This post by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg speaks of a spiritual practice for the month of Elul that she learned from her rabbi – Rabbi Alan Lew. It sounds like the whole month has a theme of preparation, reflection, and repentance in the lead up to the high holy days Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. I don’t know much about Jewish traditions – though the Wikipedia page’s section on customs has a decent introduction – but Lent feels like the closest parallel season in Christian calendars – and the practice she outlines I’d love to adopt for lent.
Rabbi Lew would suggest you spend a month paying close attention to one area of your life.
He would often to teach this around this time, as a way of helping people to wake up, to find a way to see their whole lives.
Because once we get clear on what’s driving us– and what we’re resisting, and afraid of, and reacting to, and can start to figure out why– in one area of our life, the whole picture becomes illuminated all at once, sometimes.
He would suggest that you pick one of the following three:
Food, money, or sex.
given that things are– how they are now– I might suggest the following addition of a fourth contender for potential scrutiny. That is, I propose that we broaden the list to:
Food, money, sex OR tech.
Pick one of them. Not all of them. One of those four things, and your relationship with it.
And spend the next month paying really, really close attention.
Danya Ruttenberg in Food. Money. Sex. Tech.
The specific examples paint a picture of very intentional mindfulness on a particular area, with the view to self understanding, compassion, and maybe repentance.