Changing the World from the Inside Out: A Jewish Approach to Personal and Social Change

The paradox is that everything is really one big unity, but existence, at its core, necessitates separation and otherness.

The main thing is to start talking about whatever is on your mind and what you really care about. It is important to speak out loud, even in a whisper.

Try making a commitment to seeking and finding a good point in yourself each day for a week. Then seek and find good points in other people for a second week. Then seek and find good points in the team or group with whom you work for a third week. Make this a daily practice for three weeks, and see if looking for good points becomes more habitual o

We make a soul accounting by setting aside time every day, ideally the same time, to review our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of that day.

To live fully means to engage this paradox and be, at once, completely oneself—unique and distinct—and at the same time cognizant that separation is only an illusion

PRACTICE: Decision Choose a drive or inclination that you want to act on less impulsively. Make a “policy” decision that you will not act on this feeling when it comes up today. Make a point of noticing the other feelings you feel when you do not act on the urge. Repeat out loud or in your head your commitment to not act on the feeling. It is helpf

This process brings the inner dynamic to the level of consciousness, thus making it less likely to undermine my longer-term goals. In this step of sensitivity, we are just noticing the dynamics, not actually making changes. Cultivating

The Torah is a continuing story of aspiration, imperfection, failure, and return. In this way it is so very human. Mussar is the branch of Jewish wisdom that addresses this gap, seeks to align values with behavior, and asks, “How do I actually walk in God’s ways?” The word mussar literally means “ethical instruction,” and “discipline,” and it can a

Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe (d. 2005)