We all have expectations hanging over our heads, especially this time of year. Between work deadlines and bills to pay, family responsibilities and religious commitments, academic due dates and social obligations, errands to run and people to get back to – topped off with an extra dose of Pesach cleaning – the demands on our […]
Mental Spring Cleaning
The season of scrubbing has begun, when rubber gloves come off the shelves and feather dusters finally get their chance to shine. After what always feels like a long winter, it’s time to crawl out of hibernation and pull back the shades, as we start tackling the home organization projects backlogged in our brains for […]
Purim: Don’t Miss It
My daughter recently showed me a music video that she knew I’d enjoy. It was a country tune sung by a father on memory lane, reminiscing about his little girl’s youth now that she was all grown up. Walking through the town in which his daughter once skipped and played, he thinks back to all […]
Developing Security (Part Two)
In our last post, we examined impressiveness and its more insidious driver, insecurity. We suggested that our efforts to accumulate praise may be a camouflaged attempt to address the nagging question: “Am I ok?” This persistent worry, often located just below the radar of awareness, prompts us to speak and act in ways that (we […]
Needing to Impress (Part One)
“Make a good impression” is a lesson we’ve heard since childhood. No matter how rambunctious we were at home, we knew to put our best foot forward when walking out the front door. To be received well is a message that doesn’t get old as we age, either. Whether on a first date, a job […]
The Formation of Identity
I have been blessed to know hundreds of young men on the cusp of beginning their post-adolescent lives. These emerging grown-ups have taught me the ins-and-outs of young adulthood, a complex stage of life in which we start to figure out what makes us tick while beginning to catch a glimpse of where our lives […]
Temimut: Stepping into the unknown
Most of us don’t like entering a process without the foreknowledge of how it will play out. Predicting what we think is going to happen is about grasping for security and the sense that we have some control over what’s coming. It’s our way of forecasting the future so that we can mentally prepare for […]
Ruminating: Getting Out of Our Minds
The ruminators among us will attest to how debilitating it can be to get stuck in our own heads. While the mind is a G-dly gift and marvelous tool, it is also home to an incredibly complex web of thoughts that can entangle and overwhelm us at times. For some, the mind can have a […]
A Problem of Presentation
Writing is one of those endeavors that makes us aware of the difference between ideas and their presentation. Putting pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) immediately generates two considerations: “What point do I wish to convey?” and “How am I going to convey it?” These questions pull our minds in different directions – the […]
Reflections on Shavuot: The Torah’s Voice
We just observed the holiday of Shavuot, the day that we relive our encounter with Hashem’s voice emanating from atop Har Sinai. Hearing the voice of Hashem en masse was a singular event in our nation’s history, one that shaped our collective identity by granting us the opportunity to experience Hashem’s communication to us firsthand. […]