#BlogElul 17: Awaken

I'm finally awakening to the fact that it's OK to say "no," OK to leave the office at 5 p.m. to go to a movie that won't be around long, and OK to be good to myself.

Having said that, if you have a chance to see this movie starring Patricia Clarkson and Ben Kingsley, go.

It was 90 minutes of delightful escape this evening...and boy did I ever need it!

Inspired by Ima on (and off) the Bima,this #BlogElul post is one in a series marking the days of the Hebrew month of Elul, which precedes the Jewish High Holidays and traditionally serves as a time of reflection and spiritual preparation for the new year.

#BlogElul 16: Pray

I seem to recall that one of my blogger friends once wrote a post about the ways that prayer was like exercise. When I Goggled a few different things to try to locate the post, all I came up with was a Huffington Post article by Michael Rossmann, SJ, entitled Everything I Know About Prayer I Relearned in Spin Class.

Not what I was looking for....

Nonetheless, what I remember about the original post is that it loosely compared prayer and exercise, effectively making the case that they are similar in a few key ways:

1. Both are best done on a regular basis.
2. Both take practice in order to become proficient.
3. The more you do them, the easier and more fulfilling they become.

As a regular worshiper, I agree. Having said that, though, I wonder what it is about the High Holidays that prompts others to get up off the couch to do something that must feel like running a marathon without having trained for it.

Inspired by Ima on (and off) the Bima,this #BlogElul post is one in a series marking the days of the Hebrew month of Elul, which precedes the Jewish High Holidays and traditionally serves as a time of reflection and spiritual preparation for the new year.

#BlogElul 15: Change

I've fallen behind in my #BlogElul postings because I changed my Shabbos routine yesterday. I didn't intend to make the change, but it sort of just happened because I overslept. As a result, I missed the minyan, but made it to Torah study.

I spent the afternoon and evening hanging with friends, writing, reading, and drinking iced coffee -- making for a lovely Shabbat. None of these was a big-deal change, though, and I was out of ideas for #BlogElul.

And then this article appeared on the front page of today's New York Times -- and continued for two full pages inside the first section.

Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech haolam, for creating all of humanity in Your image. Amen.

Inspired by Ima on (and off) the Bima,this #BlogElul post is one in a series marking the days of the Hebrew month of Elul, which precedes the Jewish High Holidays and traditionally serves as a time of reflection and spiritual preparation for the new year.

#BlogElul 14: Learn

Just as pocket parks -- the small green spaces tucked in alleys and alongside city buildings -- provide small oases of quiet and escape. I am on the lookout for pockets of pleasure to provide respite from the stresses of daily life. I'm learning to find them, and today I found three:

1. Iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts.

2. The Accordians Bands Festival in Bryant Park.

3. Browsing among the Japanese pens and notebooks at Kinokuniya Bookstore.

Inspired by Ima on (and off) the Bima,this #BlogElul post is one in a series marking the days of the Hebrew month of Elul, which precedes the Jewish High Holidays and traditionally serves as a time of reflection and spiritual preparation for the new year.

#BlogElul 13: Remember

Family vacations and matching paper dresses

Saturdays in Sunnyside

Almond cookies cooling on the window sill

The Waltons, The Electric Company, Guiding Light 

Slide rules, the periodic table, frogs in formaldehyde

Archie Bunker, Maude, Carol Burnett

Gas lines, land lines, hopscotch lines

Typewriters, daisy wheel printers, Wite-Out, onion skin and carbon paper

8-track tapes, our Toyota

LA Law, St. Elsewhere, Chicago Hope, Harry and Tonto

Whose Life is it, Anyway? Annie, A Chorus Line, A Doll's House

Family with Sada Thompson and Meredith Baxter Birney

Jekyll Island, Disneyland, The Rustler

View-Master, Boggle, Etch-a-Sketch

John Dean, John Mitchell, G. Gordon Liddy, the Plumbers, Woodward and Bernstein, Deep Throat

Leonard Bernstein, ET, Shenandoah, Barry Manilow, John Denver, Robby Benson

Gym clothes, toe socks, overalls, Danskins, undershirts, white gloves, Mary Janes, clogs

Bell bottoms, dashikis, velvet dresses, jumpers, power suits, briefcases

Passbook savings accounts, CDs, free toasters and blankets, babysitting money

Family services, birthday blessings, a nap before Selichot, the Guggenheim, Katz's Deli

Simple times...sweet memories

Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha-olam who blessed me with the loving-est family, a secure childhood, wonderful experiences and opportunities, and tremendous powers of remembrance of simple, sweet, long-ago days and times. 

Inspired by Ima on (and off) the Bima,this #BlogElul post is one in a series marking the days of the Hebrew month of Elul, which precedes the Jewish High Holidays and traditionally serves as a time of reflection and spiritual preparation for the new year.

#BlogElul 12: Forgive

Let me return to being forgiving,

To letting go,  

To moving on,

With no grudges beneath the surface.

Let me return to positivity,

Forgiving myself for seeing only the negative  

and the rude in everyone and everything.

Let me return to forgiving others, for

what I see as their faults and imperfections,

As I hope they will forgive me mine.

Each of us moving forward,

To a better, more tolerant, forgiving place.

Inspired by Ima on (and off) the Bima,this #BlogElul post is one in a series marking the days of the Hebrew month of Elul, which precedes the Jewish High Holidays and traditionally serves as a time of reflection and spiritual preparation for the new year.

#BlogElul 10: Count

When you count your blessings,
don't count on perfection.
Nobody and nothing's perfect.

Count on screwing up,
Getting mad,
Being in a mess,
Feeling like you'll never get out.

Count on 'fessing up,
Apologizing,
Making amends,
Fixing what you can,
Learning to forgive yourself,
Moving on.

Count on your friends,
To help you laugh,
To hold your hand,
To hug your heart,
To help you make it right.

Inspired by Ima on (and off) the Bima,this #BlogElul post is one in a series marking the days of the Hebrew month of Elul, which precedes the Jewish High Holidays and traditionally serves as a time of reflection and spiritual preparation for the new year.