Okay, so I'll go ahead and eat a few more of those kettle-cooked potato chips dipped in sour cream...and we'll just kind of avoid that last part...
"Eeeeew! Ouch, Pen! Honey, do we REALLY have to go there? You're going to be the death of me. I've worked so damned hard and long to make you appear to be this PERFECT HUMAN SPECIMEN, who has all the right answers in every situation, who acts and reacts in all the right ways, Ms. "Embodied Self-Master"--and here you go, outing us, sharing one of our most awful secrets about yourself!"
The above little drama-queen moment comes to you compliments of my cringing-in-shame ego, the old all-alone-feeling, Little Insignificant Human.
The above little drama-queen moment comes to you compliments of my cringing-in-shame ego, the old all-alone-feeling, Little Insignificant Human.
I reply, "Hang in there, kid. Don't we both know by now that the best way to overcome a fear is to walk through it with honesty? And it's tough going, trying to stay on that wobbly pedestal, isn't it? So, let's dust off the musties and bring it out here into the Light. It stinks to high heaven in here. Don't worry, honey--we're all going to be okay...and I'm taking a huge pressure off your shoulders with this."
Yes, my friends, I have gossiped--way more than I'd like to admit.
Yes, my friends, I have gossiped--way more than I'd like to admit.
One of the latest favorite approaches to try changing bad human behavior is to teach that there are absolute right choices, and there are absolute wrong choices--and you stand on a pedestal behind a podium (or share a rant on facebook), and you point your finger at others and chew them out for doing something you would surely never do. Or maybe you did do it, and regret it, and are trying to "help" others avoid the same "errors" in judgment. Whatever the justification, it's all just an attempt to manipulate those outside of you, in hopes of feeling more safe and secure in a world you really can't control.
I have certainly done my fair share of self-righteous ranting and raving about "those other people's" gossiping transgressions.
But does putting someone on the defensive--shaming them--about their behavior actually stop the behavior? Does accusing someone of being a gossip cause them to stop gossiping? It doesn't work with me, no matter how ashamed I feel, and I doubt it works with anyone else.
You see--we all make choices that we regret at times, and we wish for a do-over--but if we don't encourage independent choice-making and allow each person the chance to make choices of all kinds, we end up with a society of whiny slave robots. I got to the point of trying to be so perfect and mild and wise--the way I mentally thought a self-master should be, that suddenly I was paralyzed when it came to making even the simplest choices. I lost confidence in myself, and I found myself drowning in the victimhood act that I was so tired of playing in the first place.
I was so afraid of making a wrong choice, that, for years, I didn't paint my rooms anything but white, for fear of wasting money on paint and wasting my time, in labor. Finally, I allowed myself to choose two paint colors--an eye-blinding yellow and a really boring beige--before settling on a coneflower yellow. I painted that room over completely three times (two coats each time) within a year. Sounds crazy, doesn't it? All that worry about a choice in paint. Ha!
One "bad" choice is not the end-all of everything--it doesn't mean a person is now committed to that bad path for life. We need to make an allowance for self-discovery and the so-called "mistakes," so we learn we can KEEP CHOOSING in order to not get stuck in an act we don't enjoy. This is a SAFE and SACRED PLAYGROUND ILLUSION, after all.
Maybe in place of the finger-pointing shame, we should instead explore death and abundance and those areas that keep humans afraid of making choices for fear of harming anything or anyone unintentionally.
I have my own personal set of rules of behavior that I try to adhere to as much as possible, and my personal definition of gossiping is: any time I catch myself energetically feeding off discussing any interpersonal relationship where I am not a party in the story.
The family unit is one of the longest established belief systems, and each family has a moral code its members try to follow. My own family is no exception. My grandmother's advice when she sent Mom off to school in town was, "Don't be a gossip." She was the rock of her family, and she died six weeks after my 19-year-old mom's wedding, so that piece of insight has been one of the stoniest parts in our family's unwritten code of honor. It's not that we didn't gossip--we're all perfectly imperfect humans, after all--but we were aware of its power to really hurt someone, so we made it a point to try not to engage in it so much.
