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June 10, 2020

“You can’t talk about someone unless they’re present.”

Joseph Goldstein has this wonderful rule of thumb about “wise speech”: “You can’t talk about someone unless they’re present.” Similar sayings include “The words that leave your mouth says more about you than the person you are putting down.” and “Talking badly about someone else while they aren’t there to defend themselves says more about you than the person you’re talking about.”

That’s a brilliant way to become more compassionate – and free yourself from the binds that come from gossip. Being successful in following this rule of thumb is not easy to do. For sure. But I’ll give it a go…