Welcome to the SIMHA Emotional Wellness Minute. We're going discuss the concept of Hitboninut. For those of us that might not know it, it means to dwell on something, to analyze something, to put your focus on something. The best translation is to observe or to contemplate.
Rav Wolbe, in his sefer Alei Shor vol 2, page 270, talks about this at length, as he does in many classes.
One of the things he says is that the force (talent or power) that enriches man's inner world is this power of Hitboninut.
He explains that there's a difference between Machshavah, which is thinking and Hitboninut. Machshavah, is by nature, abstract, such as thinking about the beauty of Shabbat. It's an abstract concept. Conversely, Hitboninut causes one to use his senses. You're looking at it, you're tasting it, you're smelling it. That's what Hitboninut is. Rav Wolbe goes on to explain that Hashem is the best Educator. Just like in modern education, where we like to engage our visual and other senses, so too, Hashem, the best Educator, made a world full of things that we can look at, hear, taste and feel. He says it's something you need to train yourself in, which is what we're trying to do here- as we train ourselves, through various steps, towards emotional wellbeing and enrichment.
He says that every day, a person should take a look at something in nature, and he proves the need for hitboninut from the fact that we have so many Berachot, that all have to do with things that we see, hear, touch and taste. Obviously, we're supposed to be delving into them and not just saying the berachot by rote.
Let’s start our look at nature with the simple leaf. How many times a day do we just walk by leaves? Do we pay attention to them? Every tree has a different type of leaf. Take a walk in the street and notice all the different types of leaves. Notice the veins in the leaf, that comes out of the main in the middle. Notice how it's set up in a geometric fashion. Realize that the purpose of these veins are to bring water to the leaf. Notice the dark green on one side and the lighter green on the other side. Remember what you learned in school about photosynthesis and oxygen. Where did all this come from? This all came from Hashem. Rav Wolbe says he doesn’t want to give away everything about the leaf because it would take away part of our opportunity for Hitboninut.
Every day, take something and delve into it and look at it. It's not an easy task, but great people were experts at this and they were connected to God in a very powerful way.
I once heard from Rav Yehuda Ades that the Chazon Ish said he was not able to look at a rose for very long, because he was afraid that the tremendous love that it aroused in him for God would cause his soul to leave him! That's how emotionally moved the Chazon Ish would get from a simple Hitboninut into a leaf.
It’s interesting that in the modern psychology, mindfulness is becoming a very powerful tool to calm people. Being in the moment, and mindfulness is actually based specifically on this concept. A simple mindfulness exercise is to notice what you are experiencing right now through any or all of your five senses. Sound, sight, touch, taste, or smell. So concepts like hitboninut, that we use in regular Jewish life, all have fringe benefits that help us with our emotional wellbeing.
It’s important to always keep this in mind-The best source for emotional wellbeing is the Torah. We just have to know how to find it.
Have a wonderful day.