.

When I breathe out, I need to do something with the gift of God's potential.

And what I do with it is what I give back to God.

So literally, that practice of reminding ourselves of that enables us to slow down and say, am I leading a life right now?

Or what are the three things I'm going to do today that really reflect the values that are most important to me.

And change happens not just overnight.

It happens by creating a discipline.

So I'll tell people, take three minutes a day in the following practice and put it in your calendar.

And it's sacrosanct.

Okay, if somebody's swimming, nobody's going to bother you.

And this has to be even more sacred than that One moment of prayer.

For me, it's a verse in Isaiah that those who have faith in God, their strength will be renewed.

They'll grow wings like eagles.

The second minute is a minute of gratitude.

Start a gratitude journal, but make sure never to repeat yourself.

I learned this from my daughter, who at the time she was up to almost 800 of them.

And she said, every night before I go to sleep, I read 50.

How can I not be grateful?

And then the third minute is make somebody's day.

And I encourage people, like on a Sunday or whenever, just write a list of people that maybe you're ill, maybe you forgot to thank.

A teacher, a friend, somebody you lost touch with, and then every day reach out to one of them.

So even though the day may be crazy, three minutes potentially can be the fuel for your soul, that you need to slow down and then hopefully develop a muscle, which is the muscle of the soul to then be more oriented towards leading a life not just of expediency, but a life of meaning.

Yeah, very good.

Yeah.

So I guess.

And the next thing that I would just say is, like, in your book, obviously one of the main themes is talking about how do we reverse engineer our lives, right.

To ensure that their life is full of meaning, influence, purpose, and impact.

And so what would you just share with us about, you know, like, that was some simple.

A daily practice we can do.

But what would you say?

Where would we start with that?

Because I talk to plenty of people, right.

That I feel like they are just so busy that they aren't being intentional.

They're not doing the personal retrospection daily.

Right.

So I would say, look, it starts in the way the book really starts a little bit is, you know, the premise is you're at a funeral, and as you walk out of the funeral, you have a moment when you say to yourself, I hope they speak about me the way they spoke about that individual.

And as you're walking out, which is that confrontation with mortality, you think about the things that really matter.

Within about 15 minutes, you go back to life as usual until the next awakening happens.

So the first thing that I suggest, and this takes a little bit of time And I, you know, encourage people to do it through the book or through the Legacy Academy is like, identify what is your prototype?

Take 45 minutes to answer questions such as, what are the five words I want to be remembered by?

If I have 24 hours to live, what would I do with that time?

What in my life is worth fighting for?

These are real soulful questions.

And answer them just totally on your own and really look deep inside your soul.

And then what happens is that you begin to discover things that really matter in your life.

And then what I try to encourage people to do, and that's the principles of the book, is how do you take what's on that paper and really ensure that it's not tangential to your life, but you actually are reflecting those values on a daily basis?

So it does start with really thinking about what matters in your life and go ahead.

No, no, I was, I was just saying.

Yeah, I agree with you.

Yeah.

And I'll give you an example.

Like, one of the, I would say moments that I cherish as a rabbi, and never an easy one, is when I sit with families to prepare for a funeral and they're thinking about, you know, what really mattered to this person.

And I'll ask families and say, just tell me, not the biography of your mother or your father, but like, what are some of the memories that will always be part of your life?

It's a great question.

And I've been struck over the years that what really stands out are sometimes the things that were the simplest moments.

But going back to your point, the moments when somebody else was fully there for me.

And I'll give you an example to a point where you said before, I was doing an unveiling recently, but four children, they're all probably in their 50s and 60s.

And I said to them, tell me one thing that you carry with you and you'll never forget.

And this fellow said, I'll never forget that when I was in high school, my mother would always be doing things during the day.

But then when I walked in the door, she dropped everything and gave me her full undivided attention for like 30 minutes.

Now, he had 50 some odd years with his mother, but what mattered most was being present with her.

So what I encourage people to do is then how do you reverse engineer that?

We have family members, we have friends, and rather than just say, we're too busy, but how do I then think about what am I going to do today to create a memory with somebody that I love?

How am I going to ensure that When I'm with that person, I'm fully present with them because they don't need my gifts, but they want my presence.

And that's what I mean by reverse engineering a little bit.

You know, Dr. Seuss said it very well.

You never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.

And sometimes it's really small things that are the things that really stick with us.

Absolutely, Absolutely agree with that.

