Have you ever wondered why particular challenges arise for you when the same area of life seems to be free and easy for someone else?
Have you ever caught yourself saying things like, “I don’t understand why this keeps happening? What am I missing?”
Or maybe you’ve simply wondered what your purpose in life is, what your unique superpowers might be.
In Kabbalah, there is a concept called Tikkune, which is essential to any exploration of our purpose and certainly the discovery of our superpowers. (Which, spoiler alert, we all have!)
Tikkune translates to “correction.” Throughout our lives, we are meant to work on or “correct” some aspect of our nature. Much like the origin story of any superhero involves a form of trauma, we, too, carry a challenging inner energy that we are meant to face and transform. This is energy that has carried over from previous lifetimes and contains pieces of negative words or actions that our soul intends to reconcile. What we have done in previous incarnations—things like choices or behaviors that came from a place of reactivity and selfishness—influences our current lives. When we take on the work of our Tikkune, we say yes to our ultimate evolution.
Does it sound intense? Yes, it often feels intense, too. However, it is not a punishment—it’s an opportunity—a path we have chosen to walk that is dotted with many gifts and blessings.
Everyone’s Tikkune is unique to them, and it can manifest in a myriad of different ways.
The person who leaves one relationship to get into another with the same exact type of person over and over again.
The person who, no matter what business or company they work for, ends up with the same challenges from the same kind of manager.
The person who is seemingly always in financial straits no matter how much money they make.
What repeated patterns do you see popping up in your life over and over again? They are clues to your Tikkune, and until you become conscious of them and commit to working through them, the universe will continue to place the pattern in your path. Luckily, there’s good news: the more we address our Tikkune, the closer we come to our purpose. With each karmic knot we untangle, a new blessing or inherent superpower is revealed to us.
Your Tikkune that dreaded pattern or challenge that you wish would just disappear, is actually directly related to your superpower. Your superpower is usually your Tikkune flipped upside down. Before I get to that, though, one distinction needs to be made. Our Tikkune is not something that is “wrong” or “broken” within us. It is the way in which our soul reveals itself, and it’s important to remember that our soul is already perfect. Like a diamond, some layers and pressures must be removed before we can share the illumination of that diamond with the world.
Those layers may look like pride, anger, judgment, control, fear, low self-esteem, or any negative emotions we chronically experience. Our Tikkune presents us with these difficult emotions and states of being, and we can either avoid or overcome them. Choosing to overcome specific challenges or aspects of nature requires great effort, but it is through this effort that we become who we’re meant to be: the creators of our reality rather than passive participants.
My daughter Abigail is a perfect example of what it looks like to face your Tikkune and transform it into a gift. When she was diagnosed with dyslexia, she was plagued by a false belief that she was stupid. She felt different from her peers and was afraid of this unknown dyslexia label thrust upon her… ultimately, she was facing tremendous self-doubt. Until she made a choice to transform the way she thought about dyslexia and begin sharing her story with others. The result was incredibly healing as she began to see how she could empower others experiencing the same thing.
Facing her Tikkune didn’t mean her dyslexia magically evaporated. It meant that she transformed it into a superpower.
The Kabbalists make this very clear—the greatest Light always requires the most tremendous effort to reveal. If we want to reveal our superpowers, the best parts of ourselves, we need to work for them. Tikkune is that process.
The Zohar, the foundational text of Kabbalah, reiterates again and again the statement that “blessings reside in concealed places,” and the Kabbalists elaborate, explaining that it is really in those concealed places—the places we least expect—where the most extraordinary Light can sprout from.
The Zohar also shares a beautiful secret: only we truly know and can fully see our superpowers. No one but us can do this work of discovering and revealing our own superpowers.
What is a weakness that you are afraid to own fully?
Where do you feel the tenderness of vulnerability?
What challenges do you consistently come up against?
What is something you hide about yourself for fear of rejection or judgment?
These are the tenderest places that I am asking you to examine, so a great deal of patience and grace is necessary. Facing our Tikkune is not about taking a red pen to ourselves or being overly critical or punishing. Quiet the opposite. Our Tikkune should met with curiosity. Take the answers to the questions above, and after accepting and acknowledging them, place your hand over your heart and ask:
How might this be my greatest gift?
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