I understand gossip hurts others but tell me, how does gossip hurt us?

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the feedback and dialogue that ensues from your emails. And to answer the question…

Aside from the obvious hurtful nature of gossip, that which harms the person(s) being gossiped about, we cause irreversible harm to ourselves, in two ways:

When we do gossip about another, all of the spiritual Light ~ the energy that we derive from our kind actions, positive influence, generosity, connecting to the Creator and so on ~ is transferred immediately to the person we are speaking about.

In other words, we can talk about whomever we want, but the price we pay is the returns for our diligent spiritual work. Almost like a bonus to the person being spoken about. Ironic, isn’t it?

So, if you find yourself working hard on a spiritual level, but feeling short-changed on the results, you might want to check your gossip meter. I’m not saying that’s the only explanation for not feeling invigorated on this path, but it’s a serious factor.

The second is a more subtle danger. If you’re gossiping about another person, you’re judging them. And all of the judgment we put out there comes back to us. There’s no way around that. No judgment can come to us that we didn’t first give out ourselves.

So likewise, if you find yourself feeling unnecessarily judged, ask yourself who and how much you’ve been judging. The bottom line is, we tend to underestimate the power of our words. What we put out there comes back to us, and not with a return address.

So keep your tongue in check. Think twice before you speak.

“If only we were as careful about what comes out of our mouths as we are about what goes in.”

All the best,

Yehuda