In a much simpler time in day's gone by, disciplinary actions in schools were much simpler than they have to be today in order to be effective.  A child who misbehaved was kept late after school or given an extra assignment in order to make up for the behavioral transgression, they committed.  One of the more popular techniques that teachers used was to have a child write a phrase over and over, at least 100 times.  I will not talk in class - 100 times- I will not chew gum -100 times -or any such resolution was considered very productive in getting the child to stop that particular type of behavior.

The story is told of how Rabbi Akiva became determined to improve his life by a connection to Torah.  One day as he was out, shepherding his sheep he saw a water drop fall on a stone.  He noticed that the drops were constant, one after another after another.  The little drops, he noted, had bore a hole through the rock from one side to the other.  The drops were almost all identical in size, and all hit almost the identical point on the rock, one after another

” If drops of water can make a hole in the stone”, he said, “then certainly a whole can be made in my heart of stone.”  It was from that point forward, that he began to study and grow and spirituality until he became the giant of his generation.

Teacher’s of mussar stress that a person should repeat an important principle over and over until it sinks into their personality and becomes part of their behavioral repertoire.  It is not so important, they say, to learn new things all the time.  It is more important, they teach, that one truly understand even the simplest of principles.  For example, Mesillat Yesharim says, that the foundation of true spiritual growth is to understand what one's duty is in this world of physical existence.  He adds that reading his work only once will not benefit the reader at all.  Only after constant review and repetition, he says, will one be able to learn what he is talking about, understand it well, and use it for personal growth.

Living in the age of merchandising and advertising one is trained to expect that new is better.  It may be that a new car has more features than the old one or that a new toothpaste has an ingredient previously unavailable and perhaps that does make it in fact better.  But the constant pursuit of a new is not the constant pursuit of improved.  A person must spend time with oneself, reviewing and repeating important rules strategies and lessons in order to make them part of his or her life.  The next time you hear something that seems bright innovative or intelligent, or perhaps only just really true, start repeating it over and over until you get it down.

CONSIDER THIS FOR A MINUTE

You should know that one whose heart renounces this world, who was truly abstinent, may be reported by having terrestrial possessions removed or withheld by God.  This is for his benefit, as he will ask the harmful things that usually make spiritual growth and success difficult.

The Guide to Serving God, Rabbeinu Avraham ben haRambam, Chapter 10, Abstinence