Today is Day 23, which is 3 weeks and two days of the Omer . . . . . . Ha-yom shloshah v'esrim yom shehem shloshah sh'vuot u'shnei yamim la-omer
THE OMER INTERSECTION: Nitzach + Gevurah; Endurance with Discipline
One of the ways we find to endure towards our goals is by developing habits. I remember when I was playing baseball, I would go into the batting cages and hit ball after ball, swing after swing, trying to develop a body motion that would allow me to get the bat on the ball without having to think about it. My physical motion became a reaction that we call a "swing." And rather than thinking about how to move my hands and wrists and arms and waist and legs all together as a ball flew towards me, my swing just happened. All I had to think about was whether or not to swing in the first place (and that too needed to be trained into a bit of a reaction, as well). My swing was my habit.
By the time I got into higher levels of baseball playing, the balls from the pitcher came faster, and I had to decide sooner whether or not to implement my swing. When my hitting started to fade, my coach took a look at my swing. That habit I had developed over all the years of hitting was starting to betray me! My coach noticed that I was making some unnecessary motions - a "hitch," he called it - in my swing. He worked with me to re-focus on the mechanics of hitting the ball - the path from which I sent the bat from above my shoulders to the point of contact. I would do half-swing after half-swing, shortening the motion into more of an ax-chopping than a roundhouse, keeping the head of the bat from dropping too far. And eventually, I had erased my old habit of a swing and incorporated a new one. That year, my statistics improved dramatically (as did my playing time), and I learned about the intersection of our two values today.
Sometimes, our endurance can actually get in the way of our discipline. In this story, my original habits actually took me further away from my goals, because I was not disciplined at ensuring that I was swinging properly in the first place. When conditions changed, I did not, and therefore, I was almost left behind.
The Spiritual Guide to the Omer asks, "Do I use my endurance against itself by being tenacious in my lack of determination?" I saw in this question the following question, "Do we sometimes allow our habits to get in our way by refusing to re-visit them?" We have to be disciplined in our endurance and open to changing our habits so that we can truly live out our long-term goals.
The OMER CHALLENGE:
I really liked the challenge from The Spiritual Guide to the Omer: Break one bad habit today. Now, I know that is a bit vague, and it is MUCH easier said than done. So, I'll offer a little bit of a pathway towards this goal, and I'll attempt to follow it myself, too.
1) Identify a habit to change
2) Actually write down three actions to take in order to help re-train yourself
3) Put it in your calendar to re-visit this action list two days from now, a week from now, two weeks from now, three weeks from now, and a month from now. And for good measure, put it on for two months, three months, and six months, as well.
4) Follow-through with the actions and the reflections
5) If needed, seek help from someone else.
One of the ways we find to endure towards our goals is by developing habits. I remember when I was playing baseball, I would go into the batting cages and hit ball after ball, swing after swing, trying to develop a body motion that would allow me to get the bat on the ball without having to think about it. My physical motion became a reaction that we call a "swing." And rather than thinking about how to move my hands and wrists and arms and waist and legs all together as a ball flew towards me, my swing just happened. All I had to think about was whether or not to swing in the first place (and that too needed to be trained into a bit of a reaction, as well). My swing was my habit.
By the time I got into higher levels of baseball playing, the balls from the pitcher came faster, and I had to decide sooner whether or not to implement my swing. When my hitting started to fade, my coach took a look at my swing. That habit I had developed over all the years of hitting was starting to betray me! My coach noticed that I was making some unnecessary motions - a "hitch," he called it - in my swing. He worked with me to re-focus on the mechanics of hitting the ball - the path from which I sent the bat from above my shoulders to the point of contact. I would do half-swing after half-swing, shortening the motion into more of an ax-chopping than a roundhouse, keeping the head of the bat from dropping too far. And eventually, I had erased my old habit of a swing and incorporated a new one. That year, my statistics improved dramatically (as did my playing time), and I learned about the intersection of our two values today.
Sometimes, our endurance can actually get in the way of our discipline. In this story, my original habits actually took me further away from my goals, because I was not disciplined at ensuring that I was swinging properly in the first place. When conditions changed, I did not, and therefore, I was almost left behind.
The Spiritual Guide to the Omer asks, "Do I use my endurance against itself by being tenacious in my lack of determination?" I saw in this question the following question, "Do we sometimes allow our habits to get in our way by refusing to re-visit them?" We have to be disciplined in our endurance and open to changing our habits so that we can truly live out our long-term goals.
The OMER CHALLENGE:
I really liked the challenge from The Spiritual Guide to the Omer: Break one bad habit today. Now, I know that is a bit vague, and it is MUCH easier said than done. So, I'll offer a little bit of a pathway towards this goal, and I'll attempt to follow it myself, too.
1) Identify a habit to change
2) Actually write down three actions to take in order to help re-train yourself
3) Put it in your calendar to re-visit this action list two days from now, a week from now, two weeks from now, three weeks from now, and a month from now. And for good measure, put it on for two months, three months, and six months, as well.
4) Follow-through with the actions and the reflections
5) If needed, seek help from someone else.
Disclaimer: While I know this post is a little late, it was written and ready to go DURING the 23rd day! But the website hosting this blog was down. We'll cut them some slack, because it is an incredible service provider who makes the ability to post to this site incredibly easy. And I hope we all found a way to endure without the on-time posting!
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