We'll get to action together soon enough, but before we do, it is important for us to realize that we do not live in isolation. We do not have to work alone, nor are we meant to. We may delude ourselves into thinking that we have been the ones who are solely responsible for all accomplishments and achievements we have ever experienced - but there is always someone or some resource that helps us along the way (or a few someones).
Yesterday, the Boston Marathon was run in a beautiful and stirring way. Marathon running: the most solo of solo acts. How many people did it take to make the event happen? And I'm not just referring to the security personnel. Droves of volunteers, organizers, city planners, people in the city who willingly give up access to parts of their hometowns, health care providers, good-hearted people cheering on the runners . . . they make the task of running 26.2 miles more elevated and worthwhile than the experience of running one's own marathon route at home. They help the participants go further than they might have expected of themselves, they make sure the runners have water/safety-from-cars (especially in Boston - if you have ever driven there, you know what I mean!)/a route so that they can accomplish the feat. Not that I'm trying to take anything away from the inspiring runners - but they all had resources they could turn to in helping them get to their desired outcomes.
Each one of us is surrounded by potential resources who can help us in whatever improvements we hope to see. Whether they are people to support us, people to criticize us (lovingly, of course), books to read, classes to take, educational television shows to watch, Torah; there is always help we can find. . . we do not have to go it alone. The question of utilizing resources becomes sometimes the uncomfortable reality that if we are going to let someone help us, it means we have to admit, there is something in us in need of changing. We often have to allow someone else into our personal process and insecurities, to make ourselves vulnerable. Doing so can be scary and off-putting. Yet, it is essential to real change - if we are going to turn weaknesses into strengths, fight fate and determine our destiny, bring our hopes/dreams to reality, well, we may need to bruise our egos a bit. Don't journey alone - it just isn't nearly as fulfilling.
DAY 7 JOURNAL: List the resources around you that could be helpful to finding change in an area of weakness that you have identified or in a dream/hope you wish to make come true. For this list, do not only put down the resources you know you might use, go ahead and list the resources that are available to you - this way, if one approach is not working down-the-line, this list will still exist with ideas of places you might turn to kickstart the process. For example, if your goal is to drop 5 pounds, list Weight Watchers and a personal trainer and a nutritionist, even if you do not have any intention of going one of those routes.
DAY 7 ACTION: Contact one of these resources (or purchase/borrow/peruse) and see if it will be a good help for your journey.
Ha-Yom Shivah Yamim, she-hem Sh'vua echad la-Omer
Today is the 7th Day, which is one week, of the Omer
MY JOURNAL:
So, I know that I mentioned in this post that we have to bruise the ego a bit and show our incompetence, somewhat publicly. I am still working up to doing so for myself. A blog may be too public of an arena for all the work I am doing on myself, and so it might not work for all of my personal journaling. I'll have to keep a separate log for certain ideas, but here, I'm going to at least list the resources I have that can help me accomplish the dream of being a more consistent blog-writer - throughout the Omer and beyond
- Calendar and Advance Plan
- Other Omer counting books and resources
- Notes from Organizational Development class
- Engineering brain
- Supportive wife who encourages me to do this kind of thing
- Feedback from people who are reading the blog
- A desire to help others
- A desire to continually improve myself
- So that I can be better at helping others
- So I can live more meaningfully and happily
- Internet
- Mentors
- Multiple technological input devices (already blogged from a mobile device!)
- An acceptance that it will not be perfect
- Typing gloves (I don't have them, but I think I would look really cool in them and they would make me excited during the moments when I love motivation)
- Eating regularly (Took on an extra, unscheduled meeting today when I was supposed to have had lunch. Hungry blogger = shortcuts and incomplete )
- Humor
- News stories
- Literature -- I HAVE to blog about Brothers Karamazov for one of these posts!
- Rabbis Organizing Rabbis and the I Stand with Ruth Campaign
- Voice-to-word recognition software . . . the novelty (it's still a novelty for me) will make me want to blog.
- Patience
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