Many of us approach the day of Rosh Hashana with worry and fear, feeling that we’re not good enough and thinking that we didn’t improve in the past year. Why would the coming year be any different? We worry about judgment, thinking, “How can we possibly deserve a good year if we were so bad?” These thoughts generally don’t compel anyone to change. If anything, we accomplish the opposite – feeling bad about ourselves, which only leads to more stress, worry, and depression. It’s very hard – nearly impossible – to improve ourselves and elevate ourselves to become closer to Hashem with negative thoughts taking over our brains.
So what happens? We fall into a cycle. Negative thoughts cause us to feel further from Hashem, which causes us to have more negative thoughts, which brings us back to feeling further from Hashem.
We need to realize that Hashem is our loving, caring father who only wants our good. Picture a baby who feels secure in the hands of its mother. He doesn’t spend his days worrying about his needs. He isn’t smart enough to think, “Maybe I don’t deserve to get what I want.” He trusts that he will get what he wants as soon as he begins to cry. So too, we can relax and feel good, knowing that Hashem will give us a year full of happiness. Because He wants what’s best for us. Once when we recognize that, all that’s left for us to do is pray to Him, and even cry out to Him, when we want something – anything! We can also try to make an effort to think positive thoughts even when it doesn’t sit right with us, remembering how amazing we are and telling ourselves, “I will have a great year because Hashem loves me so much!!”
Submitted by P. Mizrachi
