I recently read 'the Happiness Project' by Gretchen Rubin, this book follows Gretchen on her one year mission to become happier. It was a pretty good read and I would certainly recommend it if you're looking for some light hearted reading. One part of the book really tweaked my interest, the part on gossip.
Gossip is something that everybody struggles with, certainly every girl. It just seems to be in our nature to talk about others and things we have heard about them and to share our opinions on things. And as innocent and fun as gossip may seem, we still shouldn't do it.
In 'the Happiness Project' it talks about a phenomenon called "spontaneous trait transference", what that means is that people unintentionally transfer to me the traits I ascribe to others. So basically if I say to someone that someone else is rude, they subconsciously associate that quality with me. Not good, right? It puts a whole new meaning to "judge not lest ye be judged".
Luckily, spontaneous trait transference also works with positive qualities. Which means that if I say that someone is very kind, that trait is then associated with me. So the next time you are about to gossip about someone, think twice and maybe try to find some kinder words to say instead. And if you have nothing nice to say, it's probably better to say nothing at all.
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