elul

The Hebrew month, Elul is a powerful month of preparation as we dig down deep cultivating the ground we will be settling into for the winter months. Hard work, deep intention, prayerful awareness arises as we contemplate our lives up until the present time...and yet, we know that every year as the memories wash over us and our desire to improve our connections with the Divine, with our loved ones grows, this is part of a continuum. We strive to turn inward toward the Creator, our roots searching and penetrating our inner soil. We contemplate our purpose in the grand scheme of life unfolding. This is t'shuvah. As the reality that we have many failings becomes clear...remember too dear ones that we have evolved over the past year as well. With each failure there is a mirrored image of success. This time of inward reflection can also lead us to celebrate with gratitude all of the goodness we have been granted as well as the goodness we have created.

May we all be blessed with the awareness that we are good, that we create good...despite the suffering that is part of the whole of what it means to be human.

*T'shuvah is often translated as repentance...but a more accurate understanding might be "the process of turning inward".
**This post fist appeared @ Creativity as a Spiritual Practice