Ask questions—don’t assume. How can you truly know another if you don’t even have a full grasp of yourself?

The pendulum swings left and right. You might be lost now, but soon enough, you’ll find yourself found. The same can be said the other way around. Don’t be disheartened—like a tree, autumn may leave you bare for a moment or two, but spring will come, and you’ll show your colors once again.

At times, sadness arises from the gap between our capacity to love and our ability to express it.  

Sometimes things change, and it isn’t quitting—it’s letting go. No matter how much love and grief are involved, we owe it to ourselves and to whatever or whomever holds meaning in our lives—whether it's a person, an object, a memory, or even a dream. Change brings the new, and the new inevitably takes over for the old—unless the old can be incorporated into the new. If it can, welcome it. If it can’t, thank it. It has been a part of you, and it will always be, just in a different role, with a different meaning.

מנהג המקום (Minhag HaMakom*) is a concept in Jewish law that when there are multiple practices and traditions, one should act according to the tradition of the place, out of respect for the community and its people. This principle carries a deeper wisdom beyond law—it speaks to the way we interact with our environments.

No matter how you feel or what you are going through, just show up, and everything else will follow. We tend to think—myself included—that we need all the pieces in place before we’re "ready" to take action. But the truth is, simply by showing up and placing ourselves in the space we want to impact, the rest will follow. Because it is our own resistance that holds us back—the voice that says we don’t deserve more, shouldn’t accept more, or can’t share more. That same resistance convinces us we aren’t capable of setting ourselves up for success.

We often find ourselves in situations where we do something someone else wanted—not what we wanted. Somehow, our power was taken from us. And the worst part? We were the ones who gave it away.

Life is full of experiences—some uplifting, some heavy, and some downright messy. But whatever comes our way, we can’t just take it all in and let it pile up inside us. Like a dishwasher, we need to process what we take in and then release what isn’t serving us. Holding onto the scraps, the filth, and the residue doesn’t do any good. It only clogs us up, making it harder to move forward.

I believe not—if it is channeled correctly. With the right perspective, what seems like overthinking can actually be the sharpening of a skill: observation and prediction.

Instead, take control by breaking the situation into its components—just as you would approach a complex math problem—reducing it to manageable pieces.

Our destined path, our alignment with purpose. But what remains when you remove Fate? "LIE."