Sunday, Sunday - so good to me...

Hope you all had a good Sunday!

I CANNOT believe it, but I made it through the High Holy Days. Wow! For those of you who don't know, these are the most awe-inspiring, meaningful days of the Jewish calendar. We are supposed to examine our souls, our lives, and our relationships, and look for ways to be better in the coming year.

As a rabbi, I give my biggest sermons, lead the longest worship services, and have the most stress before and during the holy days. Due to my back pain, I was quite concerned in the weeks leading up to these days - how was I going to be able to do my job? I needed to stand for 11 hours of services yesterday. Luckily, the day was so filled of profundity, of beautiful liturgy and music, and of family and friends - I didn't have enough time to think too much about my pain!

It all got me thinking about how we each deal with stress. One of my most powerful stress reducers is music. Certain songs immediately relax me, get my feet tapping, or bring a smile to my face. Some of the ones that helped most this year:
1) "Feel," by Robbie Williams
2) "Hey Eugene," by Pink Martini
3) "Midnight Train to Georgia," by Gladys Knight and the Pips
4) "Waiting for My Real Life to Begin," by Colin Hay (mentioned this a few days ago)
5) "Rehab," by Amy Winehouse
6) "Such Great Heights," by Iron and Wine
7) "Sin Wagon," by the Dixie Chicks
8) "Thursday's Child," by David Bowie
9) "When the Stars Go Blue," by the Corrs, featuring Bono
10) "Young Folks," by Peter Bjorn and John

SO, what about you? How do you de-stress? I can't wait to hear what works for you.

Have a great week!

Vacation comes to an end....

Alas, my glorious vacation is now coming to an end. After the trip to Arizona, my sister and I took a road trip to the Jersey Shore (Billy Joel's lyric keeps running through my head). Wow - it was absolutely perfect. It was 85 degrees out, blue skies, and warm end-of-summer ocean water. We stayed at a charming Bed and Breakfast and really just relaxed the whole time.

Here is my "bathing beauty" photo - despite much sunscreen, we still got great tans (awesome!!).

But then, of course, we have to come BACK TO THE REAL WORLD. Bleh!


I can't believe how quickly I got totally stressed out as soon as I returned to my otherwise lovely abode. I just had this long conversation with my mom, where I began to list every single thing that has been wearing on my mind. They are much too complicated to go into here, but, boy, let me tell you - my stomach hurts just thinking about everything.

Well, it sure was nice while it lasted.