Yeah.

So what about, you know, in the book you talk about?

Well, first of all, I guess.

I guess we already touched on this, but we all know have a divine mission, which is both, maybe, you know, lifetime, but then in the daily moments.

But would you just share with us about that?

Because, you know, how people can see that, how they can see their purpose and try to better understand that if they're not clear on that.

Yeah.

So I think that, you know, there's a difference between, like, purpose and mission, you know, purpose.

I think in many ways we all have a similar purpose in this world.

That purpose is to reflect the divine light that God has put within us, to try to realize our divine potential and to share it with the world.

And that's something that in many ways, you know, God didn't create us just because he had nothing better to do.

He created us in a world that isn't perfect.

And he's counting on all of us to reveal light sometimes in the darkest of places, and be a bearer of God's light.

Now, if that's your purpose, then it's important to ask myself, so what are my unique talents and circumstances and moments that I can reflect that light?

And sometimes, you know, it may happen again.

Going back to what we said before in the simplest of moments, one of the things that I talk about in the book, a story that I remember from years ago, is I was with a group of women, and I said to them, tell me about, you know, one of the most inspiring moments in your life.

And a woman said to me, I was at the Big Y shopping center in West Hartford, and I was getting out to go to the supermarket, and in the corner of my eye, I saw an elderly man with orthopedic shoes.

And one of his shoes was untied.

So I went over to him, I asked him if I could help him tie his shoes.

And she said, literally with tears in her eyes, like, in that moment, I felt closer to God than almost ever in my life.

And when a person lives their life with an awareness that no encounter is random and that there's a lot of divine design in the world, then your purpose is the same, but your mission may be different depending upon where you are in that moment.

I like to do what I call.

And I talk about this in the book the Elijah Moment.

The Elijah moment, you know, is this idea that, again, Elijah shows up in people's lives when they would least expect it.

So anytime that you're with somebody, we should be thinking, how can that individual leave my orbit feeling better about themselves than when they entered my orbit?

So I believe that I have a mission.

And I'll give you an example.

When I'm in an Uber or a car.

It happened to me.

I was in California a couple days ago, and I left early in the morning and then took the red eye back, and I was tired both ways to the airport.

But I'm so programmed now that even though I was resting, I could not leave the car without engaging.

Like, I knew I have to engage because God put me in that car.

And it was amazing what happened.

So in the morning, it turns out it was another Jewish fellow who was driving the car, and he might have needed a place for a Passover Seder.

So I took his number.

And then on the way back, this guy tells me he's in his mid-60s.

He recently got married to this woman, but it's not official.

He's not Jewish.

And he turns to me and he says, would you mind marrying me and my wife?

He was looking for a rabbi.

My point is that there's so many opportunities we have.

It's not this major mission like put your name on a building or, you know, but it's just understand that God created you for a divine design.

Ask yourself who's in your orbit that you could help.

Maybe I said this with another woman.

You know, it's a woman who's involved in, you know, a lot of volunteerism, and she's done a lot.

And I said, have you ever thought about, like, mentoring younger people in that organization?

And not waiting for the organization to come to you, but why don't you make a phone call and say, look, I love to try to help some of these younger people.

That's a talent.

That's a gift.

That's an opportunity.

So good.

Yeah.

I mean, just as you were talking, you know, we all have many examples, if we're aware of it.

You know, I had two similar.

One was two weeks ago.

I was in Savannah, Georgia, and we were out with friends to dinner.

Anyway, so we're at this place.

It's pretty much closing, so I'm talking to the woman who's getting the drinks and stuff.

And so there wasn't very many people there.

And I have no idea why or how we started talking, but she starts.

We start talking.

She shares so much about her life.

And it's had been a lot of hard things, right?

She had lost her mother and brother.

They were both killed.

Her father had passed.

Like, it was just.

But she just was such a lovely, bright, wonderful young lady.

And somehow we connected and I was encouraging her and whatnot.

But it was one of those, you know, you talked about, like the soul connection.

It was just for sure there was no reason.

There was guaranteed I was meant to meet her in that moment and have that conversation with her.

You know, actually we were supposed to go to somewhere else and it was closed.

And so it's just those things and you.

You don't always know.

Before, I didn't feel a call to talk to her, but after the fact, I was like, absolutely.

I was put here in this moment to be there for her, to be encouragement and just tell her, you know, her future can be beautiful and what.

You know, all the things.

