Prepent 5772 : 40 ways in 40 days to find your focus

Amichai Lau-Lavie’s High Holidays Blog

9. 1-10.9/2011

9/1/11 Introduction to PREPENT5772

I thrive on deadlines. Who doesn’t? We’re wickedly and wisely wired to improve, organize, complete and focus better when we know the time is up.  PREPENT5772 is an exercise in conscious attention to the annual process known as Teshuva –  Hebrew for ‘return’ or ‘repentance.’ This 40 days journey blog leads to the deadline:  Sunset on Yom Kippur – the 5772^nd Day of Atonement since the creation of the world.

PREPENT, based on contemplative Jewish traditions, begins on the first day of the last month of the Jewish year. On each of the 40 days leading to Yom Kippur one is reminded to refocus within on what matters most, what needs attention, where change for the better can happen, and how it can last.

This is my second year of keeping the public PREPENT blog. I started it last year because I wanted to practice, like a marathon runner, way ahead of the High Holidays intensity. I wanted not only to begin a New Year with 40 days worth of introspection and intention but also to invite my friends and wider community to take this journey within.  Each day provided insights and conversations, culminating in sacred gatherings that meant so much more. So here we go again a workout for the mind, soul – and body.

This year I want to ask questions – 40 of them – a daily dose of important questions, big and small, ancient and new, that will hopefully help us cut through the crap and reach for the core.  Questions that will help us change, for good.

Comments, questions, suggestions – always welcome.  Shana Tova.