We develop sensitivity to our inner life not just by noticing when we explode, but by looking for little signs of when we get triggered.

Psychological research shows the impact of stating a vision of where we want to be that is different than where we or the world is right now. Our unconscious minds start working to figure out how to narrow the gap between what is and what can be.

A key practice for cultivating sensitivity to our inner lives is cheshbon hanefesh, literally, “soul accounting.”

Hitbodedut literally means “solitude” or “being by oneself,” but it is generally used in Jewish literature to refer to any meditative or contemplative practice that is done on one’s own. Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe warns that without some time for hitbodedut—contemplative reflection—life is just a stream of activities.

The practice is to search until you find a good point that really makes a difference to you. Rabbi Chaim Kramer, the founder of the Breslov Research Institute, describes the process.

“The yetzer harah was very good.”4 How can that little red devil be very good? We need to explore how various Jewish teachers throughout the millennia understood the yetzer to see how this vital, me-focused energy source that pulses through our veins can be a force for sustainable development and creativity.

Just like sleeping too much is a physical symptom of depression, lack of motivation and distraction are a form of spiritual sleep. Seeking and finding good points is the Breslov prescription for waking up from spiritual sleep.

Choose a drive, feeling, or inclination that gets in the way of you functioning as effectively as possible in your social-change work. This could be a drive for recognition, a fear of failure or criticism, or a need to please people, for example.

When we state what we deeply care about, day after day in a regular practice, different parts of our consciousness get to work to achieve this desire.