“I Don’t Feel Like It”
You know you should get some exercise but you have a list of excuses to choose from.
“I didn’t sleep well.”
” I had a fight with my significant other.”
“I had a bad day at the office.”
Etcetera. ecetera…Yet you know from experience that if you did workout, you always feel better after. So it’s important to make that extra effort to do the workout. Making that extra effort is now part of the workout. It’s as though you began with some heavy lifting. You have trained yourself to overcome an emotion that stands in the way of your progress and growth.
Kabbalists speak of “Head over Heart.” The head is above the heart, so that metaphorically the head should overrule the heart. The head represents the intellect that knows what is right to do. The heart represents the emotions which are often impulsive and when acted on alone send us off the path of our improvement and growth. Ideally, the head and heart will find a balance to work together, but until we find that balance we should let the head overrule.
Beyond exercise, which is for ourselves, the same head over heart approach applies to our dealings with others. Too often we are not as kind, compassionate, or charitable to others because at that moment we “don’t feel like it.” When we are feeling up and in a good mood it’s easy to be giving. Giving of ourselves is hardest, just like exercise, when we’re not in the mood. Just like exercise, that is precisely the time to make that extra effort knowing that you will feel better after. Eventually, through the training like experience it will become easier and easier to automatically do the right thing. So whenever we find ourselves saying “I don’t feel like it,” tell yourself that that’s all the more reason to do it.
“When I first came to America I was poor, yet I always gave to charity. It always made me feel richer.” – Sam Fox, my Father, a Holocaust Survivor
A Quick Thought That Deserves Lots of Thought
“The Creation narrative says “In the beginning the Almighty created. .. . ” to teach us that He only created the beginning. The remainder is left to us.” — Rebbe Leibele Eiger of Lublin
Time
“The first creation was time. It began and it will end and then it will be no more. Each breath, each tick, each beat of the heart comes only once. None will ever repeat itself precisely. Every instant of life is a raw but precious stone, beckoning, saying “unleash my potential, unlock my secret, do with me something to reveal my purpose of being! For I am here only this one time and then never again.” – Tzvi Freeman
Rosh Hashanah
The Jewish people just finished celebrating Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. It commemorates not the first day, but the creation of mankind, Adam (and Eve) on the sixth day. One might ask, why was Adam created alone rather than one of many. Adam was created with a purpose and he knew it. Being only one, he alone could accomplish his purpose. All depended on him. If we think of ourselves as an Adam, then we realize that our purpose is ours alone and all depends on each of us. We can’t expect someone else to do it for us. Sing along “Only you can make this world seem right / Only you can make the darkness bright / Only you and you alone!” The Platters
“To be or not to be is not a question of compromise. Either you be or you don’t be.” – Golda Meir
A Quick Thought That Deserves Lots of Thought
“The man who thinks he can live without others is mistaken; the one who thinks others can’t live without him is even more deluded.” — Chassidic saying
Not There Yet
Little children while on a long trip constantly ask “Are we there yet?” As we climb our mountain, we sometimes ask ourselves the same question. The answer still is, as long as you’re here, you’re not there. It is an exciting challenge knowing there is always room for more growth and improvement. Paraphrasing from the Superman TV series. “It’s the never-ending battle for growth and improvement and …”
“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.” – Ernest Hemingway
Part of the Am I there yet? series
The Spinning Rabbi - Heart & Soul 