{"id":28991,"date":"2012-08-30T19:50:25","date_gmt":"2012-08-30T19:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=28991"},"modified":"2017-02-09T08:15:23","modified_gmt":"2017-02-09T13:15:23","slug":"take-control-of-your-spiritual-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/take-control-of-your-spiritual-life\/","title":{"rendered":"These Are the Questions You Need to Ask Yourself This Elul<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

Picture the following scene: You\u2019re in the gym, running on the treadmill and feeling pretty good about yourself. Your speedometer reads a steady 6.5 and you\u2019re keeping an even pace.<\/p>\n

As you continue your run you glance over to your right and see some slim, super toned runner, sprinting at a pace far faster\u00a0than your own and\u00a0barely breaking a sweat. Suddenly your high spirits take a steep dive. Your speed isn\u2019t fast enough and you’re clearly not in such great shape.<\/p>\n

But then you take a look to your left. You notice another exerciser huffing and puffing, struggling to stay on the conveyer belt–at a speed even lower than yours. In a flash, your pride returns.<\/p>\n

Sound familiar? It does for me, and if it\u2019s not in the gym then it\u2019s at work or during a test. We all fall prey to judging ourselves based on other people\u2019s standards.<\/p>\n

When we evaluate our own performance and determine our \u00a0personal expectations based on those of others, we hurt ourselves in one of two ways. We either:<\/p>\n

1) create a false sense of accomplishment and sell ourselves short of our true potential, or<\/p>\n

2) ruin our sense of self-worth and feel like a failure.<\/p>\n

You may look at the person next to you and see that you achieved more than he did, and so you feel satisfied and fulfilled. But in reality you are capable of a lot more than he and have hardly tapped into your own resources and potential.<\/p>\n

On the other hand is an equally tragic scenario. You put your best foot forward and do great things, yet compared to someone more experienced or equipped, you feel like you’ve done nothing. You feel like<\/em> a nothing.<\/p>\n

The Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 18A) states that on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year,\u00a0all people of the world pass before God “\u05db\u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05de\u05e8\u05d5\u05df” \u2013 kivnei maron<\/em>. The Gemara (Talmud) offers a number of interpretations for the meaning of this ambiguous phrase.<\/p>\n

The first explanation is that it refers to sheep who pass before their shepherd one at a time. The second is that it refers to a specific path which is very narrow and requires walking in a single file line.<\/p>\n

Both interpretations share the theme of walking alone, no one by your side. It’s looking at the treadmills to your right and to your left and seeing them vacant.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On Rosh Hashanah we pass before the Master of the World alone, for we are judged for who we<\/em> are\u2013for what we have made of ourselves in proportion to the potential we have. Not relative to our neighbor, study partner, sibling, or friend.<\/p>\n

The time period we have just entered is that of Elul, which is an Aramaic word that means “to look.” It is an opportunity to look inside ourselves. It is a time for introspection. During this month it is crucial that we take a moment (or perhaps more) to evaluate what we have done over the past year and determine what we look to accomplish in the coming one.<\/p>\n

But to do this, we must look at ourselves through our personal lens–not through someone else’s. The focus of this time period is teshuva<\/em>, which means “return.” What are we returning to? We are returning to ourselves, to our own standards, which are a function of our individual circumstances and qualities. (Related:<\/strong> No, Really, How\u00a0<\/em>Does Teshuva Work?<\/em><\/a>)<\/p>\n

We have a unique opportunity as we begin a new year to look in the mirror and ask ourselves some honest questions:<\/p>\n

Do I tell myself that it\u2019s okay for me to gossip just because everybody else does?<\/p>\n

Do I not learn Torah for 10 minutes a day because I feel that compared to my friend\u2019s hour of study, my 10 minutes is worthless?<\/p>\n

Do I not care to improve upon my davening<\/em> (prayer) because so many people me around are talking during theirs?<\/p>\n

Have I allowed myself to become apathetic to my spirituality because my peers are?<\/p>\n

Questions of this nature coupled with sincere self-evaluation are a recipe for a meaningful and growth-filled Elul. When we accomplish this, we take control of our lives. We start the new year with clear direction and a sense of purpose. We won’t look to the right or left but directly ahead, at a brighter future and an ideal self<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So you can regain control of your spiritual life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":725,"featured_media":28992,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\nThese Are the Questions You Need to Ask Yourself This Elul - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When we evaluate our own performance and determine our personal expectations based on those of others, we hurt ourselves in one of two ways.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/take-control-of-your-spiritual-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"These Are the Questions You Need to Ask Yourself This Elul - 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