Adar II: Enhancing Our Joy

Dear Friends,

This is a post about the Jewish month of Adar II, as it relates to The Chazak Plan: A 12 Month Journey to Spiritual Strength.

This year is a Jewish leap year which means that there are two months of Adar. Purim will be celebrated during Adar II, on Sunday, March 16th. Rosh Chodesh for Adar II is this Sunday and Monday, March 2nd and 3rd.

Our Sages teach that with the arrival of Adar we increase our joy, culminating in the festival of Purim. Purim commemorates the salvation of the Jewish people during the Persian exile.

For this month, choose one of the following areas to focus on:

· Gratitude

· Acceptance

· Self-compassion

· Expressing yourself

· Addressing festering issues

· Making lifestyle enhancements

· Personal growth

(these areas are discussed in the readings below).

Since some of you may already have focused last month on enhancing joy, I thought it would be a good idea to focus this post on the topic of personal growth, which is discussed in the addendum to, “6 Tools to Enhance Your Mood.”

Personal Growth: Polishing the gem that you are

· See if you have any of the 21 harmful habits which Marshall Goldsmith discusses in his book, What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful. Click here for a listing of those habits.

· To take a free communication assessment by the authors of the book, Crucial Conversations, click here.

· To determine which habits of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People you will benefit most by enhancing, click here.

Once you have chosen an area to focus on, decide on the one change, technique or behavior, related to that area, which you will do on a daily or regular basis, for at least this month. Add it to your own checklist or the Daily Checklist Template to track how often you do it.

In the beginning, pick mini rewards to give yourself each time you perform the targeted behavior. A reward can be a piece of chocolate, or even just praising yourself for the achievement. You want to pick a reward that gives you something to look forward to. Soon, you will not need external rewards to motivate yourself and the high of keeping your commitment and engaging in meaningful activities will be sufficient.

Readings for the month from the blog:

3-Dimensional Acceptance: A Pathway to Peace and Power

6 Tools to Enhance Your Mood

The 2 Forms of Divine Providence: Purim and Passover

Please help spread the word about The Chazak Plan to family and friends, by forwarding this email to them, or by using the icons below, found on the blog.

Take care, have a Happy Purim and may God grant you success in the coming month,

Yaakov