2026 New Year’s Resolution: Kabbalah Mind Shift For Appreciating Life, Peace and Creating Joy From Disappointment

My mother, a Holocaust survivor and daughter of a Kabbalist rabbi from a small town in pre World War II Poland, had a unique outlook on life. It is not unusual that looking back on my childhood and younger adulthood that I realize now her wisdom was rooted in Kabbalah. I just did not know then. I wrote a previous New Year’s blog about my mother and feelings of gratitude. Rereading it reminded me of the wonderful generational life lessons she instilled in me every day that she had learned from her Kabbalist rabbi father. At the cusp of 2026, it is worth reading “2017 New Year’s Resolutions Focusing on Feelings That Span A Lifetime Will Bring us Joy.”

With the current chaos in the world, and the daily uncertainty of life, leading to great personal disappointments, I find that I am repeating my Mother’s Kabbalah principles to my children and grandchildren. I find that they are applying more frequently to my own life.

It is not the wisdom of old age this time, it is the wisdom of centuries of a mind shift for appreciating life, peace, and looking forward to future joy from disappointment and pain.

The principle that is the Kabbalah mind shift is:

“If it didn’t work out, it wasn’t meant for you and God will give you something better.”

At the end of this blog post are the Kabbalist and Biblical sources for this principle.

What I say when I try to explain it to my grandchildren is that I call it Kabbalah LAND.

The disappointment means it is not right for you. You will land in the place that is meant for you and God will give you something better. When a family member did not get the job they wanted after interviewing with several members of the company, I opined that God has determined that this is not the place for you. In some way, it must not be a good fit. Now the door is open to finding the fit that is out there for you, the place that you’re going to land. My “modern version of the principle: Kabbalah LAND.

What a wonderful mind shift. Yes, you can acknowledge the disappointment. The disappointment can hurt. However, looking forward to the future rather than looking backward to the painful past, looking to opportunity, is really a very healthy mind shift. Kabbalah LAND.

With college acceptances or rejections on the horizon, I remind my high school grandchildren that there are so many factors that go into the decision-making of the universities and colleges, as so much work and effort went into their choices. If a rejection comes, it probably is not the right place for you. It is probably not a good fit in God’s work. You are going to love the university or college you ultimately attend. It is going to be the one that is your choice and the university or college has determined will be a successful journey for you. Yes, you are not happy, and maybe presently miserable that you didn’t get into your first choice, or maybe not even your second choice, but you are going to love the university or college you attend. Kabbalah LAND.

It was very fortunate and coincidental that a perfect example recently happened that explained Kabbalah LAND to my almost adult grandchildren. Fortunately, it was a minor disappointment, making it an easier life lesson to swallow.

I am accompanying four 19 and 20-year-olds, including two who are my grandchildren, to Paris for the first time for most of them. I decided to stay in an Airbnb for the first time in my life.

I found the perfect Airbnb in the perfect location with a gorgeous view of the Eiffel Tower. The young adults loved it. I found it several months ago. However, I had to wait for second semester finals schedule at college to come out.

When the finals schedule finally came out, the Airbnb was booked for the dates we needed. I think I was most disappointed of all.

Then, as I have trained my mind to shift, although I personally didn’t believe it, the Airbnb that we ultimately would end up in, would be the one that was perfect for us. We would land where we were meant to land. Kabbalah LAND.

After another disappointment, I was choosing between three other alternatives, none of which, in my mind were as good as the first two that booked before I could get to them.

The third person responded almost immediately after I put in the request, and accepted. He responded again, almost immediately when I asked for early check- in, and said, of course.

Yes, it was a little farther away from the tourism center of Paris, but only an additional twenty minute walk. I am going with young people and an extra twenty minute walk in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, Paris, where there is something wonderful to look at on every street, is not a chore.

The apartment is truly the best of all of the dozens that I looked at. It is perfect for us. Where we ultimately landed, God was watching out for us. Kabbalah LAND.

Having the faith that the future is one that is better and what is intended for us, is not only Kabbalah, but what Judaism is for the Jewish people. How God has watched over us.

I have told the story of Australian friends that I made on a recent tour to Eastern Europe, a Jewish heritage tour. Like me, they are children of Holocaust survivors. When I met them, they asked me a question. “What is a Jew?”

