About positive and negative traits

["orpheukarnayna" <danponciano@...>]

Hello everybody. :)

I´ve beeen reading the messages for a while, but it´s the first
time 
I write in this forum. (I´m very shy about writting in the
Internet).

I´ve been having difficulties with the first astral exercise. The 
problem is that I can´t avoid the thought that some traits of 
personality could be considered positive or negative in different 
cultural enviroments, or in different situations. While there are 
some emotions that are universally considered good or bad ones (for 
example, "compassion" or "envy"), other traits may not be so easily 
classified. 

Take "anger", for example. It´s certainly a very destructive
emotion 
that we humans from times to times express, generally bringing 
suffering to lots of people, including ourselves. However, it can 
possibly save your life if you are in danger and need to defend 
yourself.

I´m a psychotherapist, and in my job I´ve seen many people that
got 
emotionally (and sometimes physically) ill because they couldn´t 
express certain emotions that one could presume as negative ones 
(e.g., someone who avoids the sadness that follows the death of a 
beloved relative). 


I´m not sure if I am being clear about what I try to say. Writting 
in english is difficult to me, as I´m a portuguese speaker. What
I´m 
trying to share with you all is my doubt about how can I correctly 
define some personality trait as negative or positive ones. I´ve 
tried to meditate about that subject, but seems to me that i´m 
walking in circles. 

I´d appreciate any help about that.

Best wishes to all,
Dan