Tikkun Tammuz

27 Elul, "Tikkun Tammuz", during which we fix our emotions. Tammuz is the Sign of Cancer, associated with the Moon, and vulnerable to the most extreme emotional fluctuations. Reuven, the patriarch of the Tribe associated with Tammuz, was told by his father Jacob that his nature was as "unstable as water". Today we fix our emotional instability. Easier said than done, right?

Yet Reuven himself demonstrated the secret of this fixing when he acknowledged his father's frank assessment without bitterness, rebellion or resentment. Self-awareness and honest self-assessment anchors unstable emotions to a fixed reality: We are all Works in Progress. Neither veering towards morose nor grandiose, but aiming for equanimity in our in our daily lives and integrity in our relationships. Being able to accept critique from those with our best interests in mind without going off the deep end is emotional maturity. 

May Tikkun Tammuz give us the energetic opening to fix where we've been off the deep end or stuck in the shallow end with our feelings!