For me, struggling to not be a gossip has been as frustrating as struggling to not be a victim. No matter how much I try to avoid the energy-feeding involved in both, I still find myself playing the roles--and they are going to continue irritatingly popping up all around and within me, until I bring the subject out into the open, take a more objective look, and make my peace with being imperfect. Until I let go of taking myself so seriously and quit monitoring the "be-jesus" out of myself--and finally reach that feeling of actual gratitude for the wisdom gained from all that experience and exploration.
To add insult to injury, my pointing finger and my wrist is sprained, nearly arthritic with overuse. Just kidding.
So, let's step out of those guilty feelings that I've admitted to feeling--that, frankly, haven't helped me change anything--and take a seat in the audience chair:
Gossip is hurtful when it causes anyone longer-lasting misery and more suffering than needed. There is a "wicked delight" (energy feeding) at telling others about the downfall of someone you don't much like--or that you envy. That elated-feeling, pedestal-superiority is hard to let go of when you feel so insecure about yourself, and basically bored with your own life.
Is there a difference between news-reporting and gossip? There is so much "news" shared that probably shouldn't be reported in the first place. We don't know people--anyone--well enough to always understand why we do the horrendous things we Unawakened Little Humans do to one another. So is it in our best interests to keep the worst things humans can do to one another at the forefront of mass consciousness by replaying the story out on the nightly news? Lately, I've discovered I would rather pick defaulting to closed-mouth compassion over lip-flapping judgment every time.
Have you noticed that while participating in a gossip session, you find yourself energetically commiserating with the other gossips? It feels like "us" against "them." I notice this can happen so easily with my husband and me--it's us against the world. Ha! Or women talking about "the way men are," and guys talking about "the way women are." It's probably just an unconscious attempt to combat that I'm-insignificant feeling by trying to convince ourselves we belong. Sometimes we desire so much to connect with others that we get carried away and say too much, when it's probably best to let the silence be.
Still, regardless of why we do it, when you leave any gossip scene, you're pretty certain you're the next-in-line gossip victim. And there's no way you can control any of that.
Lately, when someone shares some news item or gossip, I find myself desiring to not have heard it in the first place. I ask myself, "Is that little tidbit of information something I REALLY need to know, and do I want to share it and make it a part of my own reality illusion? Or do I choose to honor the agreement between the characters in that story by letting it slip through and out of my consciousness? Lately, I find I'm more often CHOOSING to keep my lips shut, to NOT perpetuate the story. And I remind myself that nobody is really doing anything wrong on this safe and sacred playground--they're play-acting together, by agreement, at a soul level that I can't always see.
The grace-filled beauty of self-mastery is you know that you're going to behave like an imperfect human at times--and that it's okay. You know why? Because you know it's all just an illusion. And because the more you unconditionally accept yourself, and appreciate the gift of the moment of a human imperfection, the more you'll be that way with everyone outside of yourself. You breathe easier, your personal radiation smooths out and brightens up, and your world changes to match. The energy-feeding trauma-dramas--and the tendencies to gossip about them--dissipate.
There is a story in the New Testament of a man who accused his wife of adultery. He and his self-righteous friends brought her before Jesus and asked him what he would do with her, "outright sinner that she was, caught in the act." The story was even a bit more juicy, because the supposedly jilted husband may have, in fact, framed his wife in order to make himself appear innocent in his own sleaziness. That time, Jesus didn't point a finger at the wife or the husband or anyone who was a part of the spectacle. His answer was, "Let he who is without sin be the first to cast a stone."...And everyone walked away.
Jesus had the opportunity to draw out the story by listening to all the "he-saids/she saids"--but no matter how much people wrestled over who was in the right and who was wrong, passing any kind of judgment in the matter was a silly no-win situation. All of this sounds similar to the O.J. Simpson trial, those over-acted, chair-throwing Jerry Springer episodes, and reality--REALLY???--TV shows. It would have just created an even more massive suck-fest, sensational story.
Instead, he directed everyone's attention inward--to themselves. End of story. No one was chewed out, shamed, and put on the defensive for being a gossip, or for any other bad behavior.
