Shalom and Peace: I invite you to learn more about living in harmony with others and the Divine.
''Deliberate before a word passes your lips, and be thoughtful how you should act in your worldly affairs'' (Derek Eretz 3:1). Ah, this is so easy to write yet not so easy to do.
The way to achieve this, discussed in the Modern Mussar (self-improvement) text: ''The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew,'' is to mindfully walk with God throughout each day. https://www.createspace.com/1000243192
It is easy to teach ''watch your tongue before you use it,'' or ''look before you leap,'' but when our ego is in charge, we will inevitably use our tongues and actions to yield non- Godly words and behaviors.
The Bible is filled with people walking with God. It takes mindfulness. It involves a conscious contact. It takes practice. It does not happen in a day or in a week. It is a lifelong process that never stops and is never truly mastered.
"What does the God require of you, but to be in awe of God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve God with all your heart and with all your soul." (Deut. 10:12).
We spend a few moments looking over our plans for the day. We recognize our character defects such as ego, jealousy, self-seeking, gossip, dishonesty, selfishness and resentments that may awaken. We ask God to keep us separated from these defects.
We humbly ask God to align our will with His. We have learned about our ego and that our hearts and minds can be "deceitful above all things" (Jer. 17:9). If ego or character defects start emerging, we immediately ask God to remove them. We will be able to think with loving kindness before we speak and act.
There is an undeniable link between God's abundant blessing and walking daily with God. When we do not walk with God, we walk with our ego. When we ignore God's benevolence we see imperfections.
Walking mindfully does not mean walking perfectly. There will be times when an ego-driven thought will occur unconsciously, or we may be conscious of the thought but ignore it. We may even act upon it. Or, we might owe someone amends that needs to be made. The closer we are to God, the less apt we are to behave negatively toward others.
Proverbs 24:16 tells us that a person walking mindfully with God will fall seven times a day. This means that we may stumble, but we will not fail. Continue being mindful of our thoughts and actions throughout the day and ask that "God may show us the way in which we should walk and the thing we should do." (Jeremiah 42:3). Keep this question in our heart, mind and soul throughout the day and we will be walking with God. He will give us the answers. Our words and our actions will be good and just.
Rabbi Arthur Segal is an international lecturer, author, and teacher. Visit him at www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org . Follow him on FaceBook at 'Arthur L Segal', on Twitter at RabbiASegal, or his blog at http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com . Email at RabbiSegal@JewishSpiritualRenewal.net
Jewish Renewal www.jewishrenewal.info
Jewish Spiritual Renewal http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com
Jewish Spirituality
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