Unique: 3

Rebbe Nachman taught that when a person speaks to Hashem as if he was speaking to a person, there is an aspect of רוח הקדש, divine spirit, to his words that connect to the spirit of Mashiach. They come from a place that is unblemished.
He explained that there are certainly fine people who have never engaged in Hisbodidus. However, when Mashiach comes and invites them, they will be completely thrown off and confused. Those who have engaged in personal communication with Hashem, by contrast, will be like people who have just awakened from a good sleep. They will be alert and connected.

Unique: 2

The 70 years of the life of Dovid HaMelech were supposed to have been the final years of Adam's life. But Adam never lived those years in this world. They remained 70 years that were unsullied by his sin.

All of the service to Hashem done by Dovid and by the Tzaddikim of each generation who carry a spark of his Neshama, the spark of Moshiach, is to show people how to get to those 70 years, how to reach a place where sin does not exist.

Unique: 1

One of the ideas brought forth by Rebbe Nachman in his teaching about Hisbodidus, is that each person has his own personal and unique connection to Hashem. As the Midrash says: Moshe told the Jewish Nation, just like He is unique in the world, so too each individual has a unique way of serving Him.When you serve Him in your unique way, you will see upon yourself the glory of Hashem."
The primary way a person can express his unique approach is through Hisbodidus. In Hisbodidus he reaches the highest levels of his soul, the level called יחידה, singular, and he is joined with the One. Through Hisbodidus a person raises himself for a time to feel like Adam before the Sin. That he is completely connected to Hashem.

Moma Lushen: 3

If you don't know someone and you need to ask him for a favor you will plan out ahead of time what you are going to say. After your request is granted you will be sure to thank him immediately. A small child with his parent acts differently. He will ask without thinking about what he is saying, and he may or may not remember to thank his parent immediately. This behavior shows that there is an inner, permanent relationship.
Even though in regular prayer we have a tradition as to the proper form of prayer, but in Hisbodidus there is no order. There you can see the true nature of the relationship.
On the last Rosh HaShanah of Rebbe Nachman's life, as he was already quite ill and near death, he turned to his three year old grandson and said, "Yisroel, daven to Hashem that I should return to good health." Yisroel said, "Hashem, Hashem make my grandfather better." Some bystanders began to chuckle. Rebbe Nachman explained to them that this was the proper way to make requests of Hashem. Simply. Like a child talking to his father, or a person speaking to his good friend.

Mama Lushen: 2

There is a deeper concept underlying the idea of Mama Lushen.
When a young child speaks to his mother he speaks with no inhibitions to ask what he needs. "I'm hungry." Plain and simple.
But when he grows up and has a mind of his own he begins to think before he speaks and stops expressing himself naturally. He is careful not to say something that will contradict something he has said previously, even if he wants to say it. He may refrain from speaking at all, even if he desperately wants to, for fear that his words today may cause complications tomorrow.
This is not the world of a child. He simply says, "Do this. I'm tired. I want."
This is the idea of Mama Lushen, to speak simply what is in one's heart.
It is the language of being present.

Mama Lushen: 1

It is well known that Rebbe Nachman encouraged people to engage in personal prayer in their native language. In those places where people spoke Yiddish, he encouraged them to pray in Yiddish. He explained that when people pray in the language in which they are most comfortable, the heart is connected to his words and he can better connect to Hashem.

Elsewhere he explained that by speaking in his native Yiddish a person will find himself more inspired.

Being Faithful: 5

As a person contemplates his attitude towards Rosh HaShanah the following should enter his mind:

Hashem calls to us with great love that He desires to renew Creation. He awaits our response; for us to realize that it is our destiny as the purpose of Creation to proclaim Him as King. Why are we then selfishly just asking for life, children and sustenance and not thinking of our Father in Heaven? Why are we appearing like a child who is attempting to flatter his father in order to get the car keys?

By engaging in a Hisbodidus such as this our entire attitude towards Rosh HaShanah will change. We will realize that we hold in our own hands the very future of Creation. The whole world awaits for us to come to this realization and open the door to prayer and Teshuvah that connect to the very foundation of being.

Being Faithful: 4

Even when a person realizes that he needs to engage in a process of Teshuvah, he will often mistakenly rely on what is found in the words of our Sages as to the actions in which one must engage to succeed at Teshuvah. Even though everything they say is true and we can't ignore the pshat of what they say, but the real foundation of Teshuvah is purity of the heart, not actions. It is easy to get lost in the behavioral changes which are misdirecting him from the essential pursuit of Teshuvah, which is found in the heart.
But when a person engages in a conversation with Hashem he can see through his own mirage. He can't say to Hashem, "I did this and that for you, and I did all these good deeds in order that you should give me life, good children and plenty of money in the coming year." If he tries saying that, the following will be self-evident as well, "By the way, I wish I didn't feel that Judgement Day was upon me. This is a real nuisance and I am having to do an awful lot of work to deal with it. But, the Torah says that this is Rosh HaShanah and I am going to be judged, so I'm doing what I need to do."

