YogaMum over at Yoga Gumbo went a week without criticizing anyone.  Pretty amazing huh?  I mean, not for her in particular, but that would be amazing for most warm blooded folks who live anywhere other but a cave in the woods.

It reminds me of my own personal challenge -  if I’m talking about someone, I try to say it as if they were there.  So maybe I’m at work and need to talk about a problem involving someone else - my challenge is – can I say it non-critically, as if they were standing there. 

This came up when I learned the hard way you can’t assume someone will not forward your email to the person you’ve been talking about.  When this happened, I hadn’t said anything *nasty*,  I just hadn’t put it in such a way that I was OK with them seeing.  I told it ”straight” so in other words, it wasn’t oozing with gentleness or understanding let alone compassion.  It just wasn’t meant for their eyes.  Boy, what a toe-curling experience.

So I’ve expanded that to conversations in person.  It’s a great practice.  It’s hard to remember and tough to do.  But it makes me feel like a better person.  It makes me feel like someone I’d like to work with.