Melanie Gruenwald

Where are we as we enter the week of Hod?  Our blueprint to freeing ourselves is designed (though it may have been altered during the week of Netzach as we looked at obstacles that need to be overcome). Netzach is energy of active trust—trust in one’s own capacities and in Read more…

This week is a week of active trust—it is still not action but contemplating those obstacles that need to be released or removed.  It is now a day to rest in the determination of your own capacity to move forward, to overcome obstacles.  The vision of freedom has been strengthened Read more…

For each week’s Sefirah you can ask yourself on this day of Yesod, have I done the inner work needed…to overcome obstacles to implementing my (evolving) blueprint for change?  Yesod as foundation is be in integrity with the conflicting feelings of loyalty and know that you have considered all options Read more…

What are your limits in overcoming obstacles?  Surrender is not giving up or even giving in—it is giving way.  The best approach at times is not to meet the force head on, just move to the side. This requires not only humility but also determination to seek a way around Read more…

Overcoming the obstacle to overcoming obstacles!  This paradox is simply resolved in seeing that obstacles are really there to help you in your determination for growth.  A steep set of stairs or ingrained internal resistances (defenses, excuses, rationalizations) are in the end not obstacles to change.  The greater the obstacle, Read more…

Today we take out the blueprint to look at it in light of the obstacles of loyalty we have reflected on for the past two days.  Can we feel empathic to others and ourselves as we re-formulate our blueprint for change?  Add to your blueprint the determination to overcome all Read more…

Gevurah is self-determination, setting aside loyalty to others and looking at a dimension of ‘loyalty to self.’  The obstacle to overcome today is both the sense of isolation-loneliness and the sense of selfishness.  Our self-expression may feel disloyal, a threat to our sense of connectedness to others.  We also need Read more…

Your blueprint is set down on paper and you have “signed off.”  The blueprint though is just a map, an outline for growth, your plan for leaving an aspect of personal constriction.  It is not yet taking action and the process toward freedom remains fluid.  In the desert the Jews Read more…

Put into action your blueprint. This is a day to see how the building will be constructed using the depth of the foundation to make it a secure, stable and well integrated self.

For each week’s Sefirah you can ask yourself on this day of Yesod, have I done the inner work needed…to design myself anew?  In truth, the process of recreating myself anew (a new blueprint) is an everyday (moment) occurrence—but that is also the task for this week as I contemplate Read more…