Nina Amir's Thoughts on Human Potential, Personal Growth and Practical Spirituality
On the right doorpost of almost every Jewish home you will find a small rectangular box positioned on a slight angle. This box serves as a reminder to live by God’s commandments. Everyone can benefit from a spiritual yellow “post-it” note of some sort to remind them to live a spiritual or religious life, and [...]
Many spiritual traditions contain a practice of blessing food prior to eating it. Christians, for example, say grace before a meal. This prayer more often than not thanks God for the food they are about to eat. Jews say a blessing over a particular type of food–one for bread, one for wine, one for cookies [...]
It’s easy to get so caught up in our lives that we forget to pray or to connect with God. That’s why some of the major religions suggest set prayer times during the day. While some advocate for long prayer periods, short ones can help us remember God, connect spiritually and provide a great practical [...]
Starting today, about once a week you will find a practical spiritual practice here on As the Spirit Moves Me. The tip may come from the Jewish tradition or from other major religious tradition, such as from Christianity, Islam, or Buddhism. These practical spiritual practices are meant to be adaptable by anyone, and they also [...]
I turned 50 last week. Although I really don’t feel 50 and I didn’t have much psychological “stuff” around turning 50, I felt the need to mark this event in some way with a ritual. So, I asked a few friends if they might help me do so. The first friend took me off to [...]
After my last post which asked a litany of questions related to fulfilling your soul’s purpose, a friend sent me a note on Facebook (I actually wish people would leave comment here instead…hint, hint!), asking, “And how do you see a person ‘learning’ what their soul purpose is?” Great question! Here’s the answer, which involves [...]
I’ve been thinking a lot about teachers lately. In Pirkei Avot, the Ethics of Our Fathers: Chapter 1, Mishna 6, “Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Perachya says, ‘Make for yourself a teacher and acquire for yourself a friend, and judge each person favorably.” Leaving the latter part of this teaching for another time, I’ll focus on the first [...]
Just as the termites and beetles are consuming the wood on my house, life has been consuming me…or at least my time. I’m frustrated by the fact that work, kids (and their needs), physical therapy for my knee, and a variety of other things are taking up all my time and attention, leaving me little [...]
In my San Jose Jewish Examiner column, I recently wrote about the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey. It reported that the number of American Jews who consider themselves religiously observant has declined by more than 20 percent over the last two decades while the number of Jews who consider themselves secular has risen. This survey, which included [...]
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