I’ve been trying to figure out what to write about as a Yom Kippur, Day of Repentance topic. This Jewish High Holy Day typically brings up issues of forgiveness. I didn’t really want to delve into that once again.

Then I watched an Oprah Winfrey Master Class video about surrender, and I knew. That’s my topic: surrender. If ever there were something for a Jew to forgive himself or herself for during the High Holy Days–or for anyone to forgive themselves for any time of the year–its for not surrendering.

More than that, simply commit TO SURRENDER. It’s one of the most powerful things you can do. Seems ironic since it’s actually a passive action. When you surrender you “let go and let God,” as they say in Alcoholics Anonymous. Then amazing things happen. Your path and your purpose are revealed.

In the Master Class video (link below) Oprah talks about jogging and talking to God and singing and praying. This has been my practice–my hitbodedut. Rebbe Nachman told us to walk in the fields and talk to God, to tell hand our problems over to God, to have a conversation with God. To listen to God. I don’t run, but I walk and I cycle. I often talk, plead, pray, chant, sing, ask questions, cry, listen…try to hear or see  the plan God has for me while walking or cycling. This is just what Oprah describes.

And while she focuses on what she wants, she lets go and surrenders. She allows Something Greater to bring her “this or something better… for the highest good of all concerned.” Those are the words are was taught to offer up as I asked for something–a way to surrender my desires to the Universe. And because she is aligned with the energy, sure enough her thoughts, her focus, her intention lines up with her desire and with God’s plan for her.

As always, Oprah just says it all. I couldn’t say it better even if I keep trying.  Her message is the message I take to heart today, for the upcoming High Holy Day, for the year, for my life. I pass it on to you, my friends. Surrender to something larger than yourself. There’s a plan. You have a purpose. Let it unfold.

Watch the video…(I couldn’t find the video anywhere to updload it–sorry–so follow the link).

Many of us spend a lot of time working on ourselves. We go to counseling. We take human potential, personal growth and self-improvement classes. We read books on these subjects as well. We analyze our relationships and ourselves. We exercise. We try to eat right. We journal. We meditate. We try new spiritual practices. We do affirmations and focus our thoughts. And on and on.

Sometimes, though, we need a break–especially after a particularly intense period of work or introspection.

This reminds me of the words of Rebbe Nachman of Bresolv, who says, “The highest peace is the peace between opposites.” You may not have reached the place you want to go, but you can still find peace along the way.That’s the point.

Maybe you are working on your relationship with your husband or significant other, for example, like I am. You may go through counseling or some intense conversations. Then you might need a little break before you do any more work. Maybe you need to assimilate. Or rest. Or be. This is the place between opposites. Between where you were and where you want to be.

Maybe you are working on a project, like a book, which I’ve been doing, or a gratitude journal. You write for several days or weeks, and then you stop. You need a break for a day or two before you finish or keep going. This is the peace between opposites–between creativity and non-creativity, between beginning a project and finishing it, between setting a goal and reaching it.

Maybe you are trying to rid yourself of a bad habit or a negative pattern of thinking. You focus on this for a few weeks and then get frustrated. Give yourself a break! You’ll regain your focus and new energy by coming back to your work later.

So, be easy on yourself if you find you need a break in the midst of your self-improvement work–or any work. Give yourself that break. You might find it regenerates you and gives you what you need for the next bit of work you do.

Lately I’ve been feeling stuck. I want to be unstuck. Ever been there?

I’ve tried prayer. I talked to God. I cried to God. I pleaded with God.

I tried counseling. And I got really honest with myself and with others, baring my deepest feelings.

Today in the car I decided to follow Rebbe Nachman of Breslov’s advice and sing. I sang along with the songs my son played on my Ipod.

I still felt stuck.

Tomorrow I will get off my butt and start moving my body. I will exercise. No more staying at my desk all day long. I need to get the energy moving.

I also will start doing my own Kabbalistic conscious creation visualization and exercise on a daily basis again.This will help me focus on what I want in my life rather than on what I don’t want–on being unstuck rather than stuck.

Additionally I will implement affirmations into my daily practice–a.m. and p.m. These will help convince me on a conscious and unconscious level of who I truly am and can be.

And I will start using gratitude exercises in the morning and evening, reminding myself of the things for which I am thankful.

And I’ll get one thing knocked off my to-do list each day that gets me closer to my Big Goals.

The point is to change my energy as well as my thoughts and to feel like I am getting unstuck, almost like I’m pushing a car out of a muddy rut.

That’s the problem with getting stuck: All you see is the mud. All you hear is the spinning tires. And all you feel is exhaustion from trying to get unstuck.

You have to do something different. Wait for the mud to dry. Turn the tires. Reverse. Get out of the car and walk…or run.

What do you do when you get stuck? What gets you stuck?

