Avoda for this week

What a fun class! Thank you!

Here's our avoda for this week iyH:

Reading: 
Chapter 24 in Bilvavi 2 (Acquiring Emunah by contemplating suffering)
Chapter 7 in Jewish Meditation (Contemplation)
Chapter 6 In Forest Fields (pgs 185-189; Connecting to the Source)

For those of us doing 6-10 minutes a day of hisbodedus, here's how we designed it for this week (otherwise stick with your one minute of speaking out loud to Hashem with a timer/ any step you take is amazing!):

Meditating:

step 1:
smell something like an esrog (make a  borei minei besamim first) and connect yourself to the spiritual world then:
step 2:
1-3 minutes of breathing ("Breathing usually occurs automatically and is therefore under the control of the unconscious mind...Breathing therefore forms a link between the conscious and the unconscious...By learning how to concentrate and control your breath you can go on to learn how to control the unconscious mind" pg 5 JM); become aware of and notice your breath 
step 3:
1-3 minutes of mantra meditation (Ribbono Shel Olam - or words of your choice (chaburah member mentioned saying " Tatte, or  Ein od Milvado,")
step 4:
4-6 minutes of speaking out loud to Hashem (see recipe card below if you wonder what to speak about)
step 5:
smell something kadosh again with a bracha to reconnect to the physical world or eat something to elevate the physical.

Recipe card for hisbodedus: speaking to Hashem:

1. Gratitude

a. specific things to thank Hashem for
b. general things to thank Hashem for

2. Teshuva

a. admit, regret, apologize out loud, kabala al ha'asid (listen to class from yom kippur for this more in depth)
b. yishuv hada'as:deep understanding of why you don't want this aveira anymore:
        - what do I want?
        - what does Hashem want?
        - diffrentiate between the two and nullify my will to Hashem's will.

3.Do first creation ratzon :"Hashem, here is what i would love my day to look like..."

4.Then second creation ratzon: "Hashem, bottom line, i just want to do Your will..."

(After all, He loves us even more than we love ourselves!)

5.Thank Hashem for loving you so much!

Any questions re material, please contact me at aviva@aberman.net.

I can't wait to hear how it worked out for you. :)