Tools of Mussar - Hispaalus II

One way to practice mussar is to focus on one trait for a period of time. During this time you can pick one pasuk or ma'amar chazal to think about, to repeat over and over. Here is an example of Hispaalus based on Tehillim 134:2 (thanks to R. Zvi Miller for pointing to this pasuk):   שאו ידכם קדש וברכו את ה

שאו - Lift up, rise above your self-imposed limitations, above petty physicality, higher than the mundane world and the crass.

ידכם - Your hands which represent all of your actions in this world.* Your interactions with people, your involvement in the physical aspects of life. Every glance, every step, word...

קדש - Devote everything, your entire life, to transcedance, to the highest ideals, to holiness.

וברכו - And through this devotion draw down blessing to yourself and to the world.** Enrich the lives of others. Touch another person's soul with a smile. Spread the spirituality which you have merited to taste.

את ה- Your actions will bless the Eternal G-d of Love and Compassion. Transcendence breeds love. Every interaction will be surrounded with an aura of compassion and wisdom.

Below are two audio recordings of hispaalus on this pasuk:

Hispaalus 1
Hispaalus 2

* R. Hirsch on Shemos 30:18 writes regarding the כיור "The ministering priests themselves are continiously reminded that they do not enter the Sanctuary on behalf of the nation on the grounds that their 'doings and goinds' (יד ורגל) in their ordinary life are already sufficiently sanctified to justify their position...This symbolic nature of the priesthood is bestowed on the whole of the rest of their bodies by being clothes in their priestly garments. Only their hands and feet - the principle means of their doings and endeavours - remain unclothed. For these, comes the washing out of the basin." On Shemot 38:8 R. Hirsch continues "It is deeply significant that the vessel [כיור] which was to represent 'the moral keeping holy of one's acts and efforts, קידוש ידים ורגלים, was made out of women's mirros. Mirrors are articles which lay stress on the physical bodily appearance of people being an objection of special consideration. So that it was shown that the physical sensual side of human beings is not merely not exluded from the sphere which is to bsanctified by the Mikdosh, but that it is the first and most essential objection of this sanctification." R. Kook (Eyn Ayah) also views the washing of hands after the meal as an attempt to cleanse ourselves from excessive focus on the self which is often an outcome of eating. Symbolically, we wash the melach sedomis - the salt of Sedom, a place defined by selfishness - off our hands.
** For a new-age twist to this I found that raising my hands during the first part of the pasuk and lowering them down during the second part added an extra dimension to this meditation.