An inspiring introduction to the most important lesson for today s busy world:
the take-away is to take away.
All we can hope to accomplish by paying attention is to learn to live with the mystery, become more comfortable with not knowing and try to enjoy life s uncertainty. Every day is a gift, but we often squander it by missing what matters most.
from the Introduction
Every day we are faced with choices that entail saying no and frankly we re not very good at it. Whether it s the desire to please, get ahead, accumulate or impress, our lives have become so full and so busy that it is hard to determine what we really need and what s really important to us.
The purpose of this book is to help you regain control of the things that matter most in your life. It taps timeless Jewish wisdom that teaches how to hold on tightly to the things that matter most while learning to let go lightly of the demands, worries, activities and conflicts that do not ultimately matter. Drawing insights from ancient and modern sources, it helps you identify your core values as well as the opportunities that do not reflect those values, and that you can learn to pass up. It also shows you how to establish a disciplined practice to help you adhere to your choices.
Whether it s letting go of resentment, learning to say no at work or to your loved ones, downsizing your diet or asking less of the earth, this book will help you distinguish between the trivial and the profound.
needed this Sometimes life gets so busy that we forget what is important even though in our hearts we are aware of what our true priorities should be. This seems to happen to me all the time. Between 100+ daily emails, 10+ phone calls. 30+ text messages, checking blogs and facebook- you lose perspective. Relationships become more like business parnerships than true nurturing relationships. Rabbi Goldbergs book is helping me to return to what I know in my heart is true. Even though I have been downsizing and outsourcing to have more of a life- I have filled the space with more busyness. I need to reread this every few months to keep things on track. Thank you for re-aligning me.
A book that teaches the value of time and how to use it Rabbi Edwin Goldberg uses the Middle Ages’ mystical notion of tzimtzum metaphorically to teach his readers about the value of time and how to manage it effectively. The notion of tzimtzum was developed in the early 1500s in Israel by a small group of mystics to explain how it was possible for God to create the world. The basic idea was that in the beginning God filled the entire world and there was no space for what God wanted to create. So God withdrew into “himself” and created the world in the empty area. Thus tzimtzum resulted in something great. Rabbi Goldberg points out that most people have no real idea of the holiness existing in time. He gives the Shabbat as an example and shows how Shabbat time can radically change and improve people. A day of rest, mocked by an ancient Roman philosopher, is one of the many superb gifts Judaism gave the world. Now people need to open their eyes, see what it can do, and use it and all time.He devotes twenty chapters…