What is vital a considered and measured response

+JMJ +

What is vital to thriving during this time of crisis is attaining and retaining and good perspective.

As I have written before, without perspective we can easily get snagged in a number of different pitfalls.

How do you develop a good perspective?

I have already discussed study and spiritual life, as well as prayer.

Also gratitude.

Now I think it is a good idea to think about pace of life.

I recently made a step in the right direction on this issue.

By pace of life I mean taking the time to ponder things at a deeper level, prior to reacting based on the surface elements.

How?

The example I have comes from my work life.

I have a co-worker (person x) who is very ambitious. We also have very different communication styles that compounded to create a difficult working situation.

Over the past couple of years I have been trying to figure out how to work with them.

Recently I had to cover for both my colleagues while they were on vacation.

On returning, x cc'd me on an email to a senior scientist that I had been helping while x was away.

My first reaction was that part of the email was a dig at me. I felt myself getting upset. With an effort of the will I stopped myself from responding as I would have previously. After an hour identify back and read the email again. This time I was in a much better frame of mind. First I noted the tone of the email and simply concluded that I would never have used that tone with a senior scientist. Second, I was only cc'd, so no response was required.

End point, perhaps x intended to offer offense, but I simply left it on the table.

All because I slowed down and developed a broader perspective by realizing that I was emotionally charged and I should just give myself some time to reflect before I responded.

In this case I didn't need to respond. Since then I have set aside several emails for a few hours to ensure that I gave a considered and measured response instead of a ill-considered reaction.

P^3

Comments

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+ JMJ I have sometimes been criticized for including 'St' as a title for Pope John Paul II et al. I've given my reasons here in a discussion with Alex Long. The question is one of prudence in discussions with ntCatholics and in some cases with tCatholics. In discussions with: ntCatholics, I will use the title in order to continue the discussion and help them arrive at a realistic understanding of the crisis of the Church. tCatholics, I will use the title in order to broaden their perspective on the doctrine of dogmatic facts. This broader perspective is, in my opinion, essential maintaining a realistic understanding of the crisis of the Church. So from a doctrinal position, I have written the article Dogmatic Fact of Fancy and includes a reference on canonizations. Now, I know the position of the SSPX is that the canonizations are doubtful (see references below) and I also know of at least one non-SSPX theologian who agrees with the level of doubt du...

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