Count, shine, story
My brother shared a blog of things…
Cut out sugar, white flower and caffeine. Journal every day. Do something scary every day. Eat 20g of protein. Make up with your parents. OMG and the list goes on and on…
At first the pressure and the demands of this blog, the things that one would need to do to live this happy life can make you unhappy just from the thought if it!
Then I got to thinking that it’s not an everything or nothing game, but rather it’s about investment.
Whatever you’re invested in is what will occupy your heart, mind, words and actions.
If you’re a sports fan then you wake up in the morning and want to know the latest scores. You break for lunch and find out which game is coming up. You look for opportunities to go to the stadium and watch your favorite team. You get together with likewise passionate people and watch games together.
If you are a passionate real estate investor you explore the latest deals. You read the blogs and the newspapers. You’ll explore the next big opportunity and research interest rates. You’ll hang out with people who are likewise invested so you can learn new techniques and idea to maximize your dollars.
In other words, what you are passionate about feeds what you do and what you do feeds your passion.
Similarly, what you invest in spiritually will impact the kind of things you do and in turn your passion will be fired up spiritually by what you do.
If you wake up in the morning and learn chasidus you’ll daven with more spiritual passion. In turn you will look at the world in a more refined manner. Then you’ll eat morning breakfast in a more purposeful and spiritually conscious manner. Your interactions at work will be more patient, more calm and you will rise above the pettiness of the things that otherwise may get under your skin.
During your lunch break you’ll want to read an essay or listen to a class of a spiritual nature. You’ll incorporate those ideas into the afternoon as the day wears on and you become more worn out and you’ll be energized again to make the most of the hours left.
When you come home from work you’ll be happy to see your loved ones. You’ll be more present. When you sit together to eat dinner the conversation will revolve around how everyone made meaning of their day. You’ll shift the conversation to talking about ideas instead of people and things.
As the evening sets in you’ll spend your time in intellectual and spiritual pursuits, studying, reading, doing things of long lasting value.
Before you sleep you’ll reflect or journal (as I’m doing now) on how grateful you are for your blessings and how much you benefited from having a G-d and spiritually focused day. You’ll resolve to do the same the next day only better, deeper, more connected.
With that you’ll recite the bedtime Shema and you’ll drift off into a meaningful sleep which will birth a new day of purpose and spirituality.
In this light it’s not about what you need to do as much as what is it your invested in. When you are invested and passionate in and about leading a fulfilled life you don’t feel pressure from the things you need to do to achieve this goal. It’s your passion after all.
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During the period between Pesach and Shavuot we count the Omer. In Hebrew the word to count is Sefira. The root word also means sapphire – to shine and sipur – to tell or story.
When you’re days are filled with passion for leading a spiritual and G-dly life, when you count your days to make meaning out if each one, then your days shine and then tell a story. It’s a story of purpose, meaning, happiness, light, joy, family, love and alll the other things we yearn for.
Have a great Shabbos!
