PunkTorah

Independent Jewish Spirituality Online

  • Convert to Judaism
  • Online Rabbinical Program
  • Donate

Full of Awesome

September 12, 2011 by Leon Adato

(originally posted on The EdibleTorah)

I was inspired this morning by a post over on Redefine Girly. (“Waking Up Full of Awesome“). It reads (in part):

There was a time when you were five years old,
and you woke up full of awesome.
You knew you were awesome.
You loved yourself.
You thought you were beautiful,
even with missing teeth and messy hair and mismatched socks inside your grubby sneakers.
You loved your body, and the things it could do.
You thought you were strong.
You knew you were smart.
Do you still have it?
The awesome.
Did someone take it from you?
Did you let them?
Did you hand it over, because someone told you weren’t beautiful enough, thin enough, smart enough, good enough?
Why the hell would you listen to them?
Did you consider they might be full of shit?

Here in the month of Elul, we stand before true awesomeness – God – and try to honestly assess our work this past year. We ask forgiveness for the times we fell short of the best person we could be.

But do we also celebrate those moments when we measured up? Made in the image of our Awesome Creator, do we take a minute to say “Hey, I was awesome too! Thanks for giving me the ability and the opportunity to be ‘all that’. I totally rocked that time. I hope you are proud of me, because I am!”

We probably don’t. Because it’s not politically correct. Because we’re taught not to blow our own horn. Because we are told to be humble.

I think we need to rethink that. I’ll write more on that tomorrow.

But for today, I’ve got an assignment:

  1. Go back to bed. Not really. Just GET back in bed.
  2. Spend 5 uninterrupted minutes remembering times you were awesome this year.
  3. Get out of bed.
  4. Take another full minute to thank God for giving you those chances to be awesome, and for giving you the ability to take hold of those moments and be your best self in them
  5. Carry around that feeling – of self worth and gratitude – for the rest of the day.

Tomorrow, and for the rest of the month of Elul, you have the same homework. It’s OK to copy from yesterday’s homework.

Because that’s how Awesome works.

Filed Under: Community Member Blogs, Shabbat & Holidays Tagged With: convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, darshan yeshiva, edible torah, edibletorah, elul, online conversion, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier

Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary: Online Rabbinical Program

Through our relationship with Darshan Yeshiva, we are supporting the launch of Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary (PRS), what we hope to be the very best in practical, distance learning based rabbinical education. What do we love about this project? PRS is the only rabbinical school … [Read More...]

Now Hiring: Rabbis, Educators & Creatives

Rabbis Sought Want to work one-on-one as a rabbi, educator and mentor for an organization that is growing by leaps and bounds, utilizing new models of Jewish community as well as the latest learning technology? Darshan Yeshiva is currently searching for rabbis to be part of our growing … [Read More...]

Become a Jewish Spiritual Leader

Our online leadership school, Darshan Yeshiva, teaches you everything you need to know to become a Darshan, a lay Jewish spiritual leader serving unaffiliated communities all over the world. There are so many Jews out there who need community, but for whom there will never be a … [Read More...]

PunkTorah Inc.
PO Box 1641
Midlothian, VA 23113

questions@punktorah.org
YouTube
Facebook

Read our DMCA notice

Search the PunkTorah Blog Archive

What We Do

Pluralistic Rabbinical Seminary: Online Rabbinical Program

Now Hiring: Rabbis, Educators & Creatives

Become a Jewish Spiritual Leader

  • Jewish Text (Torah/Haftarah/Talmud)
  • Judaism & Belief
  • The G-d Project Videos
  • Podcasts & Videos
  • NewKosher (Recipes)
  • Converting To Judaism
  • LGBTQ & Women
  • Shabbat & Holidays

Copyright PunkTorah Inc.© 2023