Little by little, Step by step

Sometimes in life, we think we can't do something. We think, Oh, it's too hard or it will take too long. So we don't even start.
Last December, Michoel gave me a Garmin Vivofit. I was thrilled to start keeping track of my steps. It's really cool to see when I more active and when I was lazy. I've recently been having issues with syncing. Today I was finally able to do it. And look what I found out!

Do you see that? In 8 1/2 months, I've taken a million and a half steps!!! If someone would have told me, Try to take a million steps, I would have thought they were crazy. The fact is, when you break down a big goal into small baby steps, anything is possible.
It reminds me of my friend Melanie. I met Melanie at a Chai Lifeline bereavement retreat. Melanie and I really hit it off. Recently, Melanie completed everything, and now she is Dr Melanie, licensed phycologist. I've been friends with her all these years as she went back to school. She has a goal, and just kept plugging along.
Baby steps end up equaling a lot of big steps.
Wishing you a good shabbos!

Happy Birthday to ME!

Tonight/tomorrow is chof ches Tammuz, the 28th day of the Hebrew month Tammuz.  It also happens to be my birthday. Yay!
The Lubavitcher Rebbe emphasized that we should celebrate our birthday by doing several things. Chabad.org has several great articles, so I am not going to post what is already available.

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/481087/jewish/How-Do-Jews-Celebrate-Birthdays.htm

Birthdays celebrate when we were born.  There is a certain mazel when we were born, and chassidus teaches us that each day happens again.  Meaning that the events that happened before happen again.  When we celebrate Passover, we should feel literally like we are leaving Egypt.  I got this from Chabad.org (can you tell it's one of my favorite sites?):

The Talmud—the ancient encyclopedia of Jewish wisdom—seems to contradict itself on the issue. In one place it states, “On your birthday, your mazel is strong.” Elsewhere the Talmud reports, “The Jewish people are not subject to mazel”!

The word mazel literally means “a drip from above.” Mazel can have different connotations depending on its context, but they are all connected to this basic definition—something trickling down from above.

The signs of the zodiac are called mazalot. Jewish tradition sees the constellations on high as directing the destiny of individuals and nations down below. Thus mazel is the influence dripping down from the stars. (Over the years, bad or good mazel came to mean “luck” more than “destiny.”) When the Talmud says that we are not subject to mazel, it means that we are not limited to our destiny; rather, our own actions determine our fate.

With this in mind, on our birthdays, we have the power to bless people.  So I want to bless anyone who reads this with GeFeN. Gezunt, good health; Parnasa, livelihood; Nachas, sorta like enjoying your kids, but not exactly, there is no real translation, sorry. You should ALL have GeFeN, and most of all, revealed goodness.  (We know that everything that G-d does is good, but it doesn't always appear good to us.  Revealed goodness means being able to see how good it is.)  Hashem should bless you all with the zchus of seeing the arrival of Moshiach immediately!