And she definitely struggled with her feelings about God.

And, you know, of course I didn't try to push that, but I just tried to encourage her in that way.

And another time, I was just at the grocery store and the terrible thunderstorm came through.

I had no rain jacket, no coat, umbrella.

And there's several older women standing outside under the awning or under the brick because it was pretty, pretty bad, right?

And so we're all waiting and I thought, if this is not going away anytime soon.

So I. I decided to make a run for it to my car.

I'm drenched.

But then of course, I had that little voice, that prompting, and.

And I took my.

I took two umbrellas back.

I was already sopping when I couldn't get any water and said, you know, I can walk you to your car.

To one of the women.

And the first lady said, I heard when I saw you walking back, what you were doing.

So she let me walk her to her car.

I asked another woman and she said, no, no, no, no.

She was going to wait.

But the point is, it's those little things where I think you just.

People saw, like, hey, somebody noticed me, or, you know, they went out of their way, they're drenched.

It's a terrible storm.

It's thundering and lightning.

But that.

I said, no, I'm going to go back and be a kind person to this other person that I don't know, you know, and so to Your point?

They could be any moments.

And it's really just being aware.

Right.

And then seeing how God wants us to work through us and with us to do these things.

Yeah.

I mean, by the way, it's good on the same page, the same spirit, 100%, you know, and at the end of the day, you know, there's something that I think about.

A number of years ago, I was at a train station in Philadelphia visiting somebody.

And I had a few extra minutes, so I went to get a cup of coffee and an older man comes to me.

And I guess it looked like a generous guy.

He said, would you mind buying me dinner?

And I said, sure, I'll buy you dinner.

And I went over to the Dunkin Donuts and he said, no, I prefer the Cajun food over there.

So I got him some Cajun food.

And as I'm about to go, I said, what's your name?

He said, his name is Sam.

I said, sam, God bless you.

And he turned to me and said, God has already blessed me.

He sent me you.

And when we realized that, we realized that we are the angels, we are the agents.

And there's so many opportunities to really reflect that.

And that's where, and this, by the way, is an important point.

There's an idea within Jewish thought that I think it's general, that do not lament the darkness, increase the light.

We're living in a world.

To go back to your other question, where it's so easy just to lament the darkness, to get nervous, to get afraid, just to feel like, what is this world coming to?

And the truth is, you know, take a box, I call it the worry box, and say that from 8:05 to 8:15 in the morning, whatever is, that's my worry time.

Then close the box.

No more worrying for the rest of the day.

Just increase the light wherever you go.

And you'll find that your soul will be uplifted and you'll really find your days, they slow down a little bit.

And you'll create a lot of these beautiful moments.

No, I love that.

And it's so true.

I mean, I definitely, like many people, got caught up after Covid, but it wasn't so much because of COVID the virus, but just the time we were living in, right?

The whole everything that went on, and then my son coming home, right?

So I found myself not worrying all day long.

But there was a lot of internal worry, right?

And angst, for obvious reasons.

But I finally realized, like this was taking hold of me, you know, And I really had to, you know, just work on, like.

I mean, I was a pretty positive person prior to that, but I realized that I'd let it creep in and I let more worry and anxiety kind of come upon me, and I really had to realize it and go back to God and just kind of pray on that and pray on.

Right.

The word of God that, you know, reminded me that I don't have to hold on to that and that I'm not really meant to hold onto that in those ways.

So I think that was a great example you gave.

And I think it's so important because we can get so caught up in that that we will also miss the moments.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

Because we're living.

It's just like living off of your to do list and being so, like, moving on to the next thing.

You're not really present.

And it's the same with anxiety.

If we're always anxious, then we're not really actively, like you said, being the light.

We're not actively showing up to be the kindness and the good.

And that's how we.

Right.

That's how we have more light than dark, is by showing up and doing these things.

Yeah, no 100%.

And, you know, one of the main themes in the book I talk about is this notion of discovering your renewable energy, which means, like, you know, and I say this like, there's no such thing as retirement.

A person may retire from their job, but they don't retire from life.

I said that, you know, the Jews may have not got into Egypt.

If Moses was in aarp, would have been down in Florida.

He didn't start his career till he was 80 years old.

You know, so there's always more.

We actually just honored a woman in our community with an award called the Chai Award, which is life.

And one of the things she said to me, Rabbi, I'm 89 years old, but I'm just getting started, you know, like, there's a lot to do.

Yeah.

