Posts Tagged With: Yom Kippur

Day 3565: Anxious

Posted on October 5, 2022 by Ann Koplow

Yesterday, after a day of working with very anxious people and feeling anxious myself about the U.S. midterm elections next month and some ongoing health challenges, I asked this question on Twitter:

I’ve noticed in group therapy that naming how anxious you are can help in several ways, including eliciting people’s strategies for reducing anxiety, like the 4-7-8 breathing method.

When I’m anxious, I often think of this quote, which helps me feel less anxious about being anxious:

“If you’re not anxious, you’re not paying attention.
— Unknown

Here’s what I find when I search for other anxious quotes:

Let’s see if any of my other images for today relate to being anxious.

Among other things, “Russian roulette” is making me anxious, so maybe I’ll refocus on National Do Something Nice Day.

And honestly, I’m a little anxious about working on Yom Kippur, but that’s my choice these days.

Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “anxious.”

Thanks to all who helped me create this “anxious” blog post, including YOU.

Categories: personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: 4 7 8 breathing, “The One Question We Need to Ask Ourselves When We Feel Anxious”, coyotes in NYC, Flounder dish, group therapy, National Days October 5 2022, National Do Something Nice Day, quotes about anxiety, The Daily Bitch Calendar, The School of Life, Yom Kippur | 8 Comments

Day 1380: Book of Life

Posted on October 11, 2016 by Ann Koplow

On the eve of the 63rd Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) in the book of my life, I am thinking about the Book of Life:

In Christianity and Judaism, the Book of Life (Hebrew: ספר החיים, transliterated Sefer HaChaim; Greek: βιβλίον τῆς ζωῆς Biblíon tēs Zōēs) is the book in which God records the names of every person who is destined for Heaven or the World to Come. According to the Talmud it is open on Rosh Hashanah, as is its analog for the wicked, the Book of the Dead. For this reason extra mention is made for the Book of Life during Amidah recitations during the Days of Awe, the ten days between Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, and Yom Kippur, the day of atonement (the two High Holidays, particularly in the prayer Unetaneh Tokef). — Wikipedia

Earlier this year, many book-reading cardiologists in my life told me I absolutely needed open heart surgery, if I wanted to live a good and long life. Therefore, I’ve been writing in this Blogging Book of Life many, many entries about preparing for and then recovering from my September 21 heart valve replacement surgery.

Honestly, I was scared I might not make into the next book of life, but I did!

Yesterday, as I was thinking about many memories of the Book of Life at synagogue when I was just a kid with a congenital heart condition, I realized I wanted to do my own, personal ritual about The Book of Life. So, I took a blank book I had purchased around this time last year and did this:

Yay! I made it into the Book of Life!

Here are my other photos from yesterday, which are now making it into this here blogging book of life:

My photographer friend Kathy, who was in my book of life yesterday, sent me these two photos, which I hereby inscribe in my blogging Book of Life:

Now, here’s some music associated with The Book of Life:

I hope you write something in this blogging book of life, below.

Thanks to all who helped me write this Book of Life post and to you — of course! — no matter how you are writing in your own book of life, today.

Categories: personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: adult congenital heart, Book of Life, CCTGA, Defending Your Life, Heart valve replacement surgery, High Holiday Mashup, Kathy Tarantola Photography, open heart surgery, Roz Chast "Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?", Six13, Yom Kippur | 31 Comments

Day 257: Atonement

Posted on September 14, 2013 by Ann Koplow

This is going to be a “bare bones,” minimalist post.

That is, I’m going to choose a definition of the word “atonement” from the Google Buffet, without comment (but with attribution).

When you apologize for doing something wrong, that’s an act of atonement. Many religions have rituals of atonement, such as Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, on which people of the Jewish faith repent for their sins.

As a religious act, atonement is an effort to make up for wrongdoings so you can be in harmony with a higher power. Look closely at the word: you can break it down to “at,” “one,” and “ment.” Atonement first appears in English in the 1510s, when it meant “the condition of being at one (with others).” About ten years later, the word shows up with a meaning that included “being at one with God.

That definition is from vocabulary.com.

Next, I’m going to choose a photo from the Google Images Buffet.

Attribution?

Unclear.

Comment?

Thanks to atoners and goats everywhere, and to you, for reading today.

Categories: personal growth | Tags: Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur | Leave a comment