The Hero In The Mirror # 43

 H.onest with yourself
E.ngage your life positively and fully.
R.espect yourself and others
O.pen to all that can be no matter what has been)
Some many of us rip ourselves apart because of things we have said , done etc and even refuse to forgive ourselves and move on
If G-d granted has you another day , for what you have said or done you may have a price to pay, however you still have an opportunity to forge a new way, a new life mainstay
One thing is clear if you do not clear your mind to move on what you have said or done will define you and be your wake

So maybe as hard as it may be, understand ,everyone has thoughts and urges, some act upon them and then stop, some do not act upon them at all but still tear themselves up over the mere thought.

When you do not move on you stay in prison , forgiving yourself does not excuse yourself it clears your mind to do some good no matter how much bad you think you have done.

People who have something to conquer feel more fulfilled then those who have never had to fight themselves or for themselves so no matter the mask see the hero in the mirror and fight hard because your fight brings the world much blessing and light.

The Hero In The Mirror # 42

Self Honesty Is The Best Policy
When we are honest enough to admit to ourselves how many times,when,for what reason,how easily etc we have fallen... humility should be easily achievable..understanding of others second nature and forgiving others much less of an obstacle course.

The Hero In The Mirror # 41

The Hero In The Mirror

It says in this week's parsha- VaYeishev
".....and Joseph would bring evil reports about them(his brothers)to their father( Jacob)- Bereishit 37:2

Joseph spoke Lashon Hara(speaking badly ,negatively etc about even though it is true),now we are talking about one of the only icons of Judaism to whom we add the word Tzaddik (righteous ,person) whenever we talk about them.."Yosef HaTzaddik "

So what does this have to with the Lashon Hara. that Josef spoke?
One possible connection is to show us that being righteous , reaching great heights in no way means that you are perfect, that you never fall.

As with Joseph and most of the icons of our way of life, their mistakes are all there for us to us read about which gives us tremendous encouragement and validation knowing that we are never lost , we are not bad because we make mistakes,we are never ever too far gone to go far,never beyond G-d's "reach"

It is what we choose to do about our mistakes , when we fall etc that sets the path we take, where our lives will go.. the meaning we find ,the fulfillment and happiness we feel etc

As it says in Kohelet(Ecclesiastes)

".....there is no righteous person in the land that does good and will not sin...."

The Hero In The Mirror # 40

Your outer behavior and results are a reflection of your inner self image

The Hero In The Mirror # 39

You are never too far gone to get up again and again to go far

The exodus from egypt is mentioned in almost everything we do and it is referred to in the first of the 10 commandments
"I am the Lord your G-d who brought you out of the land of egypt.."
No mention of being the Creator of the world,universe,multiverse etc
There are almost endless lessons and messages here
One important one for me is
That the remnants, who were not killed in the plague of darkness,were on the 49th level of impurity..you dont get much lower than that and yet G-d saw fit to redeem us
and make this part of the first of the famous ten commandments
So I go though each day with such a tremendous grateful feeling of empowering self worth knowing that if I despair and lose hope in me G-d never does no matter where and how I have fallen
That sets me free from the self imposed shackles that might pull me down to look up and keep getting up,feeling the light in me ,knowing that I am worth the fight and so are YOU

The Hero In The Mirror # 38

 Liberating Your Authenticity

From the story of Isaac digging the wells we learn that metaphorically speaking human beings have three options: (1) to redig the wells of their forefathers; (2) to dig their own wells; (3) to redig the wells of their forefathers in such a way as to make them their own. We need to achieve a balance between how much to accept from our ingrained nature and nurture and how much to strike out on our own. Isaac was able to both heed the traditions of his father and strike out on his own, sometimes at one and the same time. In this lies the secret of the survival of the Torah and the Jewish people.- Rabbi Avraham Trugman

The Hero In The Mirror # 37

The Hero In The Mirror

It is hard to beat someone who never gives up especially on themselves