Reflections and Temper

Day 21: Shabbat

This week proved to be the most difficult so far. All of the values presented to me were enormous tasks or didn't really apply to me, so I worry that I haven't succeeded in processing my New Year's resolutions as well as I should have.

• Don't Waste Time: I'm not sure how well I worked on this. I wasn't able to study Jewish texts this week but I certainly did use my time fairly efficiently to work on tasks for school.
• "Stay Away from a Bad Neighbor": This was made easier for me because this week was so crowded with work that I didn't really have an opportunity to socialize.
• The First Trait to Look for in a Spouse: N/A
• "Love Your Wife as Yourself": N/A
• Don't Speak Unless You Have Something to Say: Maybe I just always have something to say? And maybe I'm just really good at filtering?

Day 22: If You Have a Bad Temper (1)

It is said that there are 4 types of temperament:

1. Someone who is easily angered and easily appeased
2. Someone who is difficult to anger and difficult to appease
3. Someone who is difficult to anger and easy to appease
4. Someone who is easy to anger and difficult to appease

The third temperament is considered saintly while the fourth temperament is considered wicked. While I'd like to think that I'm the third, I'd like to think that others see me that way too. I know from experience that I'm very easy to appease, maybe to a fault sometimes. 

I had a task today: to remember the good deeds of the person who angered me and to put a positive spin on why they might be acting that way rather than blowing up and ruining our relationship. I had three perfectly good opportunities to fulfill this task and I failed at it twice. 

The first was at my own roommate who constantly wakes me up in the mornings. I'm ok though, I never say anything to her because I wouldn't want something so small to come between us, especially when I know I probably did the same thing to her last semester. In this case, I kept it bottled up and didn't think so much about why.

The second was at a girl I was working on a group project with who really truly upset me and as soon as I could, but I exploded when I was able to find a friend to vent to.

In all honesty, it's late and I can't remember the 3rd one, but I do remember taking a moment to reassess the situation and understand where that person was coming from. I calmed down a little bit and just smiled and went on my merry way.

I'm looking forward to trying part 2 of this section tomorrow!