Reflections and Trickery

Day 28: Shabbat

This week proved to be a lot of mental work. Lots of changing the way I think and I really enjoyed it.

• If You Have a Bad Temper (1 and 2): I actually found a really relevant quote from the very very first day that has helped me calm down when I'm frustrated. "By accustoming ourselves to uttering a prayer at the very moment we feel unjustly annoyed, we become better, more loving people" (3).
• Find Excuses for Behavior that Seems Unkind: N/A
• "Judge the Whole of a Person Favorably": I made a really good joke today. Someone said that the apples in the kitchen were going bad and I said that we still see the best in them...ok so maybe I was the only one who thought it was funny...
• Return Lost Objects: N/A
• "As Long as the Candle is Burning: N/A

Day 29: Don't "Steal" Another Person's Mind

It makes a lot more sense to think of today's value by it's Hebrew term: gneivat da'at. This essentially means that we shouldn't trick people. We shouldn't offer to do things for people if hope they turn us down, we shouldn't invite people to hang out in the hopes that they'll be busy when we're free, etc.

I became very self conscious about this today and spent a lot of time thinking about times when I intentionally or unintentionally may have "stolen someone's mind". Most of the things I thought of were inadvertent, very unintentional, but there were also things that I was thinking of that I knew I was doing but didn't stop. I'm certainly guilty of offering things to people that I hope they turn down. This will be something I'll have to pay attention to and hopefully nip in the bud in the future.