atonement

Today is a day to do something significant.

Yom Kippur starts this evening and ends tomorrow night. I’ve been told that this is the holiest of holidays for the Jewish faith, and even Jews who don’t usually observe other Jewish holidays observe this one. Yom Kippur translates to “Day of Atonement,” and that pretty much sums up this important day. It’s a 25-hour period of fasting, intensive prayer, self-reflection and time spent in a synagogue instead of at work (among other things). It’s a somber day whose central theme is atonement and repentance.

Somber or not, this sounds like an excellent thing to do: spend the day praying and repenting and making amends. Who among us couldn’t benefit from this?

Yom Kippur falls nine days after the first day of Rosh Hashanah, which is the Jewish New Year. And indeed, many of us do our soul-searching around January 1; but we’re usually looking forward—not back at mistakes we might have made in the past. We might reflect on what’s wrong in our lives (personal and professional), but we tend to try to solve these problems with resolutions—not repentance. It’s not wise to simply regulate the past to the past. I’m reminded of a quote by James Joyce: “Mistakes are the portals of discovery.”

Maybe it makes sense for all of us to model what Jewish people are doing all over the world during Yom Kippur; and maybe it makes sense to do it right now—when the year is not yet over and there’s still time to get things right and back on track. I challenge you to set aside some time today for prayer and reflection. Even fast, like our Jewish brothers and sisters, if that’s what it takes to make this real for you.

I’ll suggest that you use the 7 F’s of True Success as a guide to cover the most important aspects of your life: the Fundamentals of your work, Finances (and your financial legacy), Family (and friends), Faith, Fitness (emotional and physical), Fun (we all need it) and the Fusion (or balance) of all these things.

Take time today to ask for forgiveness for any wrongs, and then (and only then) work on setting things right.