Gossip. Who can live without it?
It provides 'flavor' to our routine gray life. But Lori Palatnik and Bob Burg published (Simcha Press, Florida (800) 851-9100) a book entitled Gossip - Ten Pathways to Eliminate It From Your Life and Transform Your Soul. The book combines the substance of old testament references with conversational text, often anecdotal in tone, and helpful to anyone looking to clean up their verbal exchanges and eventually train their minds to avoid the temptation of gossip. The book also helps readers recognize that the implications of gossip are more serious than they might have thought.
Here's a snippet from the section called "Why Do We Gossip?" The reason people speak destructively constitutes a long list, but clearly these reasons derive from a very bad place, a place of insecurity, self-absorption, pettiness and further feelings of inadequacy.
A psychologist I know once pointed out that speaking badly about people is a form of projection. What you don't like about yourself, you tent to point out in others. Be aware of this, and soon what you personally need to work on will become clear.
In ending this section, I leave you with a quote from a noted scholar, Mrs. Tzipporah Heller, who says this: "There is no cheaper high for self-importance addicts than trivializing and belittling others. It gives such people the feeling of superiority without any need to actually be superior."
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