As tomorrow I will be celebrating the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana, I will not be able to do my Monday posting.  Instead, I am wishing all of you a good, sweet, healthy, happy New Year filled with success and happy occasions to enjoy with those around you!

בס”ד

Made-a-move #28: Re-connect with the basics for a strong foundation to build on

The ABC’s of my week are Ammuna, Bittachon, Cavanah

Faith, Trust, and Mindfulness

Ok, a bit of a stretch, but pretty close.  The Hebrew word for Faith, אמונה, begins with an alef (the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet) but is more accurately pronounced Emmuna because of the vowel that accompanies the alef in this word.  When כונה is spelled in English, it is usually spelled Kavanah… but I think the C works just fine, too

In doing a bit of de-cluttering, inspired by my children’s rummage sale this week, I came across my painted stones with these three words on them.  Finding them gave me reassurance in an inexplicable deep way and I found myself becoming more focused and more productive.

This week has been a rollercoaster ride of alternating between helping my children and inner turmoil over the seemingly failed attempts to progress on my own agendas for my own personal accomplishments.  The recognition that my life is, by my choice, dedicated to my kids, doesn’t really lesson the fact that I am a dreamer and have an inner fire to “do and create” things I so clearly picture in my mind… if I could only find/ make/ take the time and money to do so…

The words on the stones snuck into my subconscious and steadied my slipping foundation.

A/Emmuna – Faith.  A deep faith in the fact that everything in this world is part of the Creator’s plan, has an integral purpose, and will come into fruition in the right time.  A very important concept to try to grasp for both teens and their mid-life mothers

Bittachon – Trust.  A trust that “This also is for good.”, or the Hebrew phrase, “Gam zu l’tova.”  – that challenging situations are a step towards a greater level of good.  Trust that means there is no need to worry.  Trust that the Creator will help us carry our load.  Another very important concept to try to grasp for both teens and their mid-life mothers

Cavanah – Putting mindfulness, heartfelt concentration, into prayers and deeds rather than allowing them to slip into routine actions.   Ok, I have a lot of work to do on this one!  And, I am quite sure getting more sleep would be a huge help!  But, working on taking particular times to try to concentrate and focus, is resulting in an ability to delve into a deeper level of spiritual study, better able to teach others about spiritual aspects of our deeds, helping my youngest DD organize her thoughts and putting them into a good first draft of a speech for her, and better connecting with one of my teens to help with ‘growing pains’.

It is so easy to get caught up in the daily to-do demands (like getting the invitations finished and sent out already… tomorrow!..?  Every once in a while we need to get grounded in the basics.

I wish you a successful, productive, and fulfilling week – inside and out.

Made-a-move #17: Taking action and being more proactive

My usual mode-of-operation tends to be one of ‘fly by the seat of my pants’ at the last minute.  It all gets done, though often with a flurry of activity at the finish line.  Always focusing on the fire at hand.  Don’t get me wrong – I still do that, but there were some glimmers of a more mature and sane way of living that came through this week

This week my move was to be more proactive rather than wait until a full-fledged fire was in need of putting out before asking for help.  Totally contrary to my personality, I actually let people know that I needed extra help when I realized I was going to be short handed and when I was too weak to do some necessary grocery shopping.  (I usually would push myself to do it anyways).  With a very sudden bladder infection, I called for medical help first thing in the morning and went to see a doctor before going in to work.  Granted I am still myself – I did work every day and ended up sick during the weekend… but, even then I broke out of my constant buzz of activity and stayed laying down most of 2 days to recover. 

And I took notes throughout the week putting thoughts together for a speech I am not even giving for another week yet!  I finished writing the speech!  But, that will be for another posting.  As a hint, here is a picture my DD made that captures a bit of the subject matter:

Artwork by Shoshana

Have a great and successful week!

- DebBee