Rosh Hashanah…
The Day Of Malchus!
I can’t believe we are here, yet again.
Rosh Hashanah.
The marking of a new year..
Rosh Hashanah has many names.
The literal translation of Rosh Hashanah is, Head of The Year.
It is also called Yom Tiruah – The Day of The Shofer.
And my favorite translation is, The Day of Malchus (Kingship)
If we could just stop and think about what it means to have Hashem as our King, as our Creator, as our Sustainer we would all be a lot more healthier. We would feel the truth; we are taken care of.
One of the underlying problems that seems to be the culprit for most of our issues with health is stress.
The question arises; where does stress come from?
The stress we all mean and feel,
That stress is in the mind.
Don’t get me wrong.
The stress we all feel on a daily basis are all very much real.
Not having enough money to cover the bare essentials.
Having children in the house that are dealing with issues in school or otherwise. Health concerns. Marital strife..
Are all great examples of real stressful situations.
These are not happening in your mind.
But is it the actual fact of not having money to pay the bills a stress OR is it the thoughts and worries that accompany the situation that causes the stress?
We can not control the situations that happen to us.
We can only control the thoughts and meanings we associate with any given situation.
These stressful thoughts have a very real effect on the body in a mental and physical way.
Some negative effect on our physical body include:
Obesity.
Heart diseases.
Stomach Indigestion.
Beside all the physical damage let us not forget the mental stress which then in turn, leaves you drained and unmotivated to do exercise, eat healthy and keeps you up till late hours of the morning.
Common signs of an unfortunately common struggle, depression.
But all of this can be taken away, or at the very least reduced, by changing just one thing.
Believing that:
Life happens for you not to you.
Everything in this world is here for a reason. Everything in this world happens for a reason. Everything in this world happens for you.
Even though we may not see it. Even if this is a really stressful time.
If we can just stop and remind ourselves in the moment, in the hardest time:
“Life happens for me,”
We can start to look at the situation for what it truly is…
A lesson to be learned.
Knowledge to acquire.
With the belief that life happens for you, you are saying, ‘Stressful situations are there so I can learn and become stronger. To accomplish my mission in life.’
But how do we handle stress?
We try to control everything.
When things don’t go according to our expectation we become irritated, annoyed, scared.
We become stressed.
Instead of taking a step back and trying to find what lesson we can take from it, we come up with 50 different terrifying outcomes that can come from the situation and fixate on all of them.
This is a concept that is easier said but extremely challenging to live by.
But if we can get into the habit of slowing down. Even just for an extra minute. Be Mindful.
Reminding ourselves that life happens for each one of us, we might just alleviate our stress load a little bit at a time.
How about right now?
Just STOP
.
.
Hand over your chest. Another hand to your belly.
Inhale deep into your belly (pause when you feel your chest rising)
Control your exhale out.
Repeat.
Ten full and deep breaths.
This is a reminder to yourself;
“Life is for me.”