| A client asked me recently "What would you have left | | | | all your adult life that create a normal life that's, at best, |
| to talk about if you took gossip out of the | | | | not too bad. |
| conversation?" A very good question, because most | | | | Cut out negative gossip. Stop diverting your energy |
| of us spend a large part of our time gossiping. It might | | | | away from creating the effortless happiness and |
| be about little "harmless" things, like the neighbours' | | | | success that you can have you only directed your |
| behaviour, how someone down the road was caught | | | | energy into that instead. Stop wasting your time |
| with someone else's wife, how the guy next door was | | | | delighting in bad news - news that only confirms that |
| caught drink-driving. Or how one of our children's | | | | it's alright to be not too bad. Stop reading the crap in |
| friends got drunk (and sick on the school bus). Most of | | | | newspapers. Don't get me wrong, we all have to keep |
| us, to a greater or lesser extent, delight in gossip - | | | | up with what's happening in the world, but we don't |
| particularly if it involves someone else falling on their | | | | have to wallow in the "news" about rape, assault, |
| face. | | | | murder and so-called normal people generally behaving |
| Of course, if you stop to think about it for a moment, | | | | badly. Stop channel-hopping - immersing yourself in the |
| none of this stuff is harmless. In fact, it's actually | | | | "reality TV" that brings road accidents, car chases, and |
| harmful. First of all, it directs our energy towards the | | | | real crime to our screens. That's not reality, it's just |
| negative. But, more importantly, it reduces the amount | | | | further evidence of normal people gone made and |
| of energy we have available to do what we're | | | | further comfort for you in living a not-too-bad life. Real |
| supposed to be doing - right here, right now. | | | | reality is to be found in the wonder of this here and |
| We're all familiar with the saying that what goes | | | | now. That's simply more examples of "normal" |
| around comes around - step onto that particular | | | | people's inappropriate behaviour and it's certainly not |
| "sorry-go-round" at your peril! We're all familiar with the | | | | entertainment. |
| concept that you reap what you sow - same thing. | | | | Control yourself, you're a responsible adult, aren't you? |
| These are old adages proved correct by modern | | | | Take responsibility for the only thing in this life for which |
| science - quantum physics. You get out what you put | | | | you can by wholly and absolutely responsible, your |
| in. Invest your energy in nonsense - and your life will be | | | | own state of mind and where you direct your |
| little more than a nonsense itself. Take delight in other's | | | | attention. Why not start talking about good things, |
| misfortune and you're setting yourself up for | | | | talking about how good people are, swapping nice |
| misfortune yourself. Buddhists might call it the wheel of | | | | stories instead of competing with each other at the |
| karma - a physicist might simply describe it as energy | | | | coffee break or water cooler for who can tell the |
| responding to energy. | | | | most depressing story - about someone being |
| And, in fact, that's the most important aspect of just | | | | mugged, cars being stolen, people with serious illness. |
| how negatively negative gossip can affect the | | | | Seriously, all you have to do is earwig the |
| gossiper. If you're "investing" your energy in talking crap, | | | | conversations that are going on around you all the time |
| you have immediately reduced the time and energy | | | | (some of which you get involved in) to realise what's |
| available to you to do the really important things that | | | | going on. Negative gossip is sapping your energy, |
| you have to do today. You don't need to be a | | | | diverting your towards the negative. The result - your |
| mathematician to calculate that time wasted on crap | | | | negative energy is actively contributing to a negative |
| reduces the amount of time for the things you have to | | | | world - to stress, worry, anxiety, violence and war. |
| do. And, yet, many people complain that they simply | | | | Every drop of "negative" adds to the sea of negativity. |
| don't have enough hours in the day to do all the things | | | | Stop it. Grow up. Focus on the good in all our lives. Not |
| on their "To Do" list! | | | | only will you feel better - not only will a few people |
| If you're investing your energy in the negative you're | | | | around you feel better for it too - you'll be more |
| perpetuating a well-proven fact that the normal mind | | | | upbeat and focused to wholeheartedly do what really |
| tends towards negativity. This is seriously bad for you | | | | needs to be done today. But, better than that and |
| because it is your own state of mind that creates your | | | | more importantly, you'll set yourself off on the |
| life. Energy in: energy out - by pouring your energy into | | | | merry-go-round of karma - by putting positive in, you'll |
| the negative you're not just wasting your time, diverting | | | | get positive out. Now, that makes more sense, doesn't |
| yourself from the important stuff of the day, you're | | | | it? |
| actively watering the seeds that you've been sowing | | | | |