I looked at them quizzically. They said that they had recently been in Israel and that was a big sign in a museum. They said the answer was, “Someone who knows how to pack quickly.“

Wow! In every civilization, and every generation, Jews have been persecuted, killed, and ultimately, expelled, where they’ve had to leave with nothing, and go onto an uncertain future and an uncertain place. I understand the trauma of that experience. It is horrific.

But, did my parents come to America with me as a baby with fear and disappointment? No, my mother, Holocaust survivor and daughter of a Kabbalist rabbi, knew it was God’s will.

Leaving a displaced persons’ camp in Germany, we were going to end up in a place that was a much better place for us as Jews. A place that was safe for us, at least for the time being.

We were going to land where we were intended to land. Kabbalah LAND. My father said that when he got off the ship in New York, he kissed the ground of America. Kabbalah LAND.

I hope I have given you a tool from the centuries that can make the year 2026 a better place for you and those you love. When disappointments happen this year, and they will, know that part of living life includes overcoming disappointments and pain. However, with a mind shift, that there is something is out there that is better for you, that where you are meant to land will come. Kabbalah LAND.

Welcome to 5786 years of the survival of the Jewish people. Try the mind shift in 2026! Kabbalah LAND. It has served me and us well with

Joy,

Mema

If you are interested or inclined, post this message for New Year 2026 on Face Book, pass this post on, not only to the parents of your grandchildren and your grandchildren, but also to five family members, friends or colleagues close to you. 

Hopefully, they will consider this mind shift as a 2026 New Year’s resolution for themselves.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE KABBALAH SOURCES of the principle, here is some of what I found, paraphrased from Chat GPT and other research:

“If it didn’t work out, it wasn’t meant for you—God has something better” is not a direct quote from any sacred Kabbalistic text. It is modern phrasing that has its source in several core Kabbalist and classical Jewish phrases understood through Kabbalistic lenses.

1. The Zohar (Primary Kabbalah Source}

2. Kabbalistic soul-purpose theory

3. Talmudic Foundation

4. Biblical Verses Interpreted Kabbalistically

Here is more detail of where the principle comes from.

1.The Zohar (Primary Kabbalistic Source)

Kabbalah is rooted mainly in the Zohar, the 13th century commentary of the Jewish mystical tradition of Kabbalah, which teaches that:

Nothing happens randomly

Every event is part of Divine Providence

Apparent loss or obstruction often conceals a future correction (tikkun)

A central idea from the Zohar is:

“A descent is for the sake of an ascent”

Meaning: what feels like rejection, delay, or disappointment is often preparing space for a higher outcome that could not occur otherwise.

The Zohar repeatedly states that when something is withheld, it is because:

It does not belong to your soul-root, or

It is not the correct time or vessel yet

This underlies the idea that what passes you by was never truly yours.

2. Kabbalistic soul-purpose theory

Kabbalah teaches that certain things in life—especially relationships, purpose, and spiritual opportunities—are tied to one’s tikkun, individual spiritual correction, healing one’s own soul for personal growth, with the divine purpose to contribute to the larger repair of the world (tikkun olam)

If something falls away, Kabbalists explain that:

It was not aligned with your soul’s ultimate tikkun,

Or it belonged to a temporary stage, not your final destination

3. Talmudic Foundation (Not Kabbalah, but Influential)

The Talmud is a central text of Rabbinic discussions on law, ethics, philosophy and customs. The Talmud is a vast compilation that is considered second in authority only to the Hebrew Bible. The famous statement in Berakhot 60b:

“Gam zu l’tovah” “This too is for the good”

The Torah is the divine text, “the what,” while the Talmud is the human interpretation and application, the “how,” providing the legal and eithial framework for Jewish life based on that text, a safeguard and a guide.

Kabbalah expands this idea beyond optimism into cosmic necessity:

If something ended, it had to end for the higher plan to unfold.

4. Biblical Verses Interpreted Kabbalistically

Kabbalists rely heavily on these verses (though they are not explicitly Kabbalistic

themselves):

Ecclesiastes 3:1“For everything there is a time and a purpose under heaven.”

Proverbs 16:9 “A person plans his way, but God directs his steps.”

Psalms 37:23 “The steps of a person are established by God.”

Kabbalah interprets these to mean:

What doesn’t continue was never meant to reach completion in your life.

The principle that is the Kabbalah mind shift is:

“If it didn’t work out, it wasn’t meant for you and God will give you

something better.”