Vayikra

There is no such thing as “feeling like a nothing” for those who are spiritually alive and growing.

Choose your inner thoughts. Quiet your brain and your soul. Be present and open to the miracle embedded in every single moment.

My work was stunted. My ideas were disjointed. I felt ill at ease with my life and with my accomplishments.

I’m pathetically biased, but I embrace my bias. I feel sated with pride, although my children haven’t done anything uniquely successful or unusually brilliant—not yet. I wonder: is this the way G‑d feels towards us?

As parents, we obviously believe that genuine self-esteem is important to our children’s psychological and spiritual development. But how can we avoid the hubris and laziness that invariably accompany an inflated self-image?

Although the monetary value of the meal offering can not be compared to that of an animal sacrifice, the amount of physical and spiritual effort that went into this act for this particular person is priceless...

For the moment, my heart overflows with pride as I witness her burgeoning independence, her sense of self. I know that in a few months or years from now, these traits may not always seem so endearing, but for now, I kvell.

How do we properly assess our accomplishments and our shortcomings, avoiding both grandiosity and low self-esteem?