So, if it helps, put the pointy finger to rest (it just eventually points right back at us anyway)--and, instead, step back from the story. Observe yourself, and check into how you feel inside (CLOSING YOUR EYES, of course).
Before you open your mouth to spread the news, take a moment to consider the consequences of perpetuating it.
Is that the story you want in your world--in your personal reality illusion?
Does the way you share it uplift and celebrate humanity?
In the darker, evil stories, does your pity or self-righteous outrage for the beings involved change things for the better--or does it just spread fear and misery and just add to the steaming pile of "everything that's wrong in this world"?
What do YOU CHOOSE for YOUR WORLD?
The growth in my self-awareness has replaced a great deal of the self-monitoring and my trying to control those slippery-snake aspects of myself that I don't like. I'm beginning to see potential choices that I didn't see before because I was too busy trying to handle myself correctly. I've noticed I've gotten much quieter these days about some things...and I like that.
I have certainly done my fair share of self-righteous ranting and raving about "those other people's" gossiping transgressions.
But does putting someone on the defensive--shaming them--about their behavior actually stop the behavior? Does accusing someone of being a gossip cause them to stop gossiping? It doesn't work with me, no matter how ashamed I feel, and I doubt it works with anyone else.
You see--we all make choices that we regret at times, and we wish for a do-over--but if we don't encourage independent choice-making and allow each person the chance to make choices of all kinds, we end up with a society of whiny slave robots. I got to the point of trying to be so perfect and mild and wise--the way I mentally thought a self-master should be, that suddenly I was paralyzed when it came to making even the simplest choices. I lost confidence in myself, and I found myself drowning in the victimhood act that I was so tired of playing in the first place.
I was so afraid of making a wrong choice, that, for years, I didn't paint my rooms anything but white, for fear of wasting money on paint and wasting my time, in labor. Finally, I allowed myself to choose two paint colors--an eye-blinding yellow and a really boring beige--before settling on a coneflower yellow. I painted that room over completely three times (two coats each time) within a year. Sounds crazy, doesn't it? All that worry about a choice in paint. Ha!
One "bad" choice is not the end-all of everything--it doesn't mean a person is now committed to that bad path for life. We need to make an allowance for self-discovery and the so-called "mistakes," so we learn we can KEEP CHOOSING in order to not get stuck in an act we don't enjoy. This is a SAFE and SACRED PLAYGROUND ILLUSION, after all.
Maybe in place of the finger-pointing shame, we should instead explore death and abundance and those areas that keep humans afraid of making choices for fear of harming anything or anyone unintentionally.
I have my own personal set of rules of behavior that I try to adhere to as much as possible, and my personal definition of gossiping is: any time I catch myself energetically feeding off discussing any interpersonal relationship where I am not a party in the story.
The family unit is one of the longest established belief systems, and each family has a moral code its members try to follow. My own family is no exception. My grandmother's advice when she sent Mom off to school in town was, "Don't be a gossip." She was the rock of her family, and she died six weeks after my 19-year-old mom's wedding, so that piece of insight has been one of the stoniest parts in our family's unwritten code of honor. It's not that we didn't gossip--we're all perfectly imperfect humans, after all--but we were aware of its power to really hurt someone, so we made it a point to try not to engage in it so much.
For me, struggling to not be a gossip has been as frustrating as struggling to not be a victim. No matter how much I try to avoid the energy-feeding involved in both, I still find myself playing the roles--and they are going to continue irritatingly popping up all around and within me, until I bring the subject out into the open, take a more objective look, and make my peace with being imperfect. Until I let go of taking myself so seriously and quit monitoring the "be-jesus" out of myself--and finally reach that feeling of actual gratitude for the wisdom gained from all that experience and exploration.
To add insult to injury, my pointing finger and my wrist is sprained, nearly arthritic with overuse. Just kidding.
So, let's step out of those guilty feelings that I've admitted to feeling--that, frankly, haven't helped me change anything--and take a seat in the audience chair:
Gossip is hurtful when it causes anyone longer-lasting misery and more suffering than needed. There is a "wicked delight" (energy feeding) at telling others about the downfall of someone you don't much like--or that you envy. That elated-feeling, pedestal-superiority is hard to let go of when you feel so insecure about yourself, and basically bored with your own life.
