We are now in the Days of Awe. For real! By the Jewish calendar, these days between the Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year that fell earlier in the week, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement which falls next week, are ones meant to be of deep introspection, reconciliation, and exploration of the meanings of the holidays themselves.
.
Personally, I’m taking the slow down and reflection ON. I have had a pretty busy month, but I’ve also had my eye on the AWE factor. I do love this time of year quite a lot, and the opportunities it creates for tuning in. Forgiveness, making amends, looking backwards to make go-forward changes – these concepts and actions are a big focus of this period of time. I’ve written about forgiveness before, and while I’m always change-focused in my business and life, making specific changes are certainly on my mind more than ever right now.
.
These days also make me think about my most recent post on creating an Accomplishment Inventory. I didn’t plan it this way, but it’s definitely a happy accident. We spend so much time over the course of our year dealing with what comes our way, trying to keep up, catch up, coping, and not nearly enough time on pacing ourselves, reflecting, and taking stock. Like I said, sometimes Thanksgiving time can start to feel forced, so I love the idea of peppering in more time for self-reflection, shifting our eye to what’s working, and dare I say, standing in awe of all the things that are going right.
.
If you took the time after reading my last newsletter to get started on appreciating yourself with your Accomplishment Inventory, go you! Don’t worry if not – it’s always there for you as a tool. Appreciation — for ourselves and for others–is a muscle to build, and one I encourage everyone to work on. Shocker: It’s HARD. I have found with myself and my clients, that starting is the actual hardest part. Like most things, once you get cracking, it flows.
.
Here’s why I’m looping back to this idea of self-appreciation during this period of reflection, that according to the Jewish faith, is about making amends and change. In a word: Balance. I propose we use this period of reflection to not only focus on what we’d like to change but also how we build the foundation of that change on what has been going right (and our striving towards being our best). So often, we can lean hard into what is wrong, how we f-d up, who we have hurt, you know, all the cringe-worthy moments. YES, of course let’s effort to make wrongs right, AND let’s not make this simply a beat-ourselves-up-fest.
.
As ever, start small! Build-in small ways to focus on what’s working, what you like about yourself and where you’re at. Take a small moment to think about someone else, some way you want to spread that around to important people in your life. I’m endlessly in awe of how far appreciation and reflection — inward and outward — can change us all.