ELUL 19
With a grandfather as a social worker and a father as a psychologist, it is fair to say, I believe in therapy. Having had several good therapeutic experiences, I know that sometimes we need help to understand our deeper selves and heal from "life-wounds." One of the most important aspects of therapy is saying out loud what it is we are suffering from, what it is we want to change, who it is that has hurt us. By naming it, we take it out of the realm of our hearts, out of the realm of the private, and we put it into the open, thereby acknowledging with greater force the very thing we wish to work on. Teshuvah is the same way. The first step is to name it. And it is this step that is sometimes the hardest to take.
To do: See if you have named the teshuvah that needs to be done yet. If you have not, try and do so today, taking the big first step of saying it aloud to yourself and to God, so you can look at it. If you have named it, see where you need to take it now in order to move the process forward. Step by step, in stages, we can become the very change we seek.
With a grandfather as a social worker and a father as a psychologist, it is fair to say, I believe in therapy. Having had several good therapeutic experiences, I know that sometimes we need help to understand our deeper selves and heal from "life-wounds." One of the most important aspects of therapy is saying out loud what it is we are suffering from, what it is we want to change, who it is that has hurt us. By naming it, we take it out of the realm of our hearts, out of the realm of the private, and we put it into the open, thereby acknowledging with greater force the very thing we wish to work on. Teshuvah is the same way. The first step is to name it. And it is this step that is sometimes the hardest to take.
To do: See if you have named the teshuvah that needs to be done yet. If you have not, try and do so today, taking the big first step of saying it aloud to yourself and to God, so you can look at it. If you have named it, see where you need to take it now in order to move the process forward. Step by step, in stages, we can become the very change we seek.
