This weekend

I had a fairly "Jewish" weekend...

Saturday, we held an intimate Torah study at our house. The more we observe Shabbos, the better it feels and the more I look forward to it. The Parsha, Terumah (with a cool commentary), provided a really beautiful discussion about how we create sacred space. As I was thinking more about this, I thought of Heschel's concept of Shabbat as the sacred architecture of time. Where other religions (and human belief systems) give significance to certain physical sites, our holiest "site" is not a place at all, but rather a 25 hour period we inhabit every week. Like other holy sites, it requires upkeep, but that upkeep is the most internal kind.

On Sunday, I went to the first class in the Oral Torah class a number of us at BT are taking with Garry. The more I learn about Torah, the more it feels right to study it. The commandment is to study Torah for its own sake, and that makes sense to me - it feels right. It also means a few more books!!!

Changes afoot

After a sporadic couple of months, I am back to meditating daily. It's wild how my life gets clearer when I sit daily, as opposed to once or twice a week. The change I am evolving in my life has come into sharper focus.

I have taken a measure of control of my health. Working with a chiropractor for the last few weeks has been great. Similarly, I am watching my refined sugar intake and have noticed a marked difference in my energy level. Overall, I feel better and don't have the swings I used to. Will I never eat sugar again? Nah, I love pies too much! But being conscious of when I do has been a good thing. I am also watching the amount of animal protein I consume. I love meat and cheese, but again, I want to be mindful of its impacts on my energy.

Recently, I have also been reenvisioning what my work life might be like. I don't want to sever any ties with my present employer yet (more on that in months to come), but I want to start earning a portion of my income creatively. I am starting to write at least 30 minutes a day, and taking more photos. I can't wait to see how this evolves!