Is there a difference between news-reporting and gossip? There is so much "news" shared that probably shouldn't be reported in the first place. We don't know people--anyone--well enough to always understand why we do the horrendous things we Unawakened Little Humans do to one another. So is it in our best interests to keep the worst things humans can do to one another at the forefront of mass consciousness by replaying the story out on the nightly news? Lately, I've discovered I would rather pick defaulting to closed-mouth compassion over lip-flapping judgment every time.
Have you noticed that while participating in a gossip session, you find yourself energetically commiserating with the other gossips? It feels like "us" against "them." I notice this can happen so easily with my husband and me--it's us against the world. Ha! Or women talking about "the way men are," and guys talking about "the way women are." It's probably just an unconscious attempt to combat that I'm-insignificant feeling by trying to convince ourselves we belong. Sometimes we desire so much to connect with others that we get carried away and say too much, when it's probably best to let the silence be.
Still, regardless of why we do it, when you leave any gossip scene, you're pretty certain you're the next-in-line gossip victim. And there's no way you can control any of that.
Lately, when someone shares some news item or gossip, I find myself desiring to not have heard it in the first place. I ask myself, "Is that little tidbit of information something I REALLY need to know, and do I want to share it and make it a part of my own reality illusion? Or do I choose to honor the agreement between the characters in that story by letting it slip through and out of my consciousness? Lately, I find I'm more often CHOOSING to keep my lips shut, to NOT perpetuate the story. And I remind myself that nobody is really doing anything wrong on this safe and sacred playground--they're play-acting together, by agreement, at a soul level that I can't always see.
The grace-filled beauty of self-mastery is you know that you're going to behave like an imperfect human at times--and that it's okay. You know why? Because you know it's all just an illusion. And because the more you unconditionally accept yourself, and appreciate the gift of the moment of a human imperfection, the more you'll be that way with everyone outside of yourself. You breathe easier, your personal radiation smooths out and brightens up, and your world changes to match. The energy-feeding trauma-dramas--and the tendencies to gossip about them--dissipate.
There is a story in the New Testament of a man who accused his wife of adultery. He and his self-righteous friends brought her before Jesus and asked him what he would do with her, "outright sinner that she was, caught in the act." The story was even a bit more juicy, because the supposedly jilted husband may have, in fact, framed his wife in order to make himself appear innocent in his own sleaziness. That time, Jesus didn't point a finger at the wife or the husband or anyone who was a part of the spectacle. His answer was, "Let he who is without sin be the first to cast a stone."...And everyone walked away.
Jesus had the opportunity to draw out the story by listening to all the "he-saids/she saids"--but no matter how much people wrestled over who was in the right and who was wrong, passing any kind of judgment in the matter was a silly no-win situation. All of this sounds similar to the O.J. Simpson trial, those over-acted, chair-throwing Jerry Springer episodes, and reality--REALLY???--TV shows. It would have just created an even more massive suck-fest, sensational story.
Instead, he directed everyone's attention inward--to themselves. End of story. No one was chewed out, shamed, and put on the defensive for being a gossip, or for any other bad behavior.
So, if it helps, put the pointy finger to rest (it just eventually points right back at us anyway)--and, instead, step back from the story. Observe yourself, and check into how you feel inside (CLOSING YOUR EYES, of course).
Before you open your mouth to spread the news, take a moment to consider the consequences of perpetuating it.
Is that the story you want in your world--in your personal reality illusion?
Does the way you share it uplift and celebrate humanity?
In the darker, evil stories, does your pity or self-righteous outrage for the beings involved change things for the better--or does it just spread fear and misery and just add to the steaming pile of "everything that's wrong in this world"?
What do YOU CHOOSE for YOUR WORLD?
The growth in my self-awareness has replaced a great deal of the self-monitoring and my trying to control those slippery-snake aspects of myself that I don't like. I'm beginning to see potential choices that I didn't see before because I was too busy trying to handle myself correctly. I've noticed I've gotten much quieter these days about some things...and I like that.
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