When a person has an imbalance-whether it be physical, emotional or spiritual what happens? There’s illness.
So in our quest for physical, emotional, spiritual health, how do we find the balance? How do we maintain our health during the chaggim when it feels like everything about us is off balance?
The verse says in Psalms, "הַשָּׂם גְּבוּלֵךְ שָׁלוֹם", yes, G-d will put peace in our boarders, but read it a different way...put your boarders, there will be peace....Isn't that beautiful? I heard this and I so connect to it. If we don't put the right boarders, boundaries, if we don't know when to say NO and when to say YES, then there is no shalom!!! Not physically, not spiritually, not emotionally.
At times the boarders are wider, at times they have to be smaller. We still need flexibility, but they have to be there. So yes, holidays come and we indulge a bit. One piece of cake is fine, but not two at each meal. You’ll feel sick. Guests are wonderful and it’s a beautiful mitzvah, but it can’t be at the expense of your spouse or your children or yourself! Say no to say yes! It's your work (avodah) to learn to know how much and when and which boundaries to put and to have confidence and the right self-esteem and self-respect to know that by saying no (when you need to) you are saying yes- creating shalom-peace, within and without.
So in our quest for physical, emotional, spiritual health, how do we find the balance? How do we maintain our health during the chaggim when it feels like everything about us is off balance?
The verse says in Psalms, "הַשָּׂם גְּבוּלֵךְ שָׁלוֹם", yes, G-d will put peace in our boarders, but read it a different way...put your boarders, there will be peace....Isn't that beautiful? I heard this and I so connect to it. If we don't put the right boarders, boundaries, if we don't know when to say NO and when to say YES, then there is no shalom!!! Not physically, not spiritually, not emotionally.
At times the boarders are wider, at times they have to be smaller. We still need flexibility, but they have to be there. So yes, holidays come and we indulge a bit. One piece of cake is fine, but not two at each meal. You’ll feel sick. Guests are wonderful and it’s a beautiful mitzvah, but it can’t be at the expense of your spouse or your children or yourself! Say no to say yes! It's your work (avodah) to learn to know how much and when and which boundaries to put and to have confidence and the right self-esteem and self-respect to know that by saying no (when you need to) you are saying yes- creating shalom-peace, within and without.
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