I know the uselessness of anger. I know the damage it causes both emotionally and physically. Yet, sometimes anger proves the most difficult emotion to change. Once it comes over me, it feels like it attaches itself to me like a vice with no removal mechanism. I’m left to watch the negative results set forth in my life by this emotion.

Judaism teaches that we should avoid anger at all costs. In all the spiritual and metaphysical circles I have traveled, the same holds true. We are taught  that as a negative emotion, anger just begets negative results in our lives and in the world around us. We don’t help ourselves or anyone else when we feel or express anger.

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov taught that anger stirs up negative energies in the upper worlds who come down and take charge of the angry person. In the process, the person loses his wisdom and power and places himself at the mercy of these negative forces. Additionally, anger causes a person to lose wealth. (So, don’t get angry over your financial situation or it will get worse!) Feeling angry actually causes  the blessing of wealth to be taken away and causes a “stain” on your soul, said Rebbe Nachman.

So, how do we change our anger and the conditions that come with it? According to the great Rebbe, we must love. We must be kind to others, thus drawing on the energy of the righteous and positive energies in the upper worlds. By doing so, we will see that the real reason we are here in this world is to do good–to give. Our understanding and wisdom will increase, making it harder for us to feel angry. Through this increased wisdom, the emotion of love increases and we create less space for anger; we will feel more peaceful.

We also can learn to not act upon our anger, holding it in and being patient and understanding, said Rebbe Nachman. This, supposedly brings blessing upon us. Indeed, in this way we actually help create a world in which the Messiah can exist, thus helping to herald in the World to Come, or peace on Earth–a world with no anger.

Today I felt very angry. Reviewing Rebbe Nachman’s teachings about anger helped me let go of that anger to some extent. I’ll be working on releasing this negative emotion through love and kindness the rest of the day, I’m sure. I might try some exercise as well. Rebbe Nachman suggests fasting as well, actually stating that ridding yourself of anger provides the main value of a fast; I choose not to fast, however. What do you do to get rid  of your anger?

Today Jews all over the world celebrate the holiday of Shavuot. On this day, the sixth day of the Hebrew month of  Sivan, they commemorate Moses receiving the Ten Commandments. This holiday also is known as the Festival of Weeks named in Exodus 34:22 and Deuteronomy 16:16. Shavuot is celebrated seven weeks and a day (50 days) after Passover. Christian texts call this day “Pentecost” (50).

On Shavuot, we remember and celebrate the giving of the Torah at Sinai. However, the Torah is not just the scrolls that contain the stories of our ancestors or, as some people believe, the word of God. The Torah contains wisdom imparted to us in the form of those stories and in the words of God. At Sinai, Jews also received the Oral Torah.

More than that, we each have a Torah of our own. We have our own wisdom, much of which comes from our own lives and the stories we tell about them. It comes from the lessons we have learned as we have lived and how we then share that wisdom.

Everyone has a Torah–unique and individual as well as part of The Torah. It all blends together.

Today, on Shavuot, whether you are Jewish or not, consider your Torah. (After all the Torah is the Old Testament or Bible; Christians read this as well. Muslims are descendants of Abraham. We are all one.) Are you open to receiving the Torah–your Torah–today? Are you willing to share it with others?

Know that the more you give your Torah (wisdom) to others, the more you will receive it (wisdom).

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov said we all must be teachers. As we teach, we open ourselves to learn more. In fact, we elevate ourselves to the next level so we can learn more, and by so doing we leave a spot open for someone else to move up and into.

Elevate yourself, and elevate someone else by giving your Torah.

Receive your Torah today on Shavuot. Ask God to Give it to you. Be open to receiving it. Then give your Torah to others. Share your wisdom: through teaching, writing, speaking.

Chag sameach (Happy holiday)!

Each year as Passover approaches I’m given reason to consider my fears and how I deal with them. I do this because I remember learning about how fearful the Children of Israel felt at the shore of the Red Sea as the Egyptians approached.

I was at an event near my home in Silicon Valley and the late Rabbi Alan Lew, may his memory be for blessing, was speaking about his newest book, Be Still and Get Going. He explained to us how the Israelites’ perception was skewed by their fear. This reminded me of Rabbi Nachman’s teaching about the “narrow bridge,” which many Jews know simply as a song; however, the translation most people have of Rabbi Nachman’s words are incorrect. Most often they are translated this way: ““Know! A person walks in life on a narrow bridge. The most important thing is not to be afraid.” A more accurate translation of his words is: “The most important thing is not to MAKE yourself afraid.”

What he is telling us is that fear is all about our thoughts…where we focus them.  When we think about the possibility of danger or of negative outcomes or of unwanted futures we MAKE ourselves afraid. Fears don’t make us afraid; we make ourselves afraid by thinking about fearful things.

