Unleashing our potential,
Mindfulness and parashat Pinchas.
In Pinchas,
This week's Torah portion,
We learn about two situations where people come forward to passionately act on their beliefs.
Pinchas,
The high priest and grandson of Aaron,
And the daughters Tzlofhad.
Pinchas sees Bnei Yisrael,
The children of Israel,
Consorting with foreign women and engaging in idol worship.
One such person,
Zimri,
Was a prince of the tribe of Shimon,
A dignitary of sorts,
And was flaunting his immoral behavior in public.
Pinchas dares to be the judge and executioner and kill Zimri on the spot.
Because of his action,
The punishment of a plague has stayed and the people are saved.
But for our sages,
It's not so simple,
As they're divided and conflicted about the move since it was effectively executed without a trial.
When Chas acted on his own out of his zealotry,
The rabbis teach that this was a one-time situation,
And that we should not complicate taking similar action into our own hands.
Later on in the parasha,
We read another story about the courageous and idealistic daughters of Tzlofhad.
Their father died and they went to Moses to ask for their inheritance in the land of Israel,
Something that up until now was assumed would only go to sons,
Not daughters.
Let not our father's name be lost to his tribe just because he had no son,
They said.
The daughters stood up for what they knew to be right and mustered the courage to advocate for themselves and for others.
Both Pinchas and the daughters of Tzlofhad were passionate and took action based on their beliefs.
In doing so,
They fulfilled their potential despite the risks.
We all have potential.
How can we cultivate this potential?
What are you passionate about?
What is important to you?
First of all,
Clarifying your values is a good place to start.
What's important to you?
As you clarify what is important to you and what you're passionate about,
Here's a few suggestions to keep in mind.
One,
Know yourself.
When you truly know yourself,
When you honestly recognize your strengths and weaknesses,
You can see what you want to improve in yourself and move in that direction.
But it always begins with honestly knowing yourself.
For example,
If you wish to become more efficient in your work,
You have to be transparent with what's holding you back.
Perhaps you put things off,
You need help to organize your time,
Or maybe you're taking on too much at once.
Two,
Let go of perfectionism.
Perfectionism is not healthy and doesn't help us achieve what we want.
It's not the same as trying to be our best.
The perfect is the enemy of the good.
We should strive to improve ourselves not by being overly critical,
But rather from a place of looking at ourselves in a non-judgmental,
Calm,
And level-headed way.
Three,
Push yourself outside of your comfort zone.
To grow and reach your potential,
It's important to take on challenges that push you outside of your comfort zone.
Over time,
You might feel confident in taking on even bigger challenges.
To quote Brene Brown,
You can choose courage or you can choose comfort.
You can't have both.
Stepping outside of your comfort zone into what is referred as the growth zone is uncomfortable.
This doesn't necessarily mean diving into the deep end,
But rather finding a healthy balance.
In what areas of life do you choose to stay in your comfort zone?
Where could you push yourself more?
Think of what really matters to you.
What do you believe in?
What brings you the most joy or gets you excited?
It could,
For example,
Be exploring new places,
Relationships,
Learning a new skill,
Volunteering in your community.
How do you figure out what really matters to you?
Try meditating on it.
Let's try this mindfulness practice for exploring what's important to you.
Start by defining your core values by asking yourself what you must have in your life to feel fulfilled.
Some examples of core values are family,
Creativity,
Prosperity,
Wellness,
Adventure,
Knowledge,
Justice,
Gratitude.
Here's a couple questions to help you define your core values.
If you had to immediately evacuate your home,
What important objects would you pack?
What values are indispensable to your life?
What values are crucial to supporting your inner self?
Mirabai Bush,
Fellow at the Center for the Contemplative Mind and mindfulness teacher,
Teaches this mindfulness practice.
Start by finding a comfortable place to sit where you won't be disturbed.
Pressing your breath,
Breathing in and breathing out.
Now think of the values that matter most to you and how they might be utilized in a job or hobby.
Taking a moment and holding this image in your mind and seeing what arises.
Don't push things aside because they don't make sense.
Be open to what arises.
Allow its story to unfold without judgment.
Does this point to a new activity or direction for you?
And again,
Allow yourself to pause and take a deep breath.
Try to adapt a beginner's mind while you are contemplating these questions.
In other words,
Approaching it like you're seeing it for the first time with no preconceived ideas of what you're thinking about.
This may help you to access the answers that your conscious mind might not be aware of yet.
Bring awareness to your breath.
Remember that your mind doesn't have all the answers.
Create a space for new insights and revelations to emerge.
Don't be discouraged if your first answers don't reveal a strong passion.
Not all of us have a fiery passion inside us like Pinhas and the daughters of Tzilfhad.
We can continue to ask ourselves what's important to us and listen gently to the answers.
And then we can truly start living by our values to fulfill our potential.
I hope you'll continue this practice throughout the week and beyond.
Thank you for listening and please tune in next week.
