“The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.”
Mark Twain
Sometimes a photograph only appears good when looked at from a distance. I’ve found this to be true of life, as well, because the world is full of contrasts – black & white, good & bad. Living in a small, rural community for 9 months now in southern France, I’ve learned people will know things about you before you even know who they are and if what they hear isn’t juicy enough to pass on, they’ll make something up. People are just curious by nature.
The phrase, ” to hear something through the grapevine”, can be traced to the Civil War when vine-like wires were strung from tree to tree carrying, often inaccurate, and confusing messages. Robin Dunlap, an anthropologist and evolutionary biologist at Oxford University says, “Preoccupation with the lives of others is a by-product of the psychology that helped our ancestors evolve by deducing who was friend and who was foe. We are hardwired to be fascinated by gossip.”
Gossip doesn’t just influence your opinions about someone, it actually changes the way you see them. If we let go of your judgements and are willing to not know, people will show us who they are. With just a subtle shift in energy we can be mindful instead of mindless.
Quantum physicists hypothesize – like attracts like – implying our universe is created by conscious thought. If our thoughts are dominated by negative emotions and drama, that is what we will bring into our lives. By overcoming animosity with love, disregard with honor, cruelty with kindness, indifference with compassion and meeting grimaces with smiles we can begin to create a new year, one word at a time…
As the Sufi poet, Hafiz said, “You carry all of the ingredients to turn your existence into joy. Mix them! Mix them!”
