June-July 2003
During the coming weeks, many of us will be making our summer
resolutions, our lists of things we’ve been wanting
to do, and may now have a chance to do with our schedules
a notch less frenetic.
Some of us have book lists, for some it might be drives
or walks or time on the lake. My colleague at Tufts, Miriam
Nelson, has been on my case to get serious about strength
building – which we are supposed to begin doing by
age 45 or 50 to offset natural muscle atrophy – so
that’s one of my resolutions.
Let me suggest one more resolution which may require, at
the outset, even less time than strength building, but which
promises to be at least as rewarding. Let’s call it
soul building. You don’t need to buy ankle weights,
you don’t need to buy a book.
All you need to do is find a quiet spot (can even be out
in nature), and promise yourself – say, 20 minutes
twice a week (Miriam Nelson’s strength training requires
45 minutes twice a week!) You might even do this together
with a loved one, but, of course, in silence.
Then, each time, after getting yourself quiet, relaxed,
and centered, allow yourself to reflect gently and calmly
but purposively on some number of the questions below. Don’t
rush. Take your time. Sink into the questions. Don’t
hesitate to scribble down notes as you reflect if that’s
your style. Do a few each time. If a question isn’t “working” for
you, isn’t taking you anywhere, let it go, and go on
to the next. Go back over those which you find most absorbing.
Here they are:
- What values and beliefs are most important to you?
Do you find yourself living these values and beliefs on
a daily
basis?
- When have you felt the greatest clarity, the clearest
understanding of your place in the universe? When have
you felt the greatest happiness and fulfillment? Try and
recapture
those moments. When was the last time you felt that way?
- With
which of your parents, grandparents, ancestors do you feel
a particular connection, and why?
- What are your feelings
about power in the world and its source?
- What does holiness
mean to you? Have you ever experienced it? When? What was
it like?
- What do you consider the greatest mysteries of
life?
- What are the types of wisdom you value most? Who are
the true wisdom figures in your life and why?
- What do you
feel best and worst about in your life? How well have you
been able to celebrate the “bests?” How
openly have you been able to speak with yourself about
the “worsts?” Do
you ever feel accepted and loved inspite of these “worsts”?
- Which
part of yourself that you do value feels, right now, farthest
from your active center?
- Who are the people about whom you
care most deeply? What are your dearest hopes for each
of them?
- What “messianic moments” can
you provide for these people, and for others in your
life?
- Who are people
in your life for whom you wish healing – of
any kind?
- To the extent that you have possessions, how do
we feel about your stewardship of them?
- Where do you find
injustice in the world?
- Where do you find genuine wickedness
in the world?
- When has someone acted as a peacemaker in
an effort to help resolve your differences with another
person?
When have
you played that role? How did these experiences
feel to you?
- For what recent events in your life would you
wish to offer thanks?
- How successful are you in
being in touch with the deepest parts of yourself?
Once we have spent time reflecting deeply on these questions,
two very important things will have happened:
a. We will find ourselves in closer touch with our deeper
selves, our core, our essence, our soul, even our God if
that is our inclination (and, the sages tell us, our relationships
with others will take on more depth and meaning); and
b. We will have proceeded through the essence of the Amidah,
sometimes referred to as the Shemoneh Esrei (18 blessings),
which has been at the core of Jewish prayer for the past
2500 years. We will have been offering the very prayers our
ancestors have prayed for generations and generations.
In addition, by the end of the summer, if we allow ourselves
this quiet time for reflection, we will be fully primed for
the Hebrew month of Elul and our pre-High Holiday random
acts of kindness - which were so important to us on Rosh
Hashanah last year. (More on that in the next newsletter.)
Why not give it a try? And let me know, if you like, how
it’s going.
B’shalom,
Jim
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