Today’s Omer theme is stringency and judgement in humility and grace. (See comments below for more on the Omer)

Before and after meditating today, I read chapter 57 from the The Lao Tzu (See comments below for full text)

The smallness of this week, combined with the strength of today’s theme, and the Tao offering a hands off way of governing ourselves and each other - all pose a challenge indeed to the “type A” version of achievement that seems to consume me today.

When facing difficulties or crises we celebrate the ones who take charge and act, I know that I do.

And yet, at every moment our sages ask us to assess - just how much will our action help? How important is it that we take charge? Can we really take charge?

The “stop and breathe” and “take five minutes before we act” advice seems pretty sound. There are very few of us who couldn’t benefit by taking a moment or two before embarking on the next great leap forward.

Aiming to find for myself the space of a breath before my next action - a good afternoon to all.

[From The Lao Tzu (Tao-Te Ching) as found in Wing-Tsit Chan (translator and compiler), A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, (1963), pages 166-167, slightly adapted by Jonathan Freirich]

57.
Govern the state with correctness.
Operate the army with surprise tactics.
Administer the empire by engaging in no activity.
How do I know that this should be so?
Through this:
The more taboos and prohibitions there are in the world,
The poorer the people will be.
The more share weapons the people have,
The more troubled the state will be.
The more cunning and skill a person possesses,
The more vicious things will appear.
The more laws and orders are made prominent,
The more thieves and robbers there will be.
Therefore the sage says:
I take no action and the people of themselves are transformed.
I love tranquility and the people of themselves become correct.
I engage in no activity and the people of themselves become prosperous.
I have no desires and the people of themselves become simple.

About the Counting of the Omer in the Jewish holiday cycle:
Today is thirty days, which is four weeks and two days of the Counting of the Omer - a time when many Jews note each day between the Second Day of Passover, the celebration of freedom, and the next major holiday, Shavuot, or “weeks”, when Jews celebrate the covenant given at Mount Sinai. Each of the seven weeks and each of the seven days in these weeks correspond to a particular “sefirah” or “sphere”, or perhaps better, “a divine emanation/human aspiration”. These themes allow us to reflect on the days as we move from liberation to revelation in the Jewish calendar.
Today’s Omer theme is stringency and judgement (“g’vurah” גְבוּרָה) in the week of humility and grace (“hod” הוֹד).