Aging Wisely: living today, preparing for tomorrow

The ego is a vehicle  Rabbi Ted Falcon We will spend the final two weeks of our journey focusing on the central pillar of the  Kabbalistic Tree of Life , where the levels of identity are represented. This sixth week, at  Yesod ,  we honor the self behind our experiences , the one at the center of our thoughts, feelings, and sensations.  While we tend to denigrate the significance of our ego identity, this  sefirah encourages a greater appreciation for the possibilities for which our separate self exists. The ego is a vehicle through which more profound spiritual consciousness can connect to the manifest world. So this week, we focus on the promise contained within our individual identities.        The Focus for the Sixth Week Yesod : The Foundation of Self  beginning the evening of Saturday, May 25 At  Yesod  ("Foundation"), we meet the self-awareness we call the eg...

On this path toward greater possibility  (the following is excerpted from Rabbi Ted Falcon   On this path toward greater possibility and expanded freedom,  we engage in meditative processes designed to encourage our availability for a more inclusive Wisdom, a more pervasive Love, and more effective ways of walking compassionately in our world. Surely, we live at a time of great yearning for the Love, Wisdom, and Compassion that flows from the shared Source of our being. We all use the equivalent of Focus Phrases all the time, but usually those phrases repeating in our minds simply support well-practiced patterns of thought, feeling, and action. Our intention is to use these days to release old beliefs that no longer serve us, and replace them with the energies of the Focus Phrases assigned to each week and to each day. These weekly and daily Focus Phrases are designed to help us step more effectively into new places of expanded possibili...

Our intention is to use these days to release old beliefs that no longer serve us, and replace them with the energies of the Focus Phrases assigned to each week and to each day. We all use Focus Phrases all the time, but usually we are simply repeating old patterns of thought and feeling. These Focus Phrases are designed to encourage us to step into new places of expanded possibility. The Jewish Wisdom tradition, fueled by the flowering of the Kabbalah in the 16th century, brought a spiritual focus to this seven-week period, relating each week to the energies of one of the lower seven levels on the  Kabbalistic Tree of Life . These weeks invite us to welcome the more profound Wisdom and Love that springs from the One Presence and seeks to express more fully through each one of us.  The two sides of the Tree reflect the difference between the form and that which it contains.  This fourth week, we return to the right side of the Tree, to put our focus at...

This week, I remember the silence within .  Day 15  My world is filled with the spirit of love.  I am blessed with friendships.  I spent the afternoon with Harvey, Lydia, and Iris.  We met Jeri at the ballet.  We laughed and enjoyed the ballet in common.  In the evening we gathered around Amy's table to enjoy dinner, wine, and conversation.  I don't need to be alone, not ever.  My world is filled with the spirit of love, I have only to be open to receive it and I can only receive it when I give love to others; those I know and those I don't yet know.   Day 16  I awaken to a deep inner compassion.  Deep inner compassion.  I'm not sure what that means.  Today I was kinder to myself, less driven to complete more tasks, more open to healing and resting.  This inner compassion is about being compassionate to myself .  That's a big one.  Being compassionate to myself.  This evening Sie...

Day 8 ― Chesed of Gevurah: Loving-kindness in Discipline The underlying intention and motive in discipline is love. Why do we measure our behavior, why do we establish standards and expect people to live up to them ― only because of love. Chesed of gevurah is the love in discipline; it is the recognition that your personal discipline and the discipline you expect of others is only an expression of love. It is the understanding that we have no right to judge others; we have a right only to love them and that includes wanting them to be their best. Ask yourself: when I judge and criticize another is it in any way tinged with any of my own contempt and irritation? Is there any hidden satisfaction in his failure? Or is it only out of love for the other? Exercise for the day: Before you criticize someone today, think twice: Is it out of concern and love? Today i spent mostly alone, working on the condo.  But I also went to see a vendor re some bathroom cabinets.  I thought...