It's currently the high holy days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, so it's a time of deep introspection, soul cleansing, seeking forgiveness, and atoning for wrongs that we have done others.   I'm not particularly religious and though I'm Jewish I don't attend synagogue or anything. I'm far more pantheist syncretic pagan-taoist than anything else due to so many of my lives having been pagan and having several of the old gods and goddesses as friends/protectors who still watch over me and (try to) keep me out of getting into too much trouble -- also I actively dislike vengeful patriarchal dogmatic monotheism  of all varieties (including much that's in the Tanakh) because I dislike being told what to do and that someone else's "one way" is the right way. So I'm not really the best or most orthodox Jew out there, though I am born Jewish and that makes me and any children I may have Jewish regardless of any of our own personal or spiritual beliefs. All that said, I do keep the traditions surrounding Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and the annual soul searching is something I believe is deeply healing and important at a spiritual and mental health level. 

One of the traditions in Judaism that most people don't realize unless they're Jewish, is there's no "too late to apologize" in Judaism. (That song lyric has always bugged me every time I hear it, because the only time it's EVER too late to apologize is when you decide you're not fucking going to. And that's on you and your choices, not the amount of time or water under the bridge between you.)  Part of the High Holy Days is in seeking forgiveness and making atonement for anyone you have wronged and a large part of Judaic traditions is in the importance of forgiveness as a means of healing you both. So there's a tradition that once you realize that you have wronged someone, it is for you to seek them out and ask them to forgive you for the past wrongs tell you how to make it right and it's their choice whether to forgive you at that time or not -- and if they refuse you at that point in time you don't have any rights to ask for their forgiveness, for them to let you make it right, until the next year's High Holy Days. HOWEVER if during three different years of the High Holy Days you directly approach someone from a place of sincerity and ask them to forgive you and let you make atonement and make right the wrongs of the past three times and three times they deny you forgiveness refuse to allow making right the wrongs of the past, then you have made your atonement and the sin is no longer upon the person seeking forgiveness but upon the soul of the one too hard-hearted to allow forgiveness and making right what is between you.  (I think technically you're supposed to have three witnesses for the three times you ask for forgiveness for it to be considered atoned even if the forgiveness is denied -- but I don't follow the rules THAT specifically. I honor the spirit of the idea, not the dogma of it.) But that's something very different from a Christian or western mindset around forgiveness between people -- and it's an important distinction. As long as you feel genuine contrition and a genuine desire to make right what you did wrong and approach them seeking forgiveness in that spirit, then it's never too late for an apology or to try to fix what went wrong or to find forgiveness to move forward in a more healthy manner.

You are not expected to forget the past or the wrongs that have been done, especially if the wrongs are continuously repeated and no lesson learned yet  -- but you are expected to forgive them if somebody seeks to apologize and make atonement for the wrongs of the past once they have realized they did wrong. For your sake as much as for theirs.

And, most importantly of all... part of the shadow work during the High Holy Days is not just releasing and forgiving others, you have to forgive yourself for the version of you that you were (this is a part of the atonement process) even as you choose to heal and grow and not be that version of you any longer.

And so the ideas around forgiveness and about an annual cleansing of one's soul IS among the Jewish traditions I do keep and I keep it faithfully. Even when forgiveness and letting go of your past hurts is hard -- it's important to let it go and break those negative karmic chains lest it consume you. So I do keep the traditions around seeking forgiveness, giving forgiveness, and allowing a space for people to make right the wrongs of the past. Especially during the High Holy Days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Because I think it's beautiful and karmically important and makes the soul healthier than if you sidestep this sort of inner shadow work and choose to hang on to hate and bitterness and anger and hurt and guilt. 

So if you want to know what's on my mind, it's that sort of inner work even when it's hard to take ownership over the past fuckups and being in a receptive place for anyone who needs it to try to reach out to me to find common ground in order to heal and forgive and make right what has gone awry in the past. As well as cleansing and letting go within my own soul of wrongs I have committed and not yet released or atoned for.  

Also, I'm eating lots and lots of heirloom orchard apples. They're like 90% of my diet right now, lol. But that's typical for me in September, October, and November.  I don't actually like most store bought apples, but I'm absolutely crazy for heirloom orchard apples during apple season. Like Atalanta and the golden apples level crazy for real apples.