Mitzvot

Hello. Thank you for your good work here, providing insight for so many. I am currently in an outpatient program for my mental health-- in recovery Baruch Hashem. In the program we occasionally have groups on mindfulness. While most modern mindfulness I believe is free from the false-deities or idols of its roots, I still have chosen to step out from these groups and sat outside during the mindfulness out of concern that these practices still find their sources in things like Zen, Vipassanā and other eastern meditative practices. As a baal teshuvah who was involved with some of these practices before returning to Judaism through the help of Hashem via the wisdom of Hasidism, I have left these paths behind and generally tried to steer clear of them. That being said, some of the staff working with me on my treatment have expressed concern that I have been stepping out of many groups and therefore not maximizing my important treatment. Furthermore, one of my supports has suggested me a respected website for online therapy and mental health support. The website also has options for mindfulness practices-- am I allowed to make use of the majority of the website while steering clear of these elements? And for my outpatient treatment, am I allowed to be present in groups on mindfulness, but perhaps doing my own Jewish Meditations during these sessions? I know this is a delicate subject and a complex one given that mindfulness practices may vary based on a particular path or therapeutic system. That being said, I appreciate any help and look forward to your response.

Hello, Thank you for your good work in offering wisdom to so many. I bought a new phone somewhat recently. The logo of the phone is a bird with a circle behind it. The circle is an outline of a circle so as to indicate it is behind the bird and the bird is flying over it. On starting up the phone, an animation plays of the bird flying up over the circle which is at first illuminated inside before being darkened as the bird freezes in front of it in the image that forms the logo for the phone. The bird "flies away" at shutdown. This is of concern because the name of the phone is also in direct reference to the sun, in a similar fashion (a compound word) as words like 'sunlight' or 'sun-tan'. The fact that the bird flies over it and the company name is also referencing the sun... all would then seem to imply that the outlined or illuminated circle is depicting the sun. It may even be stated somewhere that this is the case-- I have not looked in enough detail to know. Is the phone permitted to be used and looked at, including the logo, given the laws around depicting the sun etc.? Thank you.

We have an adolescent daughter who is academically very successful, which we are very pleased about, but religiously she is in with the wrong crowd and in danger of going off the derech. She acts very independent, which we mostly want to encourage, but she has been turning on proper observance in small steps. She has purchased with her own money that she has made from various jobs some untznius clothes that she is actively wearing. We want to stop her, but simply telling her how to dress only emboldens her to rebel more. If we were to take the untznius clothes away from her and dispose of them, is that our right as parents according to Halacha? Or does it constitute theft of another’s belongings?