Eye to Wonder

            Our family celebrated Rosh Hashanah this month. This year, we had a smaller celebration than usual, but it was nice to gather with friends outside, light candles, and wish each other a sweet New Year with apples and honey. I didn't grow up celebrating Jewish New Year, but since Joel and I have been together, we've celebrated most Jewish holidays.  One aspect of the holiday that was new to me this year was Tashlikh.  Joel mentioned that he wanted to bring bread to the river for Tashlikh when we went for a walk the other day with my mother and sister-in-law. Tashlikh, is a ritual where you throw bread crumbs into a moving body of water. As far as I understand it, each crumb represents casting off a sin from the previous year and a clean start. Although neither of us are very religious, tashlikh was more meaningful to me than I would have thought.  There's something about taking time to reflect on moments in the past year when you've missed the mark in some way

      I have enjoyed creating monthly goals since May this year, and I even sat down to write September goals. For whatever reason, I really struggled to think of goals that felt meaningful or motivating this month. I wrote down a few, but within two days I decided to crumple up the list.      Right now, everything feels new. This school year is different for everyone, and will shift as we move to hybrid in the next month or so if case counts stay consistent. I think I'm resisting the idea of writing specific concrete goals for September because it feels arbitrary. Life feels uncertain now, and for me, I'm finding it easier to experiment with and explore different ways of connecting and growing in this back to school season. Somehow writing down a list for an entire month makes me feel anxious, whereas making daily or weekly lists of projects or ideas makes me feel creative and adaptive. Strangely, once I just started focusing on the next step, I found myself feeling a lot more