Messy Emotions

I loved this line from Rabbi Shais Taub; Feelings are not facts, but it is a fact that I have feelings.

We can’t escape the reality that we all feel.  Sometimes those feelings are super strong and can push our limits.  We can try to still the feelings, calm them down, breathe through them, but when all is said and done they very well may be right there lurking beneath the surface.

The brain on the other hand is much more disciplined.  We can think things through, make rational decisions about how we want to show up, we can think about lofty ideas, G-dly ideas, contemplate the mysteries of life.

Moach Shalit al Halev – the human is structured such that by nature the brain rules the heart. 

In a fascinating subtly in the Hebrew words of the Shema prayer which we read in this week’s Parsha, the Torah says, and you shall bind them as a sign upon your hands and they should be as a frontlet between your eyes.  The hand represents action and the head represents the mind. The hand Tefillin are placed opposite the heart as instructed in the Torah.

Here is what the Torah is telling us; your emotions may be messy and will require constant action to ensure that they are suppressed or expressed only in the healthiest manner.  And because emotions are messy, and the fact is that I have feelings, it may resurface over and over again.  Accordingly, I’ll need to take action – “you shall bind them” – to suppress it or express it in a healthy manner over and over again.

The mind on the other hand should be and can be in a perpetual state of “they should be”.  That is, that our mind can constantly be plugged in to the ideal way of living.  The mind can always be aligned with Hashem and our showing up in the best possible manner.

It is so beautiful how in this seemingly simple nuance of a verse we are given such a powerful insight into the human condition and how we can best show up to serve Hashem.

Have a wonderful Shabbos!

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