Where Are We GOing This Year?

This blogpost is part of #BlogElul (Day 3: search), a small but mighty online movement to combine spiritual practice with our posting on social media - encouraging us to bring personal reflection and introspection to our posts, snapshots and captions. Learn more and join us >>

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When I saw complete strangers walking up to each other and striking up conversations in the middle of a park, I admittedly did a double-take. It was a beautiful summer evening, and I was on a rare night off camp. A friend and I went out for dinner in a nearby town, and decided to go for a walk in the town center afterwards. This was about a week after Pokemon GO was released, and while we had heard about it, we were enclosed within the camp bubble and had not yet experienced its true power.

As the main website charges, "Get up, get out and explore!" And people were doing just that. At first, it looked like a bunch of zombies walking around with their focus on their smartphone screens. But upon taking a step back, we noticed that groups were exploring together and even connecting with complete strangers over this newly discovered common interest. And while some retailers and museums have understandably embraced or winced as enthusiasts have wandered in, there has been plenty of good that has come from this craze that has certainly been sweeping the nation. When I offered a "PokeWalk" for our staff the following week, it was truly awesome to have nearly 20 staff members walking together, connecting over this shared enthusiasm and discovering new things...around us and about each other.

I'd like to take this concept to the next level. Imagine if we approached life like someone does while playing Pokemon GO - with excitement, anticipation, wonder. As we prepare for the new year, think about where our journeys will take us and identify what we would like to search for and add to our personal and collective narratives, we can connect our pop cultural interests with an older concept that is tried and true from our teachers.

“Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement. ....get up in the morning and look at the world in
a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat
life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.”
- Abraham Joshua Heschel

I believe that as Heschel teaches us, it is in the act of living and looking that we find amazement. (I usually add the tags #skyappreciation or #natureappreciation.) In this new year, may we be able to hit the pause button and slow it down every once in a while to seek out the holy in the ordinary - in ourselves, in our relationships with others, and in the environments surrounding us. Wouldn't that be amazing?

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Additional Resources

NFTY-NE #ElulGram Worksheet

Periodic Table of Making Mensches