I'm supposed to use this time before Yom Kippur to try to make things right with other people, so I can focus during Yom Kippur on trying to make things right with God. I feel utterly lost on how to do that this year, because the people with whom things are distinctly not right seem so intractably alien. Perhaps the work is supposed to be hard, but this year it seems absolutely hopeless.
I don't think I'm at odds with anyone who reads this blog, but if I am, I apologize. I don't want that.
I read an interesting theory today that the best way to convert an enemy into an ally is to somehow persuade them to do you a favor. Their cognitive dissonance (I don't like this person, but I helped this person) will likely be resolved by them convincing themselves that they actually do like you. It seems worth a try as a last resort in some cases, since I've tried everything else. It runs completely counter to my instincts, which are to try to be of service to others rather than ask others for help.
So a request to my readers: please help me out by leaving a comment here. Tell me something good you hope will happen in your life over the coming year, because I want to enter this coming year full of hope for my life and for yours.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Four hours left
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3 comments:
One Good Thing I am hoping for in the coming year is to see you often! A good year to you and yours.
I'm hoping that our respective youngest children will at some point meet and find each other interesting. Because that implies a lot of other good stuff. :^)
I have too many hopes and not enough sense that any one hope will ever happen, much less in this year. This makes me sad, rather than joyous, which is what I think you wanted. May I say just that I hope to have friends close and far who want me to have a good year?
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