לע"נ אסתר בת ר' שמואל
לזכות שמחה בן נעכא גיטל
The Knicks guard from the 70's Walt [Clyde] Frazier, was never ever was hit with a technical foul in his entire career. A Tzadik? A כובש את יצרו who fulfilled טוב מושל ברוחו מלוכד עיר? He explained that it cost 50 dollars and wasn't worth it for him!
This is a great example of using one middah [love of money] to control another middah [anger].
Another example: One loves to eat [תאוות אכילה] but also loves his money - so he holds back on going to that fancy restaurant or overbuying at the supermarket in order to preserve his money.
We all have the middah of בושה - embarrassment. That prevents us from doing things we shouldn't, which would bring us pleasure but might also cause us embarrassment. [Case in point - Ask the Nasi of Artzos Habris privately if he would have done all of the things he did in life had he known that everybody would find out...].
There are many many many examples of using middos [even seemingly negative ones] to fix other middos. You can think of more on your own!:-)
The gemara says in Succah that the lazy people are praiseworthy because on Succos they stay in the Succah and don't go anywhere [since they are lazy]. This is an example of using the middah of laziness to fulfill a mitzvah.