Rabbi Lew taught the same lesson. He said that in that moment at the edge of the Red Sea as the Children of Israel called out to Moses and to God in fear, the must first stop feeling afraid. Next, he told them to stand firm; in other words, stop moving. (We tend to run or become activated when we feel afraid.) Then, he told them to be silent. (Rabbi Lew equated this with meditating or going inward.) Moses then said they would never again see the Egyptians they way they were seeing them in that moment; basically, once they had stopped and gotten centered and could look at the situation without their fear, they would see things differently. At that point, with the inner wisdom gained from contemplation, God told Moses to tell the Israelites to take action–inspired action, informed action.

So, each Passover I take an accounting of my fears and I consider how I am dealing with them…or how they are dealing with me. I ask myself my fear are causing me to react–to run, to hide, to make uninformed, uninspired, ungrounded decisions. And then I try to stop, be silent, look around, and then act. And hopefully I act differently and not from a place of fear but from a placed of calm, courageous, inspired faith that all is well and will be well.

I’ve written about fear a lot, however, when a magnitude 8.8 earthquake hits somewhere in the world, in this case in Chile, it brings up some fear in me. You see, I live in California. My home sits between two fault lines.

The earthquake in Haiti brought up some fear, too. So do the little tremblors we have here all the time.

But I don’t allow myself to dwell on fear. Not ever. No how.

Fear clouds our ability to think straight. It doesn’t let us respond rationally. Instead we just react out of fear. Yes…there’s a difference between reacting and responding. We respond after thinking something through. We react when emotions or instinct tell us what to do, and sometimes this reaction isn’t rational.

So, today, I’m not focusing a lot on fear. I’m focusing on other things. I want to think straight.

(Plus, those of you know me know that I believe our thoughts have a creative ability. Therefore, I don’t want to dwell on my fears lest I create them.)

I’ve written a lot about Rebbe Nachman’s teaching about fear. Today I wrote about them again in my Examiner column. You might enjoy reading my thoughts. I didn’t want to repeat them all here, although that column inspired this blog post.

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 phrase: “Make for yourself a teacher.” Why should we make for ourselves a teacher? What does this mean? I think it means to find someone who can teach us, enlighten us, inspire us.

Without a teacher, we don’t learn. If we don’t learn, we don’t grow. Teachers inspire us. They help us become our best selves. They mirror to us our potential. In fact, they show us what we can – or do – know.

Do you have a teacher? For a long time now, I haven’t had one. This fact comes not for lack of available teachers. I have chosen for a variety of reasons (Yes, I’ve made excuses and had circumstance that kept me away from teachers…) not to go to classes or ask for lessons. I’ve even chosen not to make time to read books, listen to books on tape or CD, or find other ways to learn from teachers. On Monday, I will travel all the way to Albany, CA, to learn from a new teacher. I’m very excited. I may have acquired for myself a teacher.

Now, there are some teachers closer to home. I hope to also acquire them…or to place myself in their company when they are teaching on a regular basis. However, I have carved out a special time with this particular teacher, to whom I feel particularly drawn. I hope to feel enriched, inspired and to to grow through the experience.

As for the other part of the Pirkei Avot lesson, I have recently acquired a friend and committed to time with a few old friends. I am trying to develop new friendships. Friends can be teachers as well. They also help us grow. They inspire us. They serves as great mirrors of ourselves.

That’s why we judge everyone favorably. Each person we meet has something to teach us. They are all teachers. When we judge, we don’t allow ourselves to learn, to grow, to become our best selves.

And once we have learned a new lesson, as Rebbe Nachman teaches, we must offer that lesson to someone else. We must become the teacher.

Today I’d like to share a teaching of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov’s that truly speaks to me, especially since I do go out and teach. In fact, Rabbi Nachman’s wisdom, in this case, gave me permission to go out and teach what I knew. He taught me that everyone is a teacher, and we should teach even if we only know a little bit. You never know what little tidbit of wisdom you possess that might help someone else get to the next level.

According to Rebbe Nachman we all posses an inner light that represents that which we know. There also exists an outer light, which represents the knowledge we don’t yet possess.

In order to obtain the outer light, to let it in, we have to give over our truth, our wisdom. We have to, in a sense, empty out some of our inner light and make room for the outer light to come in. We do this by teaching others what we know. We do this by sharing our wisdom.

When we do this, when we allow that light to come in, we move from the level where we are now – developmentally or intellectually or emotionally —  to the next level.  Every person lives on a unique level. In fact, says Rebbe Nachman, no two people are on the exact same level at the same time when it comes to knowledge and wisdom and human development. Yet, as you move to the next level, you make room for someone else to move up to your level.

So, by offering a teaching, by sharing your wisdom, you not only give knowledge to someone but you allow someone to move to your level as you take in light and move to another level as well. Thus, by teaching, you are both giving and receiving at the same time.

We all have to give over our knowledge, so we can be filled with new light and move up, learn more, reach a higher place in terms of our human potential. By so doing, we allowing someone else to move up and grow in their knowledge and their human potential as well. We have to be a teacher and a student, a rebbe and a chassid.

How will you accomplish that today? What will you teach? What wisdom will you share?