b'reishit

My only secular-year resolution is to attempt to make my life outside of my job more meaningful. It's an over-arching resolution that will likely involve a number of smaller changes. One of these is that I'm going to really try and post more thoughts here. I've felt fairly disconnected to my spirituality of late, though I think that has more to do with the insane number of hours I've spent at work, or thinking about work, or dreaming about work, rather than focusing on things like Torah and studying Hebrew and reading. I took a class in December that was on God, the creation stories and evolution, and I really enjoyed it. I felt like I was using a part of my brain that has been somewhat dormant for a few months. And then it took another break as things ramped up at work and went into winter hibernation mode at my temple. I haven't been to a normal Saturday service in so long, due to youth group things, or b'nei mitzvot, or not having it, and I really miss it. While Friday night is always there, I've come to view Saturday as the anchor of my week.

So, in the attempt to make my life outside of work more meaningful spiritually, I plan on trying to do the following:
• Study Hebrew 30 minutes a day. Some days this won't work, but it's a goal.
• Read part of some book on Torah or Judaism each day for at least 30 minutes. Since I have a large stack of books in general, I'm going to try and juggle a few at a time, not just Jewish ones.
• Get into the habit of saying morning prayers at least, evening prayers when possible. I need a way to ground myself daily in what is important to me, especially when my work life becomes more and more of a challenge.

I think that is a good start.