Including me on the Daily To-do List

I read a book recently and many others are also laughing and learning their way through it, Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, a woman’s guide to everything.

The other day while working with a client I recommended the book to her. As I said the title I began to think of the words as a mantra and offered this idea to her. Now I put Eat-Pray-Love on the top of my daily list as a ‘must do’. I see this as a way of including Me in my day.

Eat by filling myself during the day with delicious, nutritious, fulfilling experiences so that I am satisfied in all four worlds even when I watch the news I am living in this world not avoiding the pain of others and
Pray by being grateful for each breath and for the others who may be in a narrow place, taking time to meditate on the thirteen attributes of G!D and remembering to bless each morsel I place in my mouth and for the ability to walk, talk, think and release from my body, mind and heart everything that I do not need to carry with me and
Love which brings a smile to my face surrounding myself by love inside and out only can relax me into the moment instead of leaning forward into the next second. My mother was watching me read at her table the other day and commented how happy it made her to see me sitting so upright. So all this practice maybe working. Halleluyah! And may everyone be so blessed!
Blessing of the Vav: including you in your life is being soul-full.

Being One, Devekute

Being one means we are never separate
My yearning is about joy not pain
Being one means physical distance is an illusion
So why let the mind win?
Being one means today is yesterday was tomorrow
Being one means I am you and you are I
How can I ever doubt Your love for me or mine for you?
Being one means space allows us to be
Forever young, old, born again into me
Being one means treating me as I treat You
With patience, love, curiosity and as not the enemy

Gates of Tears and Teshuvah

Life, birth and death and everything in between, is dynamic and continuous.

Hebrew Wisdom teaches that the Gates of Tears are always open as is our opportunity to do teshuvah return to our true self and G!D.

Are the gates of tears only for tears of sadness, hopelessness?

Can the tears be of joy of coming home? Can they be both? Remembering Hagar in the desert I ask ‘Does one bring us to another? ‘

Perhaps we cry out of fear, loneliness and sorrow and the result is teshuvah, of returning to the Path and a coming home to emet, the truth, and realizing we are at One-ment with our G!D all the time.

Perhaps that is experiencing a zivug, a holy relationship, as Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik writes of in Lonely Man Of faith; G!D was lonely for us as we were experiencing our loneliness.

So I will cry, whine and emote all my feelings GW they are the path to the open Gates of Tears, to joy in my heart and Home.

Society of the Vav
20 Tishrei 5768
Hol Hamoed Succot

Step Three: Setting Intentions

Several years ago I had the thought that setting goals was not getting me where I needed to be. I spoke this out loud to a friend I admire and she agreed. I decided I needed to listen to what has been referred to as an inner sense of knowing. I did not realize I had just begun a learning curve process.

In Hebrew wisdom the word kavanah means intention and is given much power by the sages. They taught that setting an intention created reality, what we want to happen. Intention has become important in my life. I have been testing to see if when I set an intention it really does happen. In the documentary 'What the Bleep Do We Know' Dr. Joe, one of the physicians talks about setting intentions and then checking at the end of the day to see if it happens. It is way of checking to see if I am in the rhythm of my life.

I set intentions by listening to the voice of my heart and my body. Some may say intuition. The goals I set come from the head. Intentions come from within me where if I go directly to goals first they are often externally driven. Of course that may be too general a statement. I have been practicing setting intentions first and then see the ease in which the goals evolve. Most often intentions are not measurable and the mind needs completion, checking off lists or getting an external validation.

When I take the time to be still and listen deeply I draw on information that energizes and move me forward. When I take the time to be introspective and look at my life from a distance I can begin to see my life reflecting what is important to me already. I just have to pay attention to my life.

Protecting the Heart

It is written twice in the Bible to 'circumcise your heart'. The first time it is a command, the second time it is written that the Divine will remove the covering of your heart. I wonder 'why two times?' Perhaps, many of us walk around bandaged up in order to protect our heart and to keep us emotionally safe. Some Mussar teachers say circumcising the heart is the beginning of a spiritual initiation.

When I protect my heart I am not able to access the wisdom of the heart and make decisions for my life that could make the world the better place. I are not relying on my true self that rests in a higher good place. I am not as creative, spontaneous or lovable.

Recently I have read Jerry and Esther Hicks, Steve Siebold, Rosamond and Benjamin Zander and Appreciative Inquiry have written about this with different words; yet all refer to the power of emotions and its relationship to words creating worlds. Beliefs and values are the key drivers for getting work done. Intentions set by knowing our beliefs and values can only bring me to a higher purpose.

