A Moment in Time: Weighing In

Dear all,

Weighing in – offering your two shekels– is not always the easiest thing to do.  Your advice may be sound, and you may have the best of intentions.  Sometimes you just have an obligation to say something.

And sometimes you have to keep your mouth shut.

Knowing when to weigh in (or not) in one of life’s most difficult challenges.  Here are some guidelines that might offer some help:

1) Will our advice make us feel better or will it make the situationbetter?

2) Are we listening (really listening) before giving our input?

3) Are we offering our solution rather than allowing them to try to figure out possibilities?

4) Did they ask for our advice in the first place?

5) What will happen if we don’t weigh in?

6) Sometimes silence is golden.  But sometimes it isn’t.  What does this situation call for?

Rabbi Zach Shapiro

A change in perspective can shift the focus of our day – and even our lives.  We have an opportunity to harness “a moment in time,” allowing our souls to be both grounded and lifted.  This blog shows how the simplest of daily experiences can become the most meaningful of life’s blessings.  All it takes is a moment in time.
Rabbi Zach Shapiro is the Spiritual Leader of Temple Akiba, a Reform Jewish Congregation in Culver City, CA.  He earned his B.A. in Spanish from Colby College in 1992, and his M.A.H.L. from HUC-JIR in 1996.  He was ordained from HUC-JIR – Cincinnati, in 1997.