To you:
I wanted to publish this as we went into Shabbat and the weekend, but I got busy moving into my new home in Dallas.
Nevertheless, I hope your week is filled with blessings, abundance, love, health, great fortune, and rest. Perhaps, you have a chance to hug a loved one as well :)
Here's a run down on my weekly 6:
Quotes I’m living by:
This first one comes from an Instagram post by Lewis Howes, so I am unsure who really said it:
“Everything you are going through is preparing you for what you asked for. Embrace the struggles as it will all make sense soon.”
“Man cannot remake himself without suffering for he is both the marble and the sculptor.”
~ Alexis Carrel
“Sometimes letting go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on.”
~ Eckhart Tolle
Lessons from my dad (the most interesting man in the world):
I spent the weekend with my Dad moving into my place in Dallas so you bet I had a lot of lessons…good and bad.
Here are a few to catch up for the past week:
“If you are sincere enough to fake sincerity sincerely, you are sincere enough."
"Sometimes, your own standards are incapable of being met by anyone else. Your own internal judge cannot be placated but sometimes your internal judge is a little bit harsher than he should be. Be kind to yourself.”
Open Your Eyes!
In my dad’s opinion, I need to know where things are because I’ll ask him where something is and he’ll respond, “open your eyes.” And sure, enough I’ll find it… true wisdom…
The Story of George
During my drive to Dallas I asked my pops to tell me about his amazing honeymoon story in South Africa. I recorded the condensed version of the story and hope to write about it and publish the recording. Please let me know if you’d like to listen :)
Thanks Papa B!
What I learned from the Rabbi this past week:
1. I recorded a video with the Rabbi about the importance of names and what Judaism says about the power of our personal name. Could modern names like ‘hashtag’ have great significance? Sorry, I don’t think so unless he/she has a Hebrew name.
Unfortunately, the video came out where it only shows me. Honestly, it can’t be that bad then.
I have not published it yet because the quality is sub-par. For those that are reading this and would love to hear it, DM me on Instagram or Facebook and I will gladly release it.
2. In the Jewish calendar, we are in the month of Elul, which is a preparatory month for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. According to my OG rabbi, we blow the shofar (this is a kosher ram’s horn for my non-Jewish brothers and sisters) for this exact reason that the new year is next month. I like blowing the shofar so I was sold on that reason, but there are several other reasons. One additional reason is to commemorate Moses’ second ascent to Mount Sinai which began on the first of Elul and lasted until Yom Kippur. The ascent was accompanied by shofar blasts (Chabad.org).
*This picture is also from Chabad.org*
Book I am reading:
As I write this, I just finished Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. You’re right! I finished 2 books in the past 2 weeks thanks to my new and improved reading speed! And funny enough, I love how nerdy that sounds because information in equals information out. I still think I would choose non-fiction books over fiction books, but I do believe there is much to learn and enjoy informationally in a fiction book.
One fascinating experience I enjoyed with the skills from Jim Kwik’s speed reading course is being fully in the book. By incorporating indentation, reading with my left hand, and other techniques, I felt like I was in Harry’s shoes staring at the Mirror of Erised and talking to Dumbledore.
“Yes and no,” said Dumbledore quietly. “It shows us nothing more than or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of hearts.” I really wanted to know what it would show me – falling a fool to its power. Then, Dumbledore warned Harry not to go looking for it again because “it does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that.”
I will, Dumbledore.
New skill I am learning:
Juggling 3 balls
On day 11 of Jim Kwik’s speed reading course we were informed that people who can juggle actually have bigger brains by increasing the white matter in the brain. True or not, I do believe that your physiology affects your psychology so I set out to add this to my repertoire of skills.
In addition to increasing my reading speed, juggling improves peripheral vision which will also help me with basketball and other areas of life.
As you’re reading this, I can now juggle three balls for a good 10 cycles or so… this took me 3-4 days. I learned quickly because I made my practice fun and enjoyable, so I would have no problem putting in the work.
Daily Habits:
Journaling and writing things down
In stressful situations, it is not uncommon for me to get paralyzed or unsure of things. On a positive side of my concussion, it is fairly easy to tell when I am feeling anxious because the haziness in the back of my head alarms me like Harry Potter’s scar (wow now I am relating things to reading haha). After journaling and writing down ideas, quotes, and other things, I have found it very comforting to trap my thoughts onto paper. This way I can see it visually and determine if it’s true or not, and how much weight a thought I carry can be.
I have learned that we all feel better after writing things down because our ideas or thoughts have to come through cognitive, perceptual, and motor skills. The combination of these skills are called graphomotor skills which allow us to write. The process of thinking, writing, and then seeing our thoughts allows us to assess it with much more clarity. Or as top leadership coach Michael Hyatt says, “thoughts disentangle themselves out the lips and through pencil tips.” This includes speaking externally, but the idea remains that writing can disentangle long rooted thoughts.
CAUTION: A beloved teacher of mine told me that if you journal when venting, throw away your negative writing because we can also reinjure our thinking by writing things that bother us or are negative.
Please give me feedback on any social media platform or here if you are able to comment. Which update is your favorite? What would you like to see more of?
Enjoy your week and crush it!
Your friend,
Solomon