Cultivating Awe And Inspiration To Live With Connection

Hello and welcome today on With an S,

Insights inspired by the weekly Torah portion.

This week we are in the portion of Bereshit,

In the beginning.

In the Hebrew language,

The word Torah is related to the word Hora,

Which means guidance.

The Torah is also known as the Old Testament in the Christian religion.

In the Jewish faith,

It is referred to as the Torah.

And it's understood that the Torah can be read and understood on a number of different levels.

We can read the stories at face value that these were events that actually happened.

And we can also look at the deeper meanings and lessons that come through as we read the stories.

In this insight,

I'm going to share three events that take place in Bereshit,

This week's portion with you.

And we're going to extract three lessons,

One that we learned from each.

The Torah begins with the story of creation,

And you may be familiar with the story.

It is encapsulated as a seven-day process in which the eternal or the infinite,

The Almighty created all that exists.

Now in the year 2019,

It is often challenging to believe this story at face value because it happens in seven days.

And we are very well acquainted with what can and cannot happen in a 24-hour cycle,

According to science,

Of course.

But when we look at the story itself,

The sun,

Moon,

And stars were not created right away.

And our concept of time is actually directly related to the earth and the sun and the rotations and so forth.

So we can expand our minds a little bit and accept that,

Yes,

We have a tremendous amount of science at our fingertips that instructs us as to how creation may have come into being.

We also have this story.

And what the two of them have in common is the understanding that there is something out in the universe,

Out in the vastness and out in the infinitude that we live in that created what we know and can conceive of in tremendous,

Tremendous intelligence.

So no matter what we want to call this force,

This being,

This energy,

Or this process,

We can acknowledge that it has created a universe with so much intelligence,

With an incredible amount of beauty and depth.

And simply in doing that,

We can tap into deeper levels of joy.

Now,

On a day-to-day basis,

We can go through life with pleasure,

Excitement,

And even moments of ecstasy.

But ultimately,

In tapping into the understanding that we have all been created by a force that is infinitely intelligent,

That we cannot as humans completely comprehend,

We can tap into our potential to live in a meaningful way.

Now,

Research tells us that simply the act of viewing awesome scenes in nature,

In listening to stories about the miraculous,

Or being in wonderful,

Magnificent settings,

Viewing the Grand Canyon or a tremendous waterfall,

A beautiful sunset,

All of these moments that inspire awe within us also bring about feelings of humility and the acknowledgement that what we do in our lives is actually created,

Co-created by us and by all the forces working around us that are working in our favor,

That are helping us,

The people and resources in our lives that have been teaching us,

That have been empowering us,

And that have been guiding us on our journey.

So in doing that,

We're really tapping into humility,

And we're simultaneously acknowledging that the gifts that we've been given,

The talents that we have,

The skills and ability that we have are not entirely in our possession.

We did not create them,

And therefore,

As much as we can use them,

They have really been given to us and sustained for us as a gift so that we can do what it is that we are destined to do in this world.

So if anyone has ever struggled with imposter syndrome or self-doubt,

It's a really refreshing idea to remind ourselves that we are a part of something greater,

And that the skills and ability that we have have been gifted to us so that we can use them to serve in this world,

To help others,

To express ourselves,

To create,

And ultimately to contribute.

So that's the first idea.

Now,

The second idea is that in really conceptualizing of the wonder of this universe and the wonders of creation,

We can tap into our own ability to do what is meaningful in this world,

To really connect with that which is most important.

I'm reminded of an experience I had as a volunteer teaching writing and mindfulness in juvenile detention center right before the Christmas holiday.

I was in the United States in downtown Los Angeles working with teenagers in the detention center there,

The jail,

And teen after teen shared with me their deep desire to return home and simply sit around a table or sit around the Christmas tree with their families and be near the people that they loved most on this holiday at this time.

And I thought about these teens and either the crimes that they had committed or the crimes that they had been accused of committing which had brought them to this moment.

And they had been moved by whatever it was,

Stress or fear or desire to be loved or to fit in or even the pressure to make money and feed a family.

You know,

They had been dealing with a lot on the outside.

And yet having this moment of mindfulness,

This moment to think and contemplate and write reminded them of that which was the most important thing to them which was really sitting around and being with their families.

So often in life we are pulled in several different directions and we may react out of a feeling of stress or a desire to be loved and acknowledged and given attention.

And ultimately when we are mindful and connected with the greatness that we are a part of,

We can tap into our own ability to make decisions and live in a way that we will be most proud of and most settled with in the long term which is really the power of calming and contemplation.

Different research has determined that even a short period,

15 minutes per day for 7 days can increase our ability to make decisions from a rational place,

From the logical parts of our brain and move away from making decisions that are based on stress or fear.

So that is definitely another benefit of contemplating the greatness of the universe that we are a part of.

Now the third idea that I'd like to share about this weekly Torah portion is that the event of light and darkness,

The event of light having been created came about as such.

It says,

The earth was desolate and void,

Darkness was upon the waters and the Almighty said let there be light and there was light.

So darkness came before light and the way that the Hebrew calendar is organized is that evening precedes morning,

It comes before morning.

And naturally in life there is a cycle in the earth,

We have night,

We have day,

We have cycles in our lives when we are sleeping,

When we are awake,

We have different emotional cycles,

We have cycles in our relationships,

Cycles in our lives and there is a natural push and pull between different emotions and while we may not be able to avoid emotions such as sadness or pain or guilt or anger,

What we can do is simply acknowledge that all of those feelings may come from a place of intelligence and that when we are within a certain feeling and experiencing that sadness or that anger or that guilt or that fear,

We can pause and we can ask ourselves,

Is it possible that this thought,

That this feeling is here for me?

It's not necessarily here doing something to me,

I can notice that I'm experiencing a certain thought or experiencing a certain feeling without being entirely in it.

I can pause for a moment and ask myself,

What could this feeling of anger be here to teach me?

Maybe I'm angry that someone gave me feedback on my work that came across like criticism and it hurts that I poured myself into a project and I'm receiving criticism and at the same time if I pause and if I let go of the ego for a moment,

I might be able to see some sort of gift in my own experience of anger.

This can manifest across a number of emotions but the most important things to ask ourselves are how could this be happening for me and can I take a pause to explore?

How this could possibly be happening for me?

Finally the fact that the Almighty created light with words,

The Almighty said,

Let there be light.

The act of speaking is really powerful in creating our reality.

There are a number of ways in which we can go about describing our feelings,

Describing our thoughts,

Talking about our day and choosing what it is that we want to focus on.

So if we want to focus on gratitude,

We might ask ourselves in a particular moment,

What am I grateful for that happened today?

I can ask myself or I can ask someone else rather than asking how are you,

I can ask did anything interesting happen to you today or did anything special happen?

And simply by setting oneself up to scan through the events and thoughts of our day to look for the good,

We're teaching ourselves to highlight the good,

To focus on the good and overcome the automatic negative thoughts and the automatic tendency to have a bias toward negativity.

So our words are really powerful,

Our words can create.

Thank you so much for listening to this Daily Insight today and I bless you with the intention to continue growing,

Continue staying inspired and continuing to seek out the good and spread the light.

Thanks for joining me on Within Us.