New Year reflections
The Jewish High Holidays can inspire a helpful practice of introspection in this transitional season for all of us
Hello, friends! Happy New Year! Today marks the start of Rosh Hashana and the Jewish High Holidays, which continue for 10 days and end on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, this year on Oct. 5. When I was a child in Maryland, these holidays were not part of our community rhythm. But now that I live in New York, and work for a nonprofit founded by a Jewish family, the holidays are on my fall calendar. Many schools are off; my office is closed for Yom Kippur.
And I rather love the idea of a new year that happens in September, around the time of the new school year, when the seasons are in transition. It feels like a new year right now, in a way that January 1st doesn’t quite.
I also love carving out time to reflect and look ahead. These holidays have beautiful elements of introspection, atonement, community.
As Rabbi Rob Gleisser, the Peter J. Rubinstein reform senior Jewish educator at Penn State Hillel, explained to USA TODAY:
“These are moments where we come together as a community, where we take time to think about ourselves as individuals, but also think about the ways that we can help others. Think about the ways that we want to create a safe community, a welcoming community, a warm community and then be able to enrich the world around us after having those moments of introspection."
No matter your religion, these is an inspiring goal and perspective. How do we create together a safe community, a welcoming community, a warm community? How can we each help?
The free tool 10Q was created to spread this practice of introspection more widely in this season. (Many thanks to my friend Tom for sharing the tool.)
The 10Q website explains:
“10Q was inspired by the traditional ten days of reflection that occur between the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, a period of time that’s long been considered an opportunity to look at where you're at, where you've come from, and where you're heading. Whether you're Jewish or not, though, 10Q is a great way for anyone to look back at the year that’s past, look ahead at the year to come, and take stock. That’s a beautiful thing in any language.”
How does it work?
“10Q emails you a question a day for 10 days. Afterwards, you send your answers to the secure online vault. One year later, your answers are unlocked and returned and the process begins anew.”
Imagine being able to read back through years and years of your reflections. What was on the mind of Brianne of 10 years ago? I likely have scribbles of such reflections around January 1 in random years in various defunct laptops and notebooks, but who knows where they all are now!
I’ve signed up. Today is the first day, so you can sign up, too here: https://www.doyou10q.com. It’s completely free.
I tracked down the questions through the Past Answers archive. (Your submitted answers will be completely private unless you select to make the public.) You could also write out your answers long-hand or make up your own questions.
The 10Q questions include:
Describe a significant experience that has happened in the past year. How did it affect you? Are you grateful? Relieved? Resentful? Inspired?
Is there something that you wish you had done differently this past year? Alternatively, is there something you're especially proud of from this past year?
How would you like to improve yourself and your life next year? Is there a piece of advice or counsel you received in the past year that could guide you?
What is a fear that you have and how has it limited you? How do you plan on letting it go or overcoming it in the coming year?
What stellar questions!
I’ve been reminded recently by doing Morning Pages how mentally helpful it is to deliberately reflect — how it helps dust your brain off, clears out ruminations, nudges you to move on, allows you to focus better during the rest of the day. I imagine this contemplation would be a nice mind boost, too, and would spill over into your kindness, actions, and purposefulness in the time ahead.
I hope you have a wonderful week of reflections, and Happy New Year again to our Jewish friends who are celebrating!
To our journeys,
Brianne
p.s. I heard some helpful feedback that the Field Notes are too long. (To new readers, Field Notes come out on Wednesdays and include 3 things I’ve run across each week. Here’s the most recent: Field Notes #33. )
I’m wondering what you think: Would you like me to switch to 1 Field Note each week or to much shorter descriptions?
Thank you!