34.40 Managing Annoyances — F/U

77% Weekly Newsletter
Religion-Outside-The-Box

The 77% Weekly

The 40/52-weeks-a-year, spiritual-religious newsletter

A reflection on annoyances…
I am doing the exercise that I sent out on Monday — Managing Annoyances — and have two observations that I wanted to share with you.
(No, I’m not going to tell you the number of times that I get annoyed a day as that might lead to competition.)
Here are two things that I’ve found:
  1. I want to record WHY I am annoyed every time that I get annoyed.  I really want to be able to justify my irk.
  2. The simple act of taking out my note-pad to record my annoyances short-circuits my usually path of making a snarky comment.  As Victor Frankl said: Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
I hope you are trying this exercise and learning about you — after all, what is more important to learn?
Rb

Truth Matters

I am standing in Kenya, with my left foot in the Northern Hemisphere and my right foot in the Southern. A line on the ground indicates the equator. Young men—asking for nothing, but hoping for tips—entertain and educate tourists, like me, about the Coriolis effect. They pour water into bowls with small holes at the bottom and let the water

Read More »

Stuff Gets To Me

✧✧✧ As I pack up to leave after my workout, someone asks me, “Hey, Rabbi, how are things going?” I’m not one for small talk. Especially after being called by my title. “Well,” I reply. “I’m sad.” “Why?” “I’m thinking about the girls who went to school in the morning in Minab, Iran—over a hundred of them—killed by a bomb.”

Read More »

My Letter to Habakkuk

✧✧✧ To my dearest pen pal, Habbakuk: First, let me say, no one remembers the prophets who did not deliver on the goods. Your predictions came true. And, 2500+ years later, you are still remembered. Do you remember Lenny, that guy? Kept going around Judea telling people “the goats will lay down in green pastures,” and, then, remember? It started

Read More »
77% Weekly Newsletter
77% Weekly Newsletter