Musar is my Waze.

What seems like just a few years ago, when setting out to an unfamiliar destination, I’d print pages of turn-by-turn directions from Google Maps. Those stapled sheets were my lifeline—essential to helping me figure out where I was going. Can you believe that seemed modern (!) compared to my previously strained reading from crumpled maps in the front seat. They were folded in all the wrong ways, and it was nearly impossible to discern the tiny numbers on the many routes I needed to take.

Those ‘old fashioned’ maps took up way too much space, while the printed pages so much less! “Modern me” just needed to glance at the paper, (dangerously) looking at the road ahead while checking for the next turn. That image seems so comical now, like a person tethered to a corded phone (what are those?).

Now, I can’t imagine going anywhere without Waze. The jarring (sometimes calming) voice tells me way in advance, where I will need to merge, where to exit and enter, and where to turn. Such a relief. Especially at night!

Either way, it’s essential to have a guide before setting out on a journey. Imagine wandering aimlessly, turning from place to place, not making any headway because you have no clue where you’re going. It seems absurd to be on a trip if you have no destination.

Yet, we might say that most people travel through life that way.

Time moves forward and naturally, people move along with it, as if in a dingy, on an ocean whose current decides the direction—-bobbing here and there, dependent on an outer force like the wind with no clear path.

Here, I’m not talking about a the tangibles in life: where you’ll live or what career you’ll have. Or what vacation trips you’ll take.

The type of destination I’m referring to is also not the ‘ultimate’….our death, but the one regarding your inner being, your soul. In the nascent beginnings of the secular New Year, some of us are busy making resolutions...but how many of us focus on the changes that will have the most impact on our spiritual selves?

Diet gurus and gyms are ready for this time of year, baiting us with deals based on the thinking that changing our outsides will change our insides.

But how might your travel journey differ if you actually had an itinerary for that kind of change? What if there was a step-by-step plan for you every day to reach that type of goal? One that maximizes your time, your experiences, your practices, and your interactions?

Judaism teaches that we are here, on this earth, to elevate our souls. To become a better version of ourselves day by day.

An itinerary that has been tested through thousands of years is the practice of Mussar.

By focusing on one character trait at a time, for a limited time, we learn to master our baser instincts and reach a higher level of being. There are spiritual and practical tools to move toward that destination. Meditations, visualizations, reminders and journaling are only some of them.

Our everyday is infused with a sense of spiritual purpose. No day just slips by. For those I am fortunate to be with in my classes, we are grounded in a different experience.

Musar reaches the deepest part of our selves, and it is within our grasp.

Mussar is my Waze for travelling through life, breaking through the mundane and taking me higher each day.

Naturally, and with the support of ancient wisdom.

I am able to focus on becoming the person I am meant to be.

If you are curious about Mussar, you can read about it here.