Fix number one...

Obviously fixing oneself is the most important part of Judaism. This comes before fixing others, based on loving one's neighbor as oneself, there is an obligation to love oneself. That means before being m'zakeh others one should be m'zakeh himself. Since I'm only starting here on this blog I'll still occasionally be tossing up some introductary posts. One of the things I'd like to do here is mention the various points that I'd like to work on myself and get reader's opinions and experiences on the topic.

I'll start with what, at first blush at least, is an easy one: better davening. It really isn't all that easy and it's something I've been working on for a while with mixed results. When I'm davening with a minyan and I'm not completely exhausted I don't have a problem davening slowly and being careful to pronounce all the words. I do still have a problem paying attention to everything I'm saying, especially during Shmona Esrai. Actually, even more so when I'm doing it slowly. I'll find my mind wandering and that I've gone through 3-4 brochas without even realizing it.

I'm not, at this point, aiming at having all the correct kavonas and such, just to keep my mind on the fact that I'm standing before HaShem. At the very least, if my mind is going to wander, let it wander to topics of Kedushah or even not topics of Tumah. That is to say, I don't need to be thinking about last night's episode of CSI while I'm trying to daven. Maybe it's not horrid that I'm going over some chiddush I heard from my Rav, though that to isn't a best case scenario. So, anyone have any ideas for being able to concentrate on Shmona Esrai?

(I'm starting with something mostly parve...don't worry once I get into the swing of it I'll branch into more...ahem...touchy topics)