When I set goals without intention I do this from the mind who is cut off from the heart. I am not paying attention to the body, the feelings and the wisdom that tell me what is important. I am also not using my whole brain, just the right side that makes analytical decisions. To have a mochin de'gadlute, a big mind, broaden consciousness and be more inclusive being mindful of al the elements is useful.

Why am I here? What is purpose in coming to work? I come to work for many reasons; to get a paycheck, I like what we do, I am learning and the camaraderie of the workplace gives a place of connecting with community. I come to have fun. I want to be energized. I want to play cooperatively with you. I want to be stimulated. I want my life to have meaning.

Goals are set and completed in the physical world of doing. Intentions are set and carried out through being aware of the emotional world and world of thought and Spirit.

to be continued

Love yourself, she needs you!

Blessings of Awareness
Several years ago on a trip home from a very holy visit to Boulder, Colorado, I found this note stuck on the back of the door in a bathroom stall at Denver airport.

I believe there are no accidents and that this was a message for me and everyone else who saw it. And I know it is a universal message and up to the perceiver to discern what the words mean to them. That is my job to figure out how to uncover my heart and let me in. The Buddhist writer and poet Stephen Levine writes that letting yourself back into your heart is how we heal.

I frequently find myself giving to or caring for someone in my community or family. I am realizing that is often easier than giving attention to me. And I am trying more to be the receiver and the giver in a relationships. I am practicing with my daughters Andrea and Ilana to let go and see them as the capable, strong independent young women able to care for themselves and their family and I do not have to tell them how to do it. Just be there when they need me. Most people I know take very good care of themselves. The piece to remember for me is to include myself in the category of 'who I care for.'

Spiritual Challenge
I can always open my heart and let myself in just a little bit more. I am always surprised all that fits within this little organ that sits in the middle of my universe.

The Vav reminds me that there is an always an opportunity to come home to your heart.

Spiritual Practice
One way to do that is to have more fun. So I joined the museum so I can go any time. I take time to listen to my heart and give her what she wants, food, rest, laughter, fun, friendships.

Treating myself as if I were my own lover, friend, neighbor, child, spouse is one way of creating a balance in my life and not leaving me out of getting attention-love that I need. I whine less, too.

Inclusion

Inclusion seems to be a catch word lately; inclusive community, let us not leave any one out, make sure everyone is heard.

Perhaps the Society of the Vav is a similar venue.

In meditation I try to notice everything and yet not get caught by any thought, feeling, emotion. I am noticing and letting go as all of life is changing; if I hold onto anyone piece I will miss out on the next that arises. I would not want to do that only if I am into suffering and am sure I have found the gold nugget that will save the world and I often do that.

When I do not let the hold button keep the mind in one place for too long then I do not suffer too long and I am allowing the natural state of being on my soul...joy...to arise. I find that smiling is so much more freeing than the seriousness of how I started writing down these words.

So what makes this Society of the Vav so important to write about if everyone else is noticing the importance of inclusion. Perhaps she is another element to help us awaken to the thought importance that we need each other. If the great Ari is correct and there is not one moment in time that is like another and therefore we are each unique then each of us is necessary in the repairing of the world and each one of us carries our unique spark to brighten the world.

Step Two: Be humble

Update, day of the evening of Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan, 5770: today I would write about this differently and i can see that i am changing and growing as my perspective is broader. I would support what I had written and today I would have more words to support this as i study Musar and the first Middot, humilty. I am aware of holding the tension that my shyness does not serve me and it is not all about me. The place of holding these two opposites is within the paradox of the value of humility as defined by Hebrew Wisdom.
'Your shyness does not serve you' is what my teacher sings about. Being humble is not about making yourself small. It is a combination of being confident on the outside and knowing your connection to the Source on the inside.

This is a work in progress. I am not sure how to write about this at this time however I am sure it is an important part of the process of being a leader who can make the world a better place.

I wanted to write don't be arrogant however that is a negative and I am trying to re-enforce the positive. Remember: the Mystery, your Source, G!D, all that is may not be seen.

So what does this have to do with paradox and meditation and leadership. 'Pass the ball three times before you shoot' is what the coach in Hoosiers told his star player who loved to make those three pointers from outside the key. Enable your impulse control. Work together, it is not just about you.

We need each other in this huge task of healing the world and making the world a better place.