Keep a Clear Head – Parshat Miketz

Don’t you just love when people tell you to keep a clear head when you are in the middle of a crisis? Don’t they realize that you may be turning to them for advice because it is hard to retain proportion? To be fair, most people in fact don’t realize it and for them it seems the most logical advice to offer. The funny thing is we may even know that they are right. But because of the crisis it is difficult for us to keep that clarity and coolness.

Yet it is precisely that attribute that propelled Yoseph into the position of viceroy. Yoseph, in this week's parsha, Parshat Miketz, solves the riddle of Paroh's dreams and immediately gives him advice as to how to run the country during the coming years of plenty as well as during the years of famine.1 Yoseph, even though he had just been rushed from prison, had the ability to look at the situation and brilliantly outline a plan that was, at one, part of the dream and the immediate solution. That clarity so impressed Paroh that he immediately appointed Yoseph to head up the implementation of the program. 

In an article discussing Yoseph's meteoric rise, Rabbi Reich explains, "excellent administration skills were not the primary qualities necessary to succeed in such a gargantuan undertaking. Pharaoh knew that in the years of plenty, it would not be possible for the average person to visualize the devastating poverty that would soon consume the land. When resources are free and plentiful, it is only natural to squander and splurge. Yet the message conveyed in his dream clearly told Pharaoh that the only way that the nation’s survival could be assured in the face of a devastating famine, would be by squirreling away every available grain during the years of plenty. Only one who would have the clarity of vision to see beyond the prosperity of the “here and now” would be capable of implementing the master plan."2

Clarity of vision, the ability to somehow look past what you're going through and see the big picture clearly, is an incredible gift and is also a skill that can be learned.

Many of us have experienced this at some time in our life, even if only briefly. Clarity is a tool to accomplishing other things though maintaining it can be a goal in and of itself. Dr. Deepak Chopra suggests ways of attaining and maintaining that clarity. Amongst those ways he includes:

  1. Have a friend who respects your "vision of clarity and fulfillment"
  2. Get a good night's sleep
  3. Address stressors in your life. Ignoring them will not help them go away
  4. "Center yourself several times a day" when needed3

It seems fairly simple. We know it is important. Yet we do not always have the ability to reach a level of clarity.

Mental health professionals, whether in logotherapy, the Journey or mindfulness training, speak of being present.4 Learning to experience the moment that you are in and feel the 'meaning of the moment' are goals of some therapies. 

It is not always easy to keep a cool head and maintain clarity – especially during a crisis. It doesn’t even always guarantee success. It is, however, worth it.

Click here to read another logoParsha article on Miketz  (Am I in Control? Really?)

Notes

  1. Bereishit 41:25-36
  2. https://torah.org/torah-portion/legacy-5774-miketz/
  3. http://www.chopra.com/articles/from-hazy-to-clear-how-to-gain-clarity-about-your-life#sm.00007fnxsqyrhdlau4119mag87cjx
  4. See also logoParsha from Ki Tissa - http://bit.ly/kiTissa77 

Have A Great Shabbat!laughing

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