So agree with that.

Okay, so what about.

So two things that I see around me often with some people is people playing life safe.

Right.

Or staying where they're at, even when they have dreams, even when they want to do other things because it feels safer than taking a risk.

Right.

To actually stepping into what maybe God's calling them.

So what would you share with us about that?

I would say, look, I mean, I think you're 100% correct.

The greatest moments in life where you move from your comfort zone to your growth zone, you know, and I think that one of the ways that I encourage people to move outside their comfort zone is to look back on their own life.

Nobody really has never taken risks.

They've always gone to places where maybe they didn't really know too many people, or they're taking a job.

They're not 100% certain, but they were able to do it.

And using those experiences to fortify us, to say, you know, what great things can happen, but know, number one, that you've done it before and you can do it again.

And number two, God's walking with you here.

And I believe strongly that if that opportunity is there, it's God almost like whispering in your ear, saying, jump, you know?

And, you know, that's really part of what God is saying.

I know you can do it.

That's why I'm giving you this opportunity.

So sometimes, by the way, we believe less in ourselves than God believes in us.

So I think that's another third component, which is, you know, when you wake up in the morning, again, in Jewish tradition, but you don't have to be Jewish, you say two things.

Thank you, God, that I'm alive, and thank you, God, for believing in me that you know, that I have something to accomplish.

So when you fill your soul with that knowledge and that consciousness, it does put a little bit of, you know, wind beneath your wings and helps you fly.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

One quote or.

Yeah.

Quote that I really like by a pastor is your comfort zone is the greatest enemy of God's miracle zone.

Right.

Because say that again.

I like that.

Sorry.

It's your.

Your comfort zone is the greatest enemy of God's miracle zone.

Wow.

You know, and that one hit me when I heard it, because you're like, ah, right.

Like, how many of us have gotten used to being comfortable, Right.

Instead of, like, getting uncomfortable a little bit or going beyond what we were going to do or, you know, like you said, talking to a gentleman, that's like, will you buy me dinner?

Some people would have ignored him.

But you learn, right, to get a little uncomfortable, and then there's a miracle on the other side of that.

And so, you know, I think that that's.

But it takes practice, right?

That takes, like you said earlier, using our muscle.

Right.

To.

To do more of those things.

Yeah, yeah, I remember.

Yeah, I remember one of the things I was gonna say earlier when we were talking about anxiety, it was that so often.

And I know Pastor Mark Batterson, I know, talks about this a lot in his books, but it's that so many times we focus on our problems, more on the person, you know, the God that's above and bigger and capable of our problems.

Right.

In other words, kind of like David and Goliath.

But we were focused on the, oh my gosh, I have this thing or this diagnosis or my marriage is in on the rocks.

But instead of focusing on, like, how can God be a part of this and help me through it, we focus on the problem.

And I think it's when we shift that somewhat, you know, we start focusing on the Creator.

Right.

That can, can do all things, that things shift.

But we can't keep, like you said, staying in an anxious state.

We have to start learning how to, you know, focus on, you know, God in the world and how we can be a part of that.

Yeah.

One of the verses that speaks to me a lot is the very beginning of Jeremiah where, you know, God says to him, I need you to be on this mission.

I want you to go speak to the people.

And he basically kind of shirks from that responsibility.

He feels he's not up to it and he's feeling he doesn't want to move outside his comfort zone.

And God says to him something which I think is important for us to think about.

He says.

He says, I knew you before you were you, I knew you in the womb, and I know that you're capable of this.

And if this is the mission that's there, you know, trust me on this.

This is really, you know, what your destiny is.

And you can move through this even though you may not feel it, but I know you have the capacity to do it.

And most challenges that we have, and this is again, a more faith oriented approach.

But I believe it is that God gives us these challenges to reveal our potential.

Like somebody says, I want to run a, you know, I want to be able to bench press £250.

You can't dream it to happen.

You have to start, you have to work.

And the same thing, like, just put the foot forward, move outside the comfort zone.

Just walk with God and once you walk into the sea, God will create miracles for you and everything will start split living.

Oh, absolutely.

I mean, I think that's a thing like practicing act of faith is God is saying to us, I don't, I'm not going to often act before you take a step.

Right.

Until you show me that you trust me and that you're willing to walk forward.

Right.

I mean, in other words, that's when so many times the miracles happen, is when we actually say yes to God first.

Yeah, exactly.

