Soul Full Together

Whether you are exploring Soul Full with your family or as part of agroup, each chapter concludes with Soul Full Together, activities designed to build confidence, connection, and community.

FOR FAMILIES WITH YOUNG CHILDREN OurMorningBlessing

Creating aBlessing Bag takes about five minutes and is the only thing you need for an activity that you can do once–or once amonth!–to make blessing apart of your child’s morning. Prep: Create aBlessing Bag. On slips of paper, write the title of each of the Morning Blessings from pp. 24–67. Put them in abag marked “Blessings.”

Set the stage by asking your children: How do we start each day? Phrase this question in an age-appropriate way that works for them: What do we do in the morning? What do we do before school? What is morning like in our family? You can ask them to tell you, or you can invite them to draw apicture.

• What feelings come up for them? • What stands out as good? • What is something they’d like to change?

Then, unpack the idea of blessings by naming and explaining. What is ablessing? What do you think it means to be ablessing? Share your own ideas and hear theirs. Tell your children that you hope to add meaning to the morning. Getting up and out the door is often the hardest part of the day. We can make each day better by adding blessings to our morning!

Now, bring out the Blessing Bag. Share what it is: a different Jewish blessings. special bag with twelve We are going to choose one (orone each month) and see how we can use it to add blessings to our morning. Invite someone to choose the first blessing. Read the blessing and together talk about what it means in terms your children understand.

You can also invite your child to illustrate the blessing. Hang the drawing in aplace everyone sees daily, like the fridge or the front door. Stay accountable as afamily. Carve out amoment on the drive to school to ask (orremind) your children about this month’s blessing. Return to the blessing after school or at the dinner table to share how the blessing came alive over the course of the day. Put asweet note that features the blessing in your child(ren)’s lunch box, under their pillow, or on aPost-it on their bathroom mirror. Together, you have created apractice. Repeat the activity monthly if you can–twelve blessings over the course of ayear. Notice the small ways that blessings change your family dynamic, and share the idea and its impact with friends.

FOR FAMILIES WITH TWEENS AND TEENS BlessIsMore

You’ve heard the phrase “less is more,” and it can be true. Adding one more thing to your morning routine might seem like an impossible task. But we’d like to argue that bless is more. Taking the time to pause, even for amoment, to intentionally add ablessing to the morning routine of your tweens and teens can actually create more: more time, more openness, more awareness in your family. Review the Morning Blessings from pp. 24–67. When you think about your child(ren)–who they are, what they need–which blessing stands out as the most powerful? The most helpful? Tomorrow morning before you say goodbye to your child(ren), share with them how they are ablessing to you, to their friends, to their siblings, or others. This may be the blessing they are most able to hear from you. Alternatively, offer them ablessing: Start small! Stand tall. Be strong. Be your best self today. These are all beautiful blessings, and agreat place to begin. You can also invite your tweens and teens to bless you in return. Create apractice. It’s not easy to make meaning. Keep at it. Studies show that it takes twenty-one days to create ahabit. Revisit the morning blessings when your child(ren)’s needs change–we all need different blessings at different times and as our lives shift. Stay accountable! Put anote on the fridge or the front door that says BLESSING. Try to notice how your family dynamics shift when blessing becomes amorning ritual in your home. Share your practice and its impact with family and friends.

FOR GROUPS FromRitualtoRoutine

1. Distinguish between Routine and Ritual Most of us have amorning routine. Invite participants to share theirs.Ask: What is the difference between aroutine and aritual? Welcome avariety of responses.

Aroutine is aregularly followed sequence of actions. Aroutine has purpose but no deeper meaning beyond what it accomplishes. Aritual also follows aseries of actions performed in aprescribed order. But rituals have purpose and meaning. 2. Lead aThink-Pair-Share Reflection Exercise Think: Direct each participant to think about (reflect on or write down) their morning routine, and consider moments that can be imbued with ritual.

For example, if you already wake up, roll out of bed, stumble to the bathroom, and wash your face, consider waking up and saying Modeh Ani (p. 24)before you roll out of bed and stumble to the bathroom. If your morning routine begins by checking your phone, consider keeping Soul Full on your nightstand and placing your phone–almost like abookmark–between pages 24 and 67.When you wake up, center yourself by reading “Family, Life, and Community” before you begin to scroll. Our phones are so often asource of anxiety in the morning, minimizing the miracle of another day and distancing us from what we have by plunging us into what we have yet to do. Pair: Then, in pairs or groups of three, invite participants to discuss their routines and morning ritual ideas. Share: Lastly, return to the group and ask participants to share back their most powerful ideas.

3. Create Accountability Together, you have created aMorning Ritual Roster–acollection of ways to create meaning, to infuse routine with ritual by making Morning Blessings apart of your day every day. Invite each participant to choose at least one “ritual infusion” to try between now and your next gathering. Check in with each other! Ritual isn’t easy…that’s why we call it apractice.

KINDLE JOY

THE MAGIC OF SHABBAT