There are two approaches to self-evaluation and self-improvement. One is to get into the details, look at what needs to be fixed, and work on each detail. A higher approach is to elevate oneself to a higher level in general, becoming completely involved in prayer and Torah etc., and automatically negative things will fall away. But the real best way is to combine both: to deal with the details as part of a general movement of elevating oneself to a higher level, and trying to make all the details befit this higher level. This way we don’t feel pain and bitterness when we see that there are things that we need to improve, because the main feeling is the elevation to a higher level and trying to bring it down into the details. We realize that the whole purpose of getting to a state that needs improvement is only to reach the perfection accomplished through Teshuvah (returning to G-d) – the strength of a Jew’s connection to G-d even in a lowly state, bringing down G-d’s higher Name Havayeh into G-d’s Name Elokim (the Name that is connected to the boundaries of the world). Self-evaluation and Teshuvah in this way is done out of a feeling of joy and pleasure.
(See talk of the Lubavitcher Rebbe King Moshiach Shlita, Noach 5752 (1991))