It's not only saying yes, it's actually acting.

Right.

That's what I'm saying.

It's taking the action.

It's being active.

Yeah, I love.

Okay, so here's a question for you, and we'll.

We'll get towards wrapping up here soon.

I have three young adult sons.

They're all at home.

One's in college, one just graduated, one's working, but looking for kind of that, you know, career job starting out.

But I.

What I see with a lot of young people, and I'm sure you do, since you're, you know, at a congregation things, is a lot of them seem a bit aimless.

They maybe don't really see that they have real worth or purpose in a higher level.

Now, obviously, I know other ones that do, but I just see it kind of.

Some of the younger generations I see in some of them.

So what would you just share with us?

How do we encourage them in a greater way?

How.

What message can we share with them to try to encourage them, you know, as they're maturing in their lives and hopefully in their faith?

So it's actually interesting.

I've been thinking about that a lot.

I'm in the process right now of writing something related to this.

There's an author named Scott Galloway who kind of speaks about this a little bit, that particularly with young men who are kind of lacking that purpose.

And I do think that, you know, a reorientation towards faith, I do think will give people a stronger sense of purpose.

I mean, at the end of the day, when somebody knows that it's not just about me, but then I'm called to something higher.

And it has nothing to do with how much I accumulate.

It has nothing to do with how many likes that I have or what other people think.

But if I know that I am focused on an audience of one, and I know that God loves me, and I know that I have something unique to accomplish today unlike anybody else in the universe.

What I find is even if a young person doesn't feel like doing something kind, when they do it, it actually begins to awaken that spirit within them.

And they find renewed purpose when they lead a life that is aligned not with what they want to do, but what God is calling them to do.

And I think strong mentorship is important.

Not saying that all of a sudden he will have to be these major believers, but knowing that there's transcendent purpose to my life and you need to also, someone said, you know, show me your friends and I'll show you your Future.

It's really important for anybody but young men to be surrounded by people that also are faith oriented, optimistic, purpose driven.

You know, if they're surrounded by people that are just wasting their time, that will bring them down too.

So finding ways to surround yourself or as a parent, encouraging them to do good works and people that are not, you know, just focus on I need to make money or something like that, but really leading a life of, of, of difference, then that lifts them up a little bit.

So good.

Okay, so God bless you and your family and your kids.

Thank you.

Yeah, I mean, I have them all at different levels of their faith at the moment, you know, but that's, that's a navigation that many parents walk through.

Okay, so what would just be maybe the last thought or two you want to share with us?

Just to encourage the listeners, I would.

Say that, you know, going back to the very beginning, you know, we talked about a world that's oftentimes too crazy and we don't think about it.

So there's a story that lives within me.

There was a 94 year old Italian man who was on a ventilator for a number of months.

And thank God he survived.

And on the way out of the hospital, the doctor gave him a bill for a ventilator for one day.

The insurance covered everything except for the one day.

And he started to cry.

And the doctor said to me, you're crying because you don't have enough money to pay the bill for the ventilator.

He said, I do.

I have all the money I need.

But I've been breathing God's air for free for 94 years and now I know how much one day's breath is worth.

So every day is truly a beautiful gift.

And live in this moment, ask yourself, you know your why God put you here.

To spread your light, to make a difference.

And just try every day just to make a difference in somebody's life and to take a step and celebrate the day.

Then I think our days will be not just days that go by, but truly long days, days that are worthy of memory.

And each one of us together can really bring a lot of light to that the world.

Absolutely.

Okay, so last question.

What.

What is fueling you right now?

Your faith or just life right now?

It can be fun, it can be, you know, faith based, whatever you want.

What was the first question?

What?

What is what?

So what is fueling you right now?

Like the podcast is called Faith Fueled Living, so.

Oh yeah, sure.

What's feeling me right now is wow, besides a muffin that I'm eating.

No, what's feeling me.

What's feeling me right now is like just knowing that.

I mean, I get inspired by just the small moments that give me that fuel every day.

Like when I, when I realized I just spent a little bit of extra time I didn't expect today, thank God, I'm blessed with 13 grandchildren and a few of them live locally.

And my daughter needed me to pick up my granddaughter from school and I thought I was just going to take her home, but she came into my house and we just like hung out.

And that fuels me, those moments like, that's so when you can just really be present for others, those moments of listening and sharing love unconditionally without expectation of anything in return.

I find that that gives me a lot of fuel.

I love it.

