The world seems to have gone mad. Now is the time for you to grab the steering wheel of your ship and live a life by design.

Do you know who you are? You’re a Child Sibling Parent Grandchild Grandparent? Uncle or aunt? Friend Niece or nephew Employee Neighbor, Citizen But who are you? Really? More than twenty years ago when I was procrastinating for the CPA exam I stumbled upon the encyclopedia of sociology (yes, I was that board:) A social psychologist named Stryker hypothesized what became known as Stryker’s Identity Theory stating the structural symbolic interactionist perspective... essentially that the self” is essentially all of the roles which we play in life assembled upon an imaginary pyramid. Each role is subconsciously given a level of importance and priority which determines the behavioal outcome in any given situation. You see, you play a lot of different roles. But what happens when the situation gets complicated. For example, you’re speaking with your child and your boss walks in? Or your a college student hanging with the guys at the bar and your grandmother walks in. Or you have a day off and decide to play golf with colleagues or take your kids to a park? Which role wins the day? Right? You’d never speak to your boss like you speak to your baby...of course they are both the authentic yet multifaceted “you” but the face that you show them are entirely different aspects of your ...self. But not so fast. Who are you on a desert island? You see, Stryker is a social psychologist presenting a societal perspective. Without the society where do you stand? When we categorize our roles into three basic categories a different picture emerges. You and your fellow humans You and the Infinite One Above Time and Space You and...yourself. You ...your soul….and your self. On a desert island you are left with relating to G-d and yourself. Now lets bounce back to Stryker. Who are you? Well, there are two new roles that we need to add to the subconscious pyramid. You in relation to G-d You in relation to ...yourself. How do you prioritize these two new roles? See, some people place themselves at the bottom of the pyramid. Everyone else's opinions and needs come first. Their own needs and feelings are at the bottom of the list. These are peace makers and appeasers and pleasers. Other people place themselves at the top of the list. They need others to honor them so they can reinforce their self love even at the expense of others. And people do the same with Gd. Some people put Gd above all other relationships and sadly hurt those around them in the name of worship even though upon further investigation their own religion probably doesn’t condone hurting others. Others put Gd at the bottom of the pyramid and worship public opinion before all. At the end of the day, it is helpful to know what your internal world looks like...including this subconscious pyramid of roles we all play. First we must recognize the roles we play, then we must recognize the priorities we give these roles. Only then can we consciously design our ideal self as it relates to others. What are you waiting for? Isn’t it about time that we make the time to ...begin. You can schedule a visit here: www.jpulse.org

Distilling our sense of "self" is far more difficult than taking a picture or a selfie. Strengthening one's inner core is more than any planking or exercising can solve. In a hyper-stimulated environment the general conundrum of strengthening one's true inner core a.k.a. the self requires understanding how the environmental factors influence our identity and behavioral outcome. Perhaps the first question we should ask is are we influencing others or being influenced by others? Lets discuss. Click schedule a meeting on www.jpulse.org

What does your inner world look like? In the original Holy language of the bible we find the word Ha’Olam = World/Universe (Blessed are you Lrd our Gd King of the ?) He’eleem = hidden What is the correlation between world and hidden? If you ask your average person to define their world as they see it, they’ll give you their perspective on things. An astronomer will tell you the universe is expanding. An environmentalist will tell you the world is being destroyed. A newtonian physicist will tell you about the 99.999% space between matter and about action reaction. A quantum physicist will tell you the world is chaotically popping in an out of existence. A salesperson might show you how many contacts, friends or followers he has. A psychologist will tell you about neurons and synapses and subconscious and behaviorism. A politician will probably tell you more about his opponent lol. Everything is relative. Ask the bible? It might tell you the world, your world, isn’t just out here….its in there! Inside you. Its not out here. Its in...there. But what does your world look like? Can we see our inner world? If you were a house and your eyes were the windows that you looked outward from...how would you see what your insides look like? Is your room a mess? Is there cobwebs and neglect? Has it been cared for in a while? Is it falling apart? It is a gloomy or happy place? What kind of music is playing? Is it a drama? A comedy? A thriller? Is it lit or dark? Is it saf? Is it sound? We can not easily see our own inner world. Afterall, our eyes can only see what appears outside of ourselves. So what is a curious human to do? How do you actually see...yourself? Rabbi Shlomo Volbe wrote in the name of the Baal Shem Tov that if you want to see your inner world, you should look at the world around you. How does it appear to you? The outer world is simply mirrors your inner world. This is deep stuff. Lets try to crystalize this complex idea. How about a story? Shall we? A rabbi of a city was approached by a traveler who was thinking of moving to the city. The traveler asked, “Will I like it here?” The rabbi replied, “Tell me, why are you leaving the place you’re coming from?” The traveler answered, “It was a miserable place. No one was friendly to each other. Everyone stepped on each other to get ahead. People stabbed each other behind their backs and slandered each other and there was so much selfishness and hatred.” The rabbi answered, “I think you’ll find the same people here.” The next day a second traveler approached the same rabbi with the same question. “Will I like it here?” The rabbi replied, “Tell me, why are you leaving the place you’re coming from?” This second traveler answered, “I’m so sad to leave that wonderful city. Everyone was so friendly to each other and said hello to one another in the street. People looked out for each other and helped each other. It was such a happy place with kind and considerate people.” The rabbi answered this second traveler, “I think you’ll find the same people here.” How could it be that the rabbi would describe his community in two totally different ways to these two travelers? The rabbi knew the influence our inner world has upon our experience throughout life. Each traveler experiences the world around him based on the inner workings of his inner world. So the rabbi’s city was the same. However, the subjective reality of the citizens determines their unique experience in that city. No two people experience the same happenings in the same way. Life’s happenings appears to us in subjectively different ways even if the circumstances were exactly the same. So it is you, the traveler, who will find the same people no matter how far you travel or how fast you run. You can run, but you really can’t hide. Each of our inner worlds determine how we perceive and thus experience the world around us. Do you feel like everyone is judging you? Maybe you’re judging them. Do you feel lonely and without friends? Maybe you need to work on becoming more caring and friendly those in your circles? Do you feel like no one knows your authentic self? Maybe you need to look past the facade that other people put on. Do you feel like no one appreciates the things that you do? Maybe you don’t appreciate what other people do for you. Do you feel like no one loves you? Maybe you need to learn how to love yourself and others. So how do we begin to look more closely at our own inner world? Just look around. How does it look to you? Tikun Olam (repairing the world) is not just running around helping others. That is too easy in comparison to getting focused, making the time, doing the inner work by reaching out to a mentor and deciding to ...begin.

The biggest bubble pop has already happened. Before we emerge from our cocoons into a post corona world, take stock of our new world and be brave enough to make sure that our future remains balanced, centered, and full of hope and joy.

Image is everything? What if that image is nothing more than a mirage in your imagination? When you run after honor, honor runs away from you. Imagine that. You keep running and runnin