“With strength and determination of the heart, against the impulse to evil that causes your body to feel heavy and makes you lazy, from the Animal Soul’s element of earth.”
– The Practical TANYA: Likutei Amarim, middle of ch. 25
If we attribute our laziness, strictly to ourselves, then we may view our laziness as a character trait of the self. From where within ourselves will we draw upon, to challenge ourselves to do better? Our negative character traits stand against us. Yet, if we attribute laziness to the impulse that is derived from the “animal soul,” then we should rely on the power of our “godly soul,” that part of us that contains a reservoir of good, originating with a connection to G-d.
In this fashion, we may overcome the sense of lethargy that the “element of earth” from the animal soul causes us to feel. From the perspective of environmental terms, somewhat “outside of the box,” all things in this world eventually tend towards entropy; this is in accordance with the natural cycles of the Earth. Yet, our godly soul is the part of us that transcends olam hazeh (this world); thus, we may potentially defeat the inertia of our soul, by relying on our connection to G-d.
- based upon the TANYA: Likutei Amarim, middle of ch. 25
The Tree of Life 