The Buddha specifically instructed his followers to avoid bearing tales and indulging in idle gossip. As an awareness exercise, the pioneering insight meditation teacher Joseph Goldstein sometimes asks his students to refrain from saying anything about anyone who isn't present. No talking about people who annoy you as well as not talking about people who annoy you as well as not talking about people who enthrall you.
That means no conversations devoted to analyzing or dissecting anyone else's problems or behavior - good or bad - unless the person you are talking about is there to hear what you say. This is not an endlessly ongoing behavioral restriction, but a temporary practice, an experiential experiment.
Try it, and watch your reactions. When we stop talking about others, we discover how much time and energy we waste daily with conversations that not only serve no constructive purpose but also seduce and carry us away from the present moment.
Gossiping about others is another obvious way of feeding junk food to the ego. When we gossip, it's easy to feel part of the "in crowd"; for a moment we might feel superior. But telling takes or making unkind jokes only serves to objectify and distance others. The people or group about whom we are talking lose their humanity - just as we lose ours.
Impeccable speech asks us to utilize awareness to start unraveling the cocoon of ego. Resist the urge to talk about others and begin to live in the present moment, with whoever is with you and no one else.
This very moment is sufficient, perfect, and complete. Enjoy and appreciate what is before your very eyes, and all will be revealed - fresh and radiant as any dawn, as at the very dawn of creation.
Lovely Thoughts for Lovely People Just Like You
That means no conversations devoted to analyzing or dissecting anyone else's problems or behavior - good or bad - unless the person you are talking about is there to hear what you say. This is not an endlessly ongoing behavioral restriction, but a temporary practice, an experiential experiment.
Try it, and watch your reactions. When we stop talking about others, we discover how much time and energy we waste daily with conversations that not only serve no constructive purpose but also seduce and carry us away from the present moment.
Gossiping about others is another obvious way of feeding junk food to the ego. When we gossip, it's easy to feel part of the "in crowd"; for a moment we might feel superior. But telling takes or making unkind jokes only serves to objectify and distance others. The people or group about whom we are talking lose their humanity - just as we lose ours.
Impeccable speech asks us to utilize awareness to start unraveling the cocoon of ego. Resist the urge to talk about others and begin to live in the present moment, with whoever is with you and no one else.
This very moment is sufficient, perfect, and complete. Enjoy and appreciate what is before your very eyes, and all will be revealed - fresh and radiant as any dawn, as at the very dawn of creation.
Lovely Thoughts for Lovely People Just Like You
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