My friend the Morah was telling me something she taught in her tefila (prayer) class the other day, and I think it applies to my soapbox on people's perspectives..enjoy!
"In 1927, at the University of Berlin, a Jewish woman named Bluma Zeigarnik, who was researching brain psychology mechanisms came upon an important finding that says a lot about how human beings respond to prayer and spirituality. She showed a large number of human subjects a circle that was 7/8 complete and found that the vast majority focused their eyes and their attention on the 1/8 of the circle that wasn't complete.
This phenomenon, which was later named "the Zeigarnik effect," explains why our anxious, problem-seeking brains can't seem to notice what's going right in our lives but seem to be pulled toward the next unsolved problem. Is it any wonder your spouse, your boss, your parents, or your own self-critical brain tends to focus only on what's incomplete and takes for granted or ignores what is healthy or going well?
Jewish spirituality recommends saying a prayer or reciting a blessing whenever you notice, even for a moment, that something is going right. It's as though the ancient rabbis knew that our brains were good at problems but lousy at appreciating life or moments of peace. It is a radical liberation step to rise above anxiety for at least a few moments each day to appreciate that some things are going well, even in tough times."
It's by Leonard Felder (no idea who he is, but I'm sourcing it!)
Just something to keep in mind every day. Hope yours is wonderful!! :)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Being that I'm you're 'official checker' I decided to check this out, and it is indeed by Leanord Felder. :-D
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1548/is_6_16/ai_80163145/pg_2
Thanks for the confirmation...but checking can work both ways! "You're" means "you are." I think you might possibly have meant "your"...;)
(Yes, Stx, that was for your peace of mind..and I'm not even the English major!!)
I must admit; I didn't catch that. Oh, and what am I now: Stx or Morah?
Heheh. Heh.
Hey! Lookee what I found!
http://www.hashkafah.com/lofiversion/index.php/t5839.html
Neat, ain't it?
I'm curious about this Baron Philip...he's quick to criticize me, but has no clue what my situation is..and has obviously not even visited my site or tried to find about why I called it that-just wants to say nasty things..(like leati's "anonymous" letter...). And that, my dears, is why you can never say bad things about people without giving them the benefit of the doubt! (So how can I condemn this BP? It's defensive-he said something bad about me for no reason!)
I'm bored. Why doesn't anybody post anything anymore???
Hehe, like I'm one to talk...
Post a Comment