Day 8: Moving On to Discipline

Today is Day 8, which is week 1 and 1 day of the Omer. . . Ha-yom shmoneh yamim, she-hem sh'vua echad v'yom echad la-omer.

Mazal tov to all of you who made it through the first week of the omer period.  We now shift to week 2, in which we take on a second of our virtues, Gevurah (discipline), and pick it apart from the various lenses of our Kabbalistic virtues.

In all honesty, this is the week I have been looking forward to exploring from the moment I conceived of this blog.  Gevurah, Discipline, infers judgment.  And when we commit ourselves to do something, we are making a statement that reveals what we have deemed to be important.  It is one thing to SPEAK our judgments and another thing to follow-through with them.  Gevurah is living-out our assessments.  

Personally, I am hoping to improve on my own sense of self-discipline in various areas of my life, and this week should offer me a lot of opportunities to reflect, learn, and grow in order to meet some of the goals I have for myself and to be the person - the individual, the husband, the father, the rabbi, the brother, the friend, the story-teller, the Cubs fan - who I aspire to be.

THE OMER INTERSECTION: Gevurot + Chesed;  We're not quite done with love . . . Where we find love in discipline.

Back on Day 2, we explored the intersection of these same two values, but we did so from the opposite point of emphasis.  Then, we looked at where we experience and express discipline in our loving-kindness.  Today, we are going to flip it around and explore how we experience loving-kindness in the midst of our discipline. 

When it comes to discipline, gevurot, really represents our level of commitment and focus to achieving a goal.  The concept of chesed in relation to discipline speaks to the vision and passion that keeps us going in our attempts at discipline.  We build up a routine of discipline around various behaviors which we find important and valuable, especially when the specific tasks that lead us to our bigger goals require repetition, patience, and step-by-step progress.  It is much easier to follow through with the annoying side of our commitments when we have a solid sense of purpose behind it all.  Often, our tendencies towards chesed reveal our central vision.  For instance, I am blogging every day of the omer.  On a night when I flew home from Florida after saying goodbye to my parents and siblings, dealt with a busy airport, jumped right back into work, and got home late from a board meeting, blogging was not necessarily the first thing I wanted to do.  Sleep has been calling my name since I got into my car to come home, and my bed is a delicious thought, even as I type it.  But, I am attempting to assert my discipline.  And when I remembered this week begins discipline, that this was one of the reasons for engaging in this blog, and that I ultimately wanted to work on my own level of commitment and follow-through so that I can treat my loved ones, my friends, and my community better . . . well, you're reading the results of where my desire to do chesed has influenced my gevurah, my discipline. 

THE OMER CHALLENGE: 

So, how do we apply this idea?  Discipline takes dedication, and at the most difficult times to stick to our goals, it requires a renewal of passion and motivation for why we are committed in the first place.  One of the exercises for today involves exploring the reasons we are dedicated to the various routine parts of our day.  For 24 hours, while performing acts of discipline, reflect for a bit on the bigger ideas behind why we are doing this.  As we identify our motivations, reach down to discover in what way love, chesed, is a source of our commitment - even if it is love of self!  For example, while brushing teeth (hopefully a routine discipline we engage in every day, multiple times per day), think deeply about why we're brushing.  The surface level of reflection should reveal that we brush so that our teeth and gums are healthy. But if we continue to reach towards the ultimate source of love in our rationale, we discover actual insights within the mundane.  Upon reflection, I realize that I brush my teeth so that my teeth will always be there as a part of my smile.  Ultimately, I love to smile and hope that my toothy smile will always be a source of pride and connection to others.  In such a way, brushing my teeth relates to my love for connecting with others and having a positive self image of myself - essentially having love for myself and it is a means towards showing love for others.  

Let us all find the love behind our routines.  And then prepare ourselves to put chesed a bit in the background for a week, until we re-encounter it on day one of week 3. 

 

THE OMER UPDATE:

Wow, I'm really surprised that I have had as much to say as I have written.  So far, I'm hoping that reading this blog is anywhere near as rewarding as it has been to write it.  Ultimately, it is not the reading or writing that has been meaningful, but the reflection and actions that I've taken as a result of those reflections that has made this a very worthwhile few days.

In regards to asserting my leadership as a giver of loving-kindness, I made my list, and I did my best in a busy airport to show kavod, honor, to those who most of the time deal with complaints. It was nice to have a conversation with the woman who checked our bags while waiting for the tags to be printed, and it gave me a few moments to relieve my anxiety of whether or not we would make it through the INCREDIBLE line at the Hollywood/Ft. Lauderdale airport security.  And a Temple board meeting is always a good place to attempt to help others sense the love and respect that I have been fortunate to receive from this community - I hope my attempts came through.