Your New Beginning

Rabbi Nachman's Outpouring of the Soul translated by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan is one of my favorite little books to grab when I need a lift and some reassurance. It's like a pocket book for the soul. I can tuck it into my tote bag when I go to work, open it up to any page, and find solace and serenity in R. Nachman's thoughts and ideas. Today, I opened to #45, A New Beginning:

"When meditating before God it is good to say, "Today I am beginning to attach myself to You." Whenever you meditate you should make a new beginning. Every continued practice depends strongly on its beginning. Even the philosophers say that no matter what one does, the beginning counts for half (italics mine). Therefore, no matter what, one should always make a new beginning. If one's previous devotion was good, now it will be better. If it was not good, what better reason is there to make a new beginning?"

Though the book is about meditation and communicating with God, if your worldview is that all is connected and one with God, then all of your life is like a meditation. New Beginnings are full of promise, hope and faith. Promise in the future that good will come of this; hope that all will go well; and faith that no matter what, God will provide the strength to get through any struggles and challenges. If each day can be a commitment to a new beginning, you are halfway there! Intention, Kavannah, is half the battle towards making a new beginning. Your actions follow your thoughts, and how you perceive something can change, hence you can change your actions towards your self and others in your life.

When I was a counselor, I helped my clients find their "One Degree of Change." Like a ship's compass, if you are one degree off course, over time you will end up in a different place. One small degree can have huge consequences! So it is with change: change one small part of your thought towards a situation and act differently than you have been. Over time, see what happens. The first step is your New Beginning.

Unity in Heart and Mind

The Baal Shem Tov, one of Judaism's greatest teachers writes, "Where your thought is, precisely where you are--all of yourself is there." When we are lost, in despair, in pain, our first thought is often of that pain, and of being fully engulfed in it. Contrastingly, when one is joyful, we are fully engulfed in our joyfulness, because of what we are thinking about our experience. How powerful our thoughts are! We have the power to overcome the negative thoughts by thinking other more positive thoughts. (obviously if a person is in dire need of medication to lessen the pain, by all means, administer it). During times of great stress to the body, spirit, or mind, it is so important to take the time to put ourselves into beautiful places, if only in our minds. Use whatever supports are at hand, whether they be people who can soothe us with massage, or singing, or laughter, or even reading to us. Play calming music, imagine places in nature that are calming, do what it takes to bring joy and light into the darkness. It is not ignoring our responsibilities to escape the pain for a little while, but instead, we are giving ourselves blessed permission to rest and recuperate, and gather our energies towards recovery.
HaShem never gives us anything more than we can handle, even if we don't always believe it at first glance. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov states that God hides in the obstacles on our journeys, and waits to be discovered.