Welcome to Elul
Well, this weekend kicked off the month of deep thinking and reflection--Elul. We're coming up to the high holidays and it is time to rededicate ourselves to our lives and to the world around us. I've been taking classes with Rabbi Nivin for three years now and each year, I do a bit better with my Elul plan. Before diving into planning our next year, we always are encouraged to look back on the previous year and see what we did.
Last year, I spent a lot of my time on learning and strengthening my spiritual self. I took the Yeud training class Rabbi Nivin offered and managed to get through and get my certificate as a Yeud coach. I attended Redemption Workshop classes with Rivka Malka, took up covering my head. I also worked on charity projects like setting up a charity knitting group through my temple and the food drive at work. These are things I am proud to have done in the last year and I think they really helped me find a lot of inner peace with myself. I still have a long way to go, but the Rabbi Nivin classes and Redemption Workshops really helped me.
What I didn't work on much was family and my marriage and I have to admit, that's becoming glaringly obvious. In my Elul plan last year, I wanted to focus on gratitude, upgrading my speech, spending more attention on my husband, playing with the kids, and be healthier. I also wanted to budget and keep track of our finances better.
I'm not trying to beat myself up about the things I didn't do over the past year, that's not the idea of Elul. This is the time to lovingly rededicate myself to these things and to plan for the future. I can grab hold of the Elul energy and see if I can make some improvements. So, while I think spiritually I'm on an ok track with my weekly classes, I need to re-focus on family and my own health. I had a bunch of health issues this past year from bronchitis to week long migraines, so it's time to give some focus on that.
I've been eating fairly well since we went organic 8 years ago, but I think as I am aging, I need to spend a little more time paying attention to my hormones and get them under control. I can be such a loving and kind wife and mother one week a month, and the other weeks I'm a raging she-devil and I don't want to live like that. So, part of my plan this year is definitely going to focus on health.
So, today I decided to go for a walk. No, I'm not going to say in this blog that I'm going to spend every day walking because I'm a rebel and I don't commit to things like that, but I am going to say I'm going to make a point to try and work some exercise into every day. I may walk one day, might have a dance party with the kids another, or clean the floors in the house and the bathrooms. Anything to get me moving and maybe this will help my health improve. Today's activity was a walk. I clocked in 3,992 steps and enjoyed being out until the sun and humidity got too bad to survive. Here are some pics from the walk:
Last year, I spent a lot of my time on learning and strengthening my spiritual self. I took the Yeud training class Rabbi Nivin offered and managed to get through and get my certificate as a Yeud coach. I attended Redemption Workshop classes with Rivka Malka, took up covering my head. I also worked on charity projects like setting up a charity knitting group through my temple and the food drive at work. These are things I am proud to have done in the last year and I think they really helped me find a lot of inner peace with myself. I still have a long way to go, but the Rabbi Nivin classes and Redemption Workshops really helped me.
What I didn't work on much was family and my marriage and I have to admit, that's becoming glaringly obvious. In my Elul plan last year, I wanted to focus on gratitude, upgrading my speech, spending more attention on my husband, playing with the kids, and be healthier. I also wanted to budget and keep track of our finances better.
I'm not trying to beat myself up about the things I didn't do over the past year, that's not the idea of Elul. This is the time to lovingly rededicate myself to these things and to plan for the future. I can grab hold of the Elul energy and see if I can make some improvements. So, while I think spiritually I'm on an ok track with my weekly classes, I need to re-focus on family and my own health. I had a bunch of health issues this past year from bronchitis to week long migraines, so it's time to give some focus on that.
I've been eating fairly well since we went organic 8 years ago, but I think as I am aging, I need to spend a little more time paying attention to my hormones and get them under control. I can be such a loving and kind wife and mother one week a month, and the other weeks I'm a raging she-devil and I don't want to live like that. So, part of my plan this year is definitely going to focus on health.
So, today I decided to go for a walk. No, I'm not going to say in this blog that I'm going to spend every day walking because I'm a rebel and I don't commit to things like that, but I am going to say I'm going to make a point to try and work some exercise into every day. I may walk one day, might have a dance party with the kids another, or clean the floors in the house and the bathrooms. Anything to get me moving and maybe this will help my health improve. Today's activity was a walk. I clocked in 3,992 steps and enjoyed being out until the sun and humidity got too bad to survive. Here are some pics from the walk:
A downed tree, probably from our two week rain storm
My sitting spot half way up a hill.
It felt good to get out there and walk, I hope I can use the Elul energy to rededicate myself to my health. Happy Elul all!
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