Conscience

 Wouldn't it be wonderful to not have a nagging conscience?  If only all those incessant voice that disturb our sleep and taunt us in our waking hours would disappear!  The unearthly racket that goes on in the mind can be deafening!

Medicines can help.  There is pharmacological cornucopia of drugs that can take the edge off life.  With a bevy of people practically waiting in line to fill out a prescription for what ails us, we do not need to suffer needlessly.  Perhaps you have seen the pictures on tv.  First there is a black and white shot of a depressed adult moping over life.  In the next picture appears a content well-adjusted smiling person in color that has been healed.

Our faith knows and understands that life is difficult.  Rabbi Yose ben Hanina was bemoaning the afflictions of the world when he remembered the verse from isaiah that said, "Then would Your peace be as a river, and Your righteousness as the waves of the sea..."  48:18 berachot 6a

Since we have a conscience; since we remember the bad things we have said and we sometimes coddle the nasty things others have done to us; since day-mares turn into nightmares and seem to have no end; and since we all suffer from the same malaise, it is good to give our best effort to triumphing over despair.
 

The Hafetz Hayim woke up one chilly morning to say Shacharit, the morning prayers.  The yetserhara routed him and said, "Why are you up so early?  You are already an old man.  Go back to bed; it's cold outside.
The Hafetz Hayim replied, "You are a lot older than me and you are up already."