Spirituality – Page 4 – New beginnings: A blog about spirituality, chaplaincy and renewal

Audio – Lessons in Tanya 80

Continuation of Chapter 42. We continue to explore how to focus our minds on bringing about awe of Gd. This piece focuses on Gd as the all Knowing, seeing and hearing.

Episode 80

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Do you want to work on taking the actions of your life and find meaning in all you do and who you are? Are you struggling with your spiritual growth. Contact New Beginnings Spiritual Coaching and Consulting LLC at 732-314-6758 ext. 100 or via email at newbeginningsspiritualcoach@gmail.com

My Precious – Time

I am fan of Lord of the Rings. And of course, one of the iconic lines/scenes is when we see Smeagol find the Ring to Rule them All and begin to refer to it as “my precious.”

Do we cherish Time in the same way? For us, time is the true precious. It is a blessing and a curse. It is the most valuable thing we have and yet, we are cursed with so little of it. How do we treat time? Do we see every minute as “our precious” or do neglect it and let it slip away from us?

I was reminded of these questions when reading this short blog post from Seth Godin’s website

No time to waste

Of course there isn’t.

Time is all we’ve got.

Time is all there is.

We can’t waste time because it’s not ours to waste. It’s simply the way we keep track of everything else.

Everyday we struggle to maximize our time, to build in time to grow, to change, to be productive, to experience life and all it has to offer. Every so often it is important to remind ourselves of the preciousness of every moment.

May today be a day of reflecting on how we best use our time! May this process of reflection help you find your New Beginning!

Are you or someone you know struggling to maintain one’s spiritual growth? Are you looking for strategies to maximize your time and energy? Contact New Beginnings Spiritual Coaching and Consulting LLC at 732-314-6758 ext. 100 or via email at newbeginningsspiritualcoach@gmail.com

Audio – Lessons in Tanya 79

Part one of chapter 42. We continue to explore the notion of awe/fear as it relates to spirituality and worship of Gd. We discuss the idea of awe being something that is also inherent in our hearts if we work to reveal it. At a minimum, feeling awe of the divine can come from avoiding those things that are deemed “sin” so as to raise up a sense of humility in the face of the All-Knowing Gd. We can also come to awe through reflection and contemplation.

Episode 79

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Spiritual Honesty

I recently came across a powerful comment from Lessons in Tanya that I believe is important to reflect upon:

Now, we are constantly taught that one should be wary of spiritual intentions which outstrip one’s current spiritual pace; spirituality must be earned in an environment of honesty.
Lessons in Tanya, Vol. 2 p. 616

Spiritual growth, like all other areas of life, requires goals. Who do we want to be? How do we get there? What path should we take? We have desires for being different, more connected to the divine, to Gd, to our inner self. Yet, growth is a not a 0-60 in 3 seconds endeavor. It is a steady, daily process of taking step after step, rising slightly more each and every day. The above is a reminder that while we have desires to be an ideal self, we must strive towards it, not force it forward, for speeding things up is fraught with dangers of falling hard and fast.

Today, take the first step towards your goal. Don’t rush, don’t let the desire for growth push you towards taking shortcuts. Move forward step by step, day by day and you will find true Spiritual Honesty.

Are you or someone you know struggling to maintain one’s spiritual growth? Are you looking for strategies to stay along a path and jump too far forward? Contact New Beginnings Spiritual Coaching and Consulting LLC at 732-314-6758 ext. 100 or via email at newbeginningsspiritualcoach@gmail.com

Audio – Lessons in Tanya 78

Completion on Chapter 41. We shift back to the topic of intentionality and spiritual growth. This section deals with how our actions and level of spirituality might not match where we wish we we were. We discuss taking steps to grow spiritually and connect to Gd, recognizing each small step is a gain in the journey of connecting the soul back to Gd, giving delight to the divine throughout the process.

Episode 78

All episodes can also now be heard on Apple Podcasts – here

Audio – Lessons in Tanya 76

Beginning of Chapter 41 – This chapter shifts our focus from love of Gd and the confluence of needing love and fear to carry the light of our actions back to the divine realms to a discussion of the importance of awe/fear. We look at the metaphor of relationship to Gd as master/servant vs. parent/child which comes from the notion of love of Gd. This section suggests that complete service to Gd must be within this combined focus of fear and love.

Episode 76

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Audio – Lessons in Tanya 75

Conclusion of Chapter 40 – We continue to focus on intentionality, kavvanah, with a focus on trying to understand how love and fear are the wings of bringing the study, prayer and action upwards. We answer the question of how love and fear can be wings if they are mitzvot, not just extras to mitzvot. We also look at few of the tangential notes the Alter Rebbe presents in this section to better understanding the wings and the divine realms.

Episode 75

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Audio – Lessons in Tanya 74

Continuation of chapter 40. We continue to explore intentionality by looking at the reason why mechanical, non-focused, prayer and learning have a partial effect. He suggests that doing things without intent is not as problematic because the prayers and study are already imbued with at least some holiness and light from the divine, even though our existence is greatly diminished from the Ein Sof light.

Episode 74

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Audio – Lessons in Tanya 73

Beginning of Chapter 40. We continue looking at intentionality, Kavvanah. The piece today tries to distinguish the categories of Kavvanah, intentionality, and Lishmah, something for its own sake. We see the difference between the two in that lacking intention doesn’t fully take away from the action while doing something for an ulterior motive does.

Episode 73

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Audio – Lessons in Tanya 72

Conclusion of chapter 39. We continued to explore the notion of intentionality in our actions as it pertains to his description of the divine realms. The love and fear of Gd we have as we are performing mitzvot, whether that which is intellectual or that which is from the animal soul play a role in our focus. We define the notion of the reward for a mitzvah is a mitzvah as well as the importance of taking action even for the wrong reasons so long as we are always striving to do things for the right intentions.

Episode 72

All episodes can also now be heard on Apple Podcasts – here