Tools For Healing And Spiritual Balance

By Rabbi Moishe Weisblum
The eager ones breathe a sigh of relief as they are done with their spring cleaning. Aided by a checklist, others hesitate what to keep, donate or simply trash. The progress is slow, our minds are set to value each item. The destiny of our tangible items depends on their monetary or sentimental value of course. The spring brings enchanted hues of flowers, a feeling of renewal and rejuvenation. Nature reinvents itself as it does every year, and we join in this celebration of life now that we are satisfied with our work well done and the creation of a decent work environment.
Although everything around us appears to be dreamy, our hearts still refuse to sink into this utopia. Something is still missing. We look for our own spiritual cleaning and healing. It seems to be contrary to our closet spring-cleaning that it’s heavily dependent on monetary value. It takes cleaning supplies and detergent to make our home sparkly clean, but what does it take to purify, mend, and resolve the emptiness of a broken or empty heart?
Many people around the world find reading Psalms to be healing, soothing and empowering. However, in the book of Psalm there are two chapters that seem to contradict each other, yet both are used for similar purposes. The first one is Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd,” and the other is Psalm 49, “Hear this, all ye people…Both low and high, rich and poor, together…” Psalm 23 is read in funerals by several different religions; Psalm 49 is read in the house of Jewish mourners. While Psalm 23 details the Divine Providence protection over the individual, Psalm 49 calls all the nations to hear what happens on the day a soul perishes and how useless are our physical accomplishments.
Psalm 49 portrays a reality of many that their world revolves around money and property. We can vividly remember “The Miser” by French playwright Molière. It was first performed on September 9, 1668. Harpagon, the miser in this play, has a miserable life protecting his fortune and not trusting anyone, he can’t even trust himself. Nowadays worries are not so different than they were close to 400 years ago.
Here are some points to implement in reading Psalms:
• Praying for others to heal invokes self-healing.
• Read Psalms with others, it’s a great opportunity for social gathering and finding ways to help the community and repairing its ills. Share ideas, individual miracles and life experiences.
• Make a list of names of people who need healing and pray for them. Studies show that the recovery rate of those who were prayed for or who were the subject of prayers was higher than others.
• Choose a Psalm that inspires you, make a copy and use a magnet to put it on your fridge’s door.
• Set a time, daily, weekly or even monthly to read inspiring Psalms.
• Choose a peaceful environment to read your Psalm.
Most important of all, don’t be hard on yourself, we all have our own challenges and individual journey, and no one is perfect!