What Can I Do After We Are Hit With Such Terrible Tragedy? (Part 3)
Areas of Improvement
Let’s first review some of the areas that were sent in the last blogs. In case you missed the last blog, I’ll post the ideas in full.
In the first blog of improvement we discussed:
The Spirituality of Shabbos – keeping it and keeping it better
Physical – the efforts we can do to purify what our eyes see
In the last blog:
Emotional – We must learn to feel the pain of others. We all have different emotional needs.
- Take 3 minutes a day, put it in your calendar – to think about the pain that the families who lost their relatives are going through. Think about the injured and the captured.
- For some it may be too difficult to spend time on it – as it causes anxiety and worry. For you, say Tehillim for those three minutes.
- For others, they may not be able to connect to the pain of those families, because they’ve never experienced it personally. For you, imagine any pain you’ve been through, and what you wish others would say to you during that pain. Speak those words aloud to those families, even if no one is around you.
- Call someone who is alone to simply say hello.
- Some people are feeling vulnerable at this time, worried what will be next, for the Jewish people, and more specifically for themselves. Call someone to tell them how you feel. Or write it down on a piece of paper. Then say a chapter of Tehillim (chapter 20).
- Change your focus on other people, away from yourself.
- Then force yourself to smile for 1 minute. Do it in front of a mirror.
Physical – Business Dealings and Phone Usage
- In business – avoid cheating or stealing from others.
- Work harder to ensure you’re not swindling others.
- At home/business – pay your workers on time.
- In Shul – put your phone away. Being on our phones demoralizes the entire prayer service for everyone. Everyone’s prayers are affected, even if you’re just browsing or checking something quietly.
- Take the phone outside. By being on the phone, you’re clearly disconnected from your purpose in shul, don’t disconnect others. Even better, leave the phone in your car.
New Addition for this week:
Modesty in Speech, Action and Dress
- Modesty – Modestly is not limited to clothing, it flows through all aspects of our lives. It exists in speech, in action and in thought.
- It’s understandable that modesty or tznius is a eye-rolling feeling-of-being-judged word. How we get past that is for another time. For now, see if you can take a small step and choose one day to dress more modestly or humbly than before. One day that says, “I can do this for myself, my inner-core, and as a merit for my brothers and sisters on the front lines.”
- For men, dress more appropriately, wear a head covering, tuck in, and dress like you’re royalty.
- In action – choose one positive thing that you can do humbly without telling anyone about it. Whether it’s charity, kindness, or something else that creates greater good in the world.
- In speech – cut out bad words, stop with tasteless jokes, speak humbly about yourself and praise others.