Speaker: Jeff Jarvis
A lot of reflecting happens at this time of year. Over the next few days social media will be filled with people’s highlight reels from the past year. Places they’ve gone, things they’ve done, people they’ve spent time with. It’s really the ultimate bragging opportunity for those who want to show others how great their lives have been. [Note: hint of sarcasm] 😉
What is much less popular is the reflection on what went wrong over the past year. You know? The mistakes and misdeeds that we made over the last 365 days. How many of us will post stories about those things? The times we drank too much or spent too much. The regretful times when we said or did something that hurt someone. The truth is, reflecting on our mistakes is difficult, if not painful.
And yet, this difficult reflection is part of an annual ritual that the Jewish community has engaged in for 1000’s of years at the beginning of every year. It’s considered one of the most important rituals of their entire calendar.
This Sunday I’m going to talk about this ritual and elements within it that could be tremendously beneficial to all of us.