Advice In Latin

One thing I noticed on this trip is the lack of menuchas hanefesh people have. People seem always to be rushing somwhere and don't live the moment. It is very hard for people to just "be". When conversing with someone you can often get the feeling that they have to GO. When I give a shiur there are always people who rush in late, people who have to leave early and an undercurrent of pressure to "keep it short". Even on Shabbos people seem to be unsettled and rushing somewhere. No phone, no blackberry, but still... AHHHHH the phone I mentioned? Invasive, bothersome, yet ubiquitous. The blackberry, always busy making sure its owner is not where he actually is but in some far off place.

A "moifes" [miracle]! The Rebbe Shlita. He is busy about 20 hours a day. His phone doesn't stop ringing. He has weeks worth of people waiting to speak to him for five minutes. He is constantly finishing mesechtos, going through sefarim and giving shiurim. He has his own large family. Etc. etc. YET I HAVE NEVER IN MY LIFE SPOKEN TO A PERSON WHO GIVES ME THE FEELING HE IS COMPLETELY WITH ME WHEN I TALK TO HIM AS HE DOES. It is like the world stops and all he cares about are the words that come out of my mouth. He NEVER gives me the feeling he is rushed [I have spoken with him countless times]. He doesn't nervously glance at his watch, he makes eye contact and doesn't look around giving me the feeling that what is "there" is more interesting than what is "here" [i.e. me].

Another example - Rav Yaakov Katz Shlita. When I would speak with him he made me feel that he was so completely with me. Calm, relaxed, as if he had all the time in the world [despite his extremely busy schedule].

But the average person seems so "not here". Always rushing from place "a" to place "b" only so that he can then rush to place "c". Ad infinitum. WHERE IS THE DESTINATION WHERE HE WILL FINALLY JUST RELAX AND "BE"???

Here, beloved friends, is the kicker. I often speak to people about THEMSELVES AND THEIR OWN ISSUES AND LIFE and THEY seem to be rushing to go. Where are you rushing to??? Is there some subconscious fantasy that somewhere else you will find paradise?? Paradise, tyere yidden, is precisely where you build it. The best place is your internal world. This way you take paradise with you wherever you go.

PLEASE: When you are davening, be completely with Hashem. When learning, focus on that page as if nothing exists in the universe except that page - not even the next page. [Why does a person learn todays daf-yomi? So that he can get to tomorrows daf-yomi. Problem is that tomorrow he will do the same thing...]

WHEN YOU ARE WITH A PERSON TRY TO BE COMPLETELY WITH THAT PERSON. GIVE HIM OR HER THE FEELING THAT IN YOUR MIND HE/SHE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN THE UNIVERSE [BECAUSE IN A SENSE THEY ARE]. Turn off all contraptions, look the person in the eye and try to be with him/her.

In two latin words - CARPE DIEM.