All right, so Rabbi, where do you want, if people want to learn more about your books and your radio show and just kind of what you're up to, what's the best place to connect with you?

Sure, they can go to my website, rabbidanielcohen.com and you can certainly reach out to me.

We're starting our next cohort that are focused on leading a life of legacy in the Legacy Academy.

So I'm happy to share more about that and that's the best way through the website.

Wonderful.

Well, thank you for just being such a light and a blessing in the world to so many people through your congregation, through your speaking, your talking, and just, you know, all you're doing in the world.

So thank you again for joining us.

My pleasure.

Thanks for the opportunity.

Before I wrap up today's episode, I did want to let you know that if this episode spoke to you, I have a great free download for you that you can go grab@kristenfitch.com called joy rising.

It's a daily check in for gratitude, joy and God's presence.

This is a daily journal page that you can start writing down what you're grateful for each day, where God's moved in your day, and what has brought you joy.

Because when we focus on the presence of God being grateful, everything in our life shifts and we start to be able to see God moving and working through us.

So head over to KristinFitch.com and go to my workbook page and you can grab the Joy Rising workbook.

As I wrap up today's episode, I just want to share a few other things with you.

The first is a quote by Bruce Wilkinson from his book, you were born for this, which says we're never more fully alive and complete than when we experience God working through us and in spite of us in a way that changes someone's life right before our eyes.

Nothing compares to the wonder of seeing God's goodness and glory break through and knowing we played a part in it.

Right?

That really gets to the heart of the conversation today.

And then another one actually that Rabbi Cohen shared in his book is a quote by Oscar Wilde which says to live is the rarest thing in the world.

Most people exist.

That is all.

And that is the point, right?

We want to live lives of legacy.

We want to live lives of impact.

We want to live lives of meaning and to show up in purpose each day on the missions that God is giving us and that he is waiting for us to say yes to and then taking action.

Also, I want to paraphrase Mark Batterson in the book Chase the Lion says this is part of what he says in the Lion Chasers Manifesto.

Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death.

Set God sized goals, pursue God given passions, become part of the solution.

Start creating the future.

So those quotes all just kind of hit me and I wanted to share them based on today's episode.

I also want to share a couple questions with you, some of which we might have alluded to today on the episode and then some that we didn't get to.

So these are some questions that are noted in Rabbi Cohen's book, which I'll note again, which is what will they say about you when you're gone?

Sorry, Creating a life of legacy.

Okay, so here are some of the questions that you can write down and really reflect on and think about.

Am I truly happy in living a life of impact?

And by truly happy, what I'm talking about is Rabbi Cohen talks about this for a minute in his book, the book called Top Regrets, the Top five Regrets of the Dying by Ronnie Ware.

But basically one of the top regrets is that people didn't they regret not living a life that they wanted to live a life that was true to themselves.

Instead they were living the life someone else kind of encouraged them to live, whether it was their parents or whether it was their family or society kind of encouraging them.

They needed to have a certain job, they need to have a certain status.

And so that's the first question.

So when I say truly happy, right, I'm really talking about doing what we were uniquely made to do and what we feel pulling at our heart to do in the world.

Next question.

Is, am I spending time on what's important or what is urgent?

So often we alluded to this in the episode.

So often we get caught in the urgent, the busyness, the to do list, what's right in front of me, and we miss making sure that we're doing stuff that's important, that has eternal or lasting impact in the world.

The next is, am I building something that outlasts me?

And this can be right when we're talking about legacy.

But we, our legacy will be both people, right?

How did we leave our families?

What did we teach them?

How did we show up for them?

But then also, are we mentoring people?

Right?

Are we showing up into our friendships, our communities?

Right?

Like, but then it's also, are we building something that outlasts me?

That can be a thing, like a book.

It could be that we donated towards something, right?

That's going to still last.

It can be so many things.

Next question is, how do I want to be remembered?

Obviously, Rabbi Cohen talks about this in the episode, but we do need to ask ourselves that.

Because if we never ask that question before we get near the end of life, there won't be any time at that point.

So we need to ask it now, regardless of what age we're currently at.

And then another question we need to ask ourselves, both as we reverse engineer our lives, but also on a regular basis.

Am I leaving the world a better place?

If you enjoyed today's episode, if you could leave a rating review on Apple Podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts, it helps the show get discovered by more people so that we can continue to uplift and encourage people in their faith journey as well as all of the other parts of their lives.