Grrr... one of my email accounts got hacked into over the weekend. It is stressful for me to try to minimize the damage. I am also frustrated with all the time and energy that needs to be spent in re-securing my identity. Without this invasion, I could be doing more things that are actually on my to do list, such as finishing my Devote Life Series.
However, this experience has provided me with two benefits:
1) It has given me immediate motivation to organize and minimize everything I have online.
2) It gives me an opportunity to extend mercy to the perpetrator via praying for his/her/their conversion/s. "Forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those tresspasses against us" (Before you continue, I invite you to offer up a Glory Be or other preferred prayer for whoever did this.)
... thank you for your prayer.
When I get angry, it is easy for me to feel justified in remaining in my anger. Something unfair was done to me after all!!! However, I am learning more and more that anger just makes the bad situation last longer. Are these frustrating moments going to effect me two years from now? No. So I am not going to spend another second more on a situation now out of my hands. Instead, I am going to consider sloth and it's virtue.
SLOTH:
Sloth is a sin associated with laziness. It is apathy for both physical and spiritual duties.
Sloth is "sluggishness of the mind which neglects to begin good... [it] is evil in its effect, if it so oppresses man as to draw him away entirely from good deeds." (2,35, ad 1) - St. Thomas Aquinas
What is it's corresponding virtue? Diligence.
"Diligence seems to be the same as solicitude*, because the more we love[diligimus] a thing the more solicitous are we about it. Hence diligence, no less than solicitude, is required for every virtue, in so far as due acts of reason are requisite for every virtue." (1,54, ad 1) - St. Thomas Aquinas
*Solicitude is an attitude expressing excessive attentiveness: to show great solicitude about his wife's health.
January is a great time to learn (and keep) the habit of diligence as every one seems to be focused on it to some level -- New Year's resolutions and all.
Since St.Thomas believes that it is easier to be attentive to the things we love, I am trying a new approach to tackling laziness this year. If say, I want to shed some pounds, instead of scheduling exercise times for the sake of exercising, I will instead find an activity or a goal that will require me to meet the desired level of activity. It will be a subplot to the story of my life.
Try turning your resolutions into stories too! How?
Take five and pray. Ask God to inspire you. Then write down the main goals you want to accomplish before 2014. Then rewrite the goals as individual events/stories:
1st draft: I will lose weight.
vs.
2nd draft: I will run in a marathon on (date) to raise money for (cause) that will benefit (person I know).
Because your goal is now a subplot in your life, it is easier to avoid the temptations of laziness, and it gives you a purpose beyond a mere item on an overwhelming list.
However, this experience has provided me with two benefits:
1) It has given me immediate motivation to organize and minimize everything I have online.
2) It gives me an opportunity to extend mercy to the perpetrator via praying for his/her/their conversion/s. "Forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those tresspasses against us" (Before you continue, I invite you to offer up a Glory Be or other preferred prayer for whoever did this.)
... thank you for your prayer.
When I get angry, it is easy for me to feel justified in remaining in my anger. Something unfair was done to me after all!!! However, I am learning more and more that anger just makes the bad situation last longer. Are these frustrating moments going to effect me two years from now? No. So I am not going to spend another second more on a situation now out of my hands. Instead, I am going to consider sloth and it's virtue.
SLOTH:
Sloth is a sin associated with laziness. It is apathy for both physical and spiritual duties.
Sloth is "sluggishness of the mind which neglects to begin good... [it] is evil in its effect, if it so oppresses man as to draw him away entirely from good deeds." (2,35, ad 1) - St. Thomas Aquinas
What is it's corresponding virtue? Diligence.
"Diligence seems to be the same as solicitude*, because the more we love[diligimus] a thing the more solicitous are we about it. Hence diligence, no less than solicitude, is required for every virtue, in so far as due acts of reason are requisite for every virtue." (1,54, ad 1) - St. Thomas Aquinas
*Solicitude is an attitude expressing excessive attentiveness: to show great solicitude about his wife's health.
January is a great time to learn (and keep) the habit of diligence as every one seems to be focused on it to some level -- New Year's resolutions and all.
Since St.Thomas believes that it is easier to be attentive to the things we love, I am trying a new approach to tackling laziness this year. If say, I want to shed some pounds, instead of scheduling exercise times for the sake of exercising, I will instead find an activity or a goal that will require me to meet the desired level of activity. It will be a subplot to the story of my life.
Try turning your resolutions into stories too! How?
Take five and pray. Ask God to inspire you. Then write down the main goals you want to accomplish before 2014. Then rewrite the goals as individual events/stories:
1st draft: I will lose weight.
vs.
2nd draft: I will run in a marathon on (date) to raise money for (cause) that will benefit (person I know).
Because your goal is now a subplot in your life, it is easier to avoid the temptations of laziness, and it gives you a purpose beyond a mere item on an overwhelming list.
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