Tuesday, May 18, 2010

can you do it?

I've long believed that if you don't have anything nice to say, you might as well keep your mouth shut. While I must admit I haven't always been successful at this 'practice', I am now. Well, mostly. Sometimes I revert back to that nasty little girl who felt the need to protect herself. But not very often. Thank goodness! What's kinda funny about this is that I notice it immediately when other people do it. My little red flags go flyin' up and I can feel that cringing thing...

NOT a good feeling.

Lately I've also noticed just how much people do this. There are a few folks in particular who can't seem to EVER say anything nice about ANYBODY. It's as if the only way they can feel good about themselves is to put someone down. Even funnier (not 'ha-ha' funny...) is that more often than not the very things they're pointing out (about someone else) are the things they're most 'guilty' of.

Don't you find that odd?

Well...I suppose it really isn't that odd after all. It is precisely the kind of thing that people do when they're in denial of Self. Point a finger elsewhere...so you don't have to take responsibility for yourself. I get it. Don't much like it, but I get it.

The point is that more and more I find myself avoiding folks that do this sorta thing. The moment the ickiness begins to dribble out of their mouths, I hightail it outta there. I don't even have a desire to debate or call them on their crap. I just want to be as far away as possible, so as not to get any "on me". Know what I mean? So I will often be quite 'rude' about my departure. No words, no explanations, no excuses. I just walk away. Sometimes they'll get all huffy about it. Other times they don't even notice. It's as if they're not really talking TO anyone...just spewing ugly words to whomever might be willing to listen (and participate! Egad!) So sad.

Now then...the whole reason for putting this out there is this:

If you don't have anything nice to say, just keep your mouth shut. You'll soon discover that the less you spout off icky stuff the less icky you'll feel...all the way around. Think I'm kidding? Nope. Not kidding.

Give it a try. See if you can go ONE WHOLE DAY without criticizing anyone or anything. ONE DAY. No unkind words or pointing of fingers.

Just one day.

Lemme know how that goes.

3 comments:

AkasaWolfSong said...

I hear ya Camille!

I've been guilty of it as we all have at one point or another in life but I like you am getting better too. None of us like to be in close proximity to ill energy and I have really eliminated all those in my reality who thrived on drama be it their own or someone else's. I feel much better for it and have become a more authentic person in the process.


I will watch my words and actions today and see how I do! :)

You Go Woman!

Bodaciousboomer said...

What a great idea! I'm going to give it a try and see how I do. I think I'd probably do a lot better though if I didn't watch the news or read CNN.com though.

Sally Franz said...

Being a consummate curmudgeon this is quite a challenge. How about if we make a distinction between blatant griping vs. critiquing with sarcasm. My humor is designed to uphold justice, so I see it as the most positive energy there is on the planet because it's all about improving life for me.

Sally Franz, author
"Scrambled Leggs...A Snarky Tale of Hospital Hooey"