Dear all,
Earlier this week, my phone overheated.
A message appeared on the screen: “iPhone needs to cool down before you can use it.”
So I waited.
Ten minutes later, it worked again.
It struck me that sometimes our conversations are like that phone—too hot to handle. When emotions flare, communication shuts down.
It happens in our relationships.
It happens in our workplaces.
And it happens far too easily in social media.
The Psalmist wrote regarding God, “Do not reprove us in Your anger” (Psalm 6:1). My Bible professor paraphrased it this way: “Don’t go shopping when you’re hungry.”
In other words, when our actions come from heat instead of thought, we risk saying—or buying—the wrong thing.
Of course, there are times when we must speak up—when silence itself causes harm. But even then, it helps to pause, to breathe, to count to ten – to take a moment in time – before we do.
Maybe we all need a built-in warning light, reminding us: “Cool down before you speak.”
With love and shalom,
Rabbi Zachary R. Shapiro
