A Time to Reflect!

Today is Rosh Hodesh Elul, the first day of the 12th month on the Jewish calendar. The month of Elul is a time of repentance in preparation for the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. 
Once again,my JBC (Jewish Biological Clock) has kicked into gear.Reflective best describes my mood today.What is it about this time of year that seemingly forever has brought about these feelings inside of me?
Let's see what Google has to say:

The month of Elul is a time of repentance in preparation for the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah andYom Kippur. Tradition teaches that the month of Elul is a particularly propitious time for repentance. This mood of repentance builds through the month of Elul to the period of Selichot, to Rosh Hashanah, and finally to Yom Kippur.

According to tradition, the month of Elul is the time that Moses spent on Mount Sinai preparing the second set of tablets after the incident of the golden calf (Ex. 32; 34:27-28). He ascended on Rosh Chodesh Elul and descended on the 10th of Tishri, at the end of Yom Kippur, when repentance was complete. Other sources say that Elul is the beginning of a period of 40 days that Moses prayed for G-d to forgive the people after the Golden Calf incident, after which the commandment to prepare the second set of tablets was given.

Interesting!
The first of Elul also marks the day on the calendar that Susan and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary and were finally married in a Jewish ceremony.Google also tells us that:

The name of the month (spelled Alef-Lamed-Vav-Lamed) is said to be an acronym of "Ani l'dodi v'dodi li," "I am my Beloved's and my Beloved is mine," a quote from Song of Songs 6:3, where the Beloved isG-d and the "I" is the Jewish people. In Aramaic (the vernacular of the Jewish people at the time that the month names were adopted), the word "Elul" means "search," which is appropriate, because this is a time of year when we search our hearts.

I suppose this explains why it is that traditionally as summer draws near to it's end and the High Holiday season approaches I find myself cascading into a very reflective funk.
My Google search led me to open a number of different links. Each and every one of them shed more and more light on what this time of year is about and why it is that I feel this way year after year as we near another new year.It is a sense and feeling that I must be open to. I was born with this as part of my Jewish DNA. It has been incubating for 5776 years.It is as much a part of me as are my fingerprints. 
I now understand.
I am supposed to feel this way.
It is a marvelously liberating feeling knowing that it is okay to be open to experiencing this time of T'shuva,  this time of reflection. I now understand why I experienced the sadness I felt yesterday as I thought about those who I have lost touch with. The good(and the Bad) news is I now also know that this is only the beginning of the month. 28 more day of this lie before me. I am sure there will some joyously sad times as well as some painful ones.
I'm okay with that.
 As my spiritual Journey continues,obviously this is another part of that experience.
Shabbat Shalom!