Day 9: Full of Discipline!

Today is Day 9, which is week 1 and 2 days of the Omer. . . Ha-yom tishah yamim, she-hem sh'vua echad u'snay yamim la-omer.

 

 

THE OMER INTERSECTION: Gevurah + Gevurah;  Lots of Discipline

 

What is the discipline of discipline?  This is the question that we are faced with today.  What does it take to remain committed to the various ongoing tasks that have become central to our lives? Whether it is diet or exercise, answering emails or calling a sibling every Thursday evening - we have certain behavioral patterns that we have chosen to stick to in order to accomplish various goals.  How do we ensure that we do not got so carried away with our discipline that we lose sight of the bigger picture of why we are doing what we do in the first place?  Is there room for more discipline in our lives that can help us use our time more efficiently and allow us to accomplish more of our aspirations?

THE OMER CHALLENGE: 

So, how do we apply this idea?  To start, any reflections on the above questions will be helpful.  However, I want to focus on the last question for a challenge of the day.  We all have long lists of goals we wish to accomplish, whether actually written out or most-likely in our minds.  And we all have pesky items that just remain on our lists day after day, month after month, year after year.  How do we ever find the time to put some focus and discipline on accomplishing these goals?  It feels as though our days are already packed, and there is no time for getting to these items, no matter how important they are. 

One of the ways to clear up some space for such additional discipline is to assess the ways in which we are using our time.  Are we committing ourselves to the goals we find to be most important, or do we find ourselves focusing our time on more minor pursuits that we would rather put further down on our priority lists?  The way to do this is to create a time journal: for at least today, and perhaps, if possible, for the rest of the week of gevurot, consider jotting down the amount of time spent on all the things we do during the day into a spreadsheet.  At the end of the day, assign each of the entries to a certain goal we have for ourselves.  Calculate the percentage of time being put forth in each of these goal areas, and see if it matches what we hope for our priorities.  This might help us understand where we might be able to shift priorities a bit and find areas to incorporate more discipline.  

Sometimes it takes an investment of time in order to clear up more time.  May this task help us all understand how be disciplined in the use of our discipline, allowing us to find more of that most-precious gift of time.         

 

THE OMER UPDATE:

It turns out that it is difficult to examine our routines mid-routine.  Often, by the time I realized that I was engaging in an activity that I routinely do in order to accomplish bigger goals, I was practically done with it and ready to move on to the next task at hand.  This left precious little time for reflection, especially finding how to link my actions to chesed. 
That being said, when I did allow myself the chance to seek out the love behind what I was doing today, I found it to be a wonderful pole to which I could anchor myself.  I realized that a great deal of my day is spent dedicating myself to helping other people, which is something I have always valued.  And it helped me to bring the same passion and focus to more mundane parts of my day as I have when I am face-to-face with another person, journeying together.