In the church and for people of faith (not than I am religious) to bear false witness, i.e. to cast aspertions on someones character is a cardinal sin and yet we all are guilty and it happens all the time.
Venus Cow says, "If someone you know is always gossiping to you about others, you can bet he or she will be gossiping to others about you."
"Cut it out; that wagging tongue."
Oscar Wilde once said there is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about and of course this is very true if what people are saying about you is the truth. Gossiping about others based on hearsay causes war, pain, misery and negative energy.
It is human nature to entertain ourselves by gossiping about others because it stops us having to reflect on our own behaviour. Big business exploits this weakness in us, we love to hate celebrity pundits with controversial opinions like news anchors Piers Morgan or Bill O'Reilly, and the ladies are well represented too the likes of Bethanny Frankel, Omarosa Newman, Katie Hopkins paid the big bucks to get us all riled up. We are surrounded by gossip in the media, magazines, online and TV, who all thrive on getting us talking about the details of any and every celebrity’s dirty laundry. It's how they operate, once the toothpaste is out of the tube it's not going back in, sometimes destroying people and their reputation in the process. There are always two sides to eavrey story, opinion lives on each side, the truth is always somewhere in the middle. Why I now try to reserve my opinion unless asked directly for it.
"Don’t spread dirt, spread some joy instead."
"If you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all."
In many cases in schools across the land bullying depends on gossip, threatening the poor victim into complete social isolation. Spreading gossip is the biggest cause of misery for young people at school and this isolation is achieved by refusing to have anything to do with the victim because of race, religion, sexual bias etc. Bullies and gossips are just cowards in disguise, so next time you find yourself gossiping about your neighbour, take a look at your own life instead and see what you can do to make changes.
Listen out and when you hear someone say something negative or inflammatory, "I heard he's drinking again" "It's because she takes coke" "Did you know they're lesbians" question or challenge the person about the veracity of what they are saying. They'll be so shocked they wont do it again. And remember people repeat so watch yourself.
We must learn to understand just how cruel and damaging gossiping can be to others. Always remember the look on someone’s face when they discover what people were saying behind their back, it’s horrible. Slowing down your reactions and reflecting more before you speak will help prevent careless talk, giving you time to keep your mouth shut.
It's more powerful to write things down than just to think or say something. If you keep a journal make a list of all the people you need to stop gossiping about and why. Everyone is unique and just because you don’t agree with their choices, lifestyle, skin color, sexual preference, does not give you the right to air an opinion particularly behind someone's back. If you have something to say have the courage to say it to the person's face or better yet get a life and stop talking about others altogether.
"A useful skill to master in this lifetime, learn to listen more and talk less"
Photo by: Caroline Hernandez