Are you ever tempted to seek revenge? Yet you know that vengeance is mine, and I will repay. This implies that you shouldn’t seek revenge yourself. Do you take comfort in the thought that I have more powerful resources at my disposal for vengeance than you do, and can do a better job? But what if I do not deploy these to your satisfaction? What if I show mercy where you would not? Will you criticize me for doing an inadequate job? Perhaps you should use my performance to evaluate your own intentions. If I display a bias for mercy then shouldn’t you prefer it as well?

Have you ever gone fishing for compliments? Have you ever caught any? Everyone likes approval, but if you go looking for it you can put people in an awkward position and calls into question the sincerity of the compliments you get. This is a characteristic of an insecure person who can be controlled by those offering false flattery. Don’t give others undue influence over you by depending on their approval. You may not get as many compliments if you do not solicit them, but if your identity is secure then you don’t need as many, and those you receive spontaneously will be sincere.

Are you quick to form your first reaction to situations you encounter? Are your first reactions full of mercy, grace, and love, or they more judgmental? Your reactionary brain is eager to provide answers and make connections that are immediate and wrong. Have you found that it takes intentional effort to stay engaged and take a more gracious look, and think of more benign explanations for what you see? So if you stay engaged, you can come up with more than one explanation. Which one is correct? Do not assume that you need to resolve every issue.

Even for those who are already in prison, those in charge have the ability to impose more strict punishments. One of these is solitary confinement, keeping a prisoner isolated even from other prisoners, and this is considered a harsh penalty. This is a testimony of the power of my statement that it is not good for the man to be alone. It is better to be assigned any other prisoner as a cell mate than to be alone. Have you ever been alone even if it wasn’t externally imposed as a punishment? Have you observed others in isolation of their own making?