Being Faithful: 3

When Rosh HaShanah comes along the main thing which Hashem desires from us is our hearts. Some people come to Rosh HaShanah with an agenda: they need to have a good year and are trying to figure out what to do to get that. They ask for forgiveness, say המלך with all their might, but their hearts are not really into it. They want to know what to do in order to be declared innocent in the Heavenly Court, so they change their ways and confess their sins and pour out their words. Hoping that after all that they will get a good judgement.
But, in a moment of truth between the person and his Creator, he might come to the realization that Hashem wants something else entirely; He wants the heart. רחמנא לבא בעי. He wants a person to be connected to Him with joy, faithfulness, completely and simply. A tiny bit of pure truth in the heart is more precious to Hashem than hundreds of good deeds that were ultimately done for ulterior motives.

Being Faithful: 2

The first person to try to make excuses to shirk responsibility was Adam. His first opportunity to take responsibility was when Hashem asked him, "Where are you?" He should have answered, "I'm hiding because I sinned." Instead he said he was afraid because he was naked. He had a chance to repent and walked away from it.
Hashem continued to dialogue and asked Adam if he had possibly eaten from the forbidden Tree. He didn't ask any more about the hiding or the fear, but directly asked him about sin. Again, rather than taking responsibility he began to blame Chava and she, the Nachash. None of this was true, they had each sinned of their own volition.
The real wrongdoing wasn't eating, it was the excuse making that followed. Hashem comes to people and asks them to return, to give Him their hearts, where do logic and reasons play a role in response?

Being Faithful: 1B

Sometimes a person may be going through life with an improper attitude about matters. Deep down he may be aware that his behavior is improper but he can manage to rationalize what he is doing and so defend himself in his own mind.
For example, he is well aware that stealing is wrong. He knows it is wrong from a Torah perspective, from a legal perspective, and simply morally wrong. However, he allows himself to rationalize that under certain circumstances stealing is permitted. Perhaps he is stealing from his employer, or taking advantage of unsuspecting customers, and in each case telling himself that for some reason it is OK.
Rationalizations only go so far. As long as a person is running around in life and allowing the tumult of life to keep him from true introspection, he can live with himself and his rationalizations.
All that stops when the person affords himself a few minutes of true Hisbodidus; true personal conversation with Hashem. When he is standing there, really looking at himself, he knows deep in his heart that the rationalizations are just that. He can't really fool himself in the depths of his being.
In that silence, when the noise of life is gone, the truth will be self-evident.

Being Faithful: 1a

If a person commits a crime, even if he knows that he is truly guilty, he can often get together with his lawyer - who also is aware of the truth - and find a legal loophole by which to be exonerated. Sometimes in our relationship with Hashem we may choose to conduct ourselves in a similar manner. We may know that our behavior is not up to par, but, based on our Torah knowledge, we create a thesis by which to defend our improper behavior.
It may be possible to fool judges and jurors who are human, but you can't fool Hashem.
When a person engages in personal prayer before Hashem, and is wanting to truly develop a relationship with Him, the person himself knows when he is being dishonest and self-deceptive. He may find himself being able to claim at other times, either to himself or to others, that his thesis is correct, but sitting privately with the One who truly knows what is going on in his heart, the person can no longer continue the charade.

One Source: 5

This concept also sheds some light on our relationship with Hashem. In davening a person should be attempting to focus fully on Hashem; to feel that he is the vessel to receive the light from Hashem. He wants to get to the point where he feels that he must have this connection and would not exchange it for anything that would diminish his relationship with Hashem.
This alluded to in Rebbe Nachman's story of the Smart Man and the Simple Man. The Smart Man, with all of his genius, kept changing from profession to profession and never discovered who he truly was and where he belonged. He ended up with nothing. The Simple Man stuck to one profession, poor as he was at it, and in the end it led him to greatness.

One Source: 4

We can now understand the idea that Rabban Gamliel shut the doors of the Yeshiva to anyone who was not the same internally as externally. He was turning away students who appeared superficially (and perhaps even in their own minds) to be seeking personal growth, but had not yet determined that the Yeshiva was the place to which they would permanently attach themselves to find that growth. The student appeared to be "getting with the program" but internally he wasn't really there.
The success of the studies is predicated on the teacher-student relationship and requires a completely trusting relationship between them. One student who is not willing to commit himself to that extent, can harm the experience for all of them.