It’s been so many years yet the wisp of a lyric of a Sheryl Crow song still rings in my mind:

“I’m a stranger in my whole life”

That’s a sentiment that our clients can relate to. Rooted as they are in pain and shame and in the impossibleness of their individual situation they are strangers in their own lives. They are the masters of nothing; the pawns of nearly everything.

It’s hard not to think of this terrible state as we enter into the Nine days prior to Tisha B’Av (you can read about that here). These Nine days sweep us all into the vortex of pain caused when our fears rebelled and ruled over our faith. The terrible report of the spies, the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem, and all the rest were symptoms of the real problem; we fell to our knees, bowing down to our own abject terror. 

And we’ve been trying to stand up ever since. 

The work of redemption and healing, whether it’s for our clients, ourselves, our nation, or the world, is returning the crown to where it belongs: clear thought. Only clarity of thought and the joyous transcendence which flows from it offers us the possibility of coming home to ourselves.