When is keeping a dark secret from our past helpful and when harmful
It takes courage to introspect: Are we keeping a secret to protect our service or to protect our image? We all have secrets—skeletons in the [...]
Three questions to moderate our speech: source, intent, and mode
The power of speaking is an integral part of our lives. To use this power constructively and not destructively, we can ask ourselves three questions [...]
What free speech means and what it does not mean
Free speech is not simply speaking whatever we want to speak. It is carefully speaking what needs to be spoken for a constructive effect. We [...]
Amid a fiasco, when is the passive voice appropriate?
Is the passive voice used to avoid blaming or evade taking responsibility? In situations where something unfortunate has occurred, people often use the passive voice. [...]
How to ensure that the right answer has the right effect
How to ensure that the right answer has the right effect Just because we know the right answers doesn't mean we know the right time [...]
How our speech can enhance our relationships?
How our speech can enhance our relationships? Balancing sensitivity in speech The oversensitive consider even a mild observation to be a condemnation, while the insensitive [...]
How Our Words Can Make Us Strangers To Others And Even To Ourselves
How Our Words Can Make Us Strangers To Others And Even To Ourselves - If we let our yes become no and our no become [...]
Choose silence in these 3 situations
Three situations when silence is our best friend, summarized by the acronym NOT: First is N when we have a negative opinion or attitude or [...]
Surprise gifts: Delighted or disoriented?
Surprise gifts: Delighted or disoriented? When a surprise is truly surprising, appreciate the fact that it is surprising, not the fact that it is disorienting. [...]
Does urgency steal our manners?
Just because we do not have a minute to lose does not mean that we have to lose our manners; we can be both polite [...]
Verbal restraint and verbal candour
If we sweep too many things under the rug, then what we end up with is not a rug but a lumpy path that only [...]
Playing it safe with silence
Speaking what everyone is thinking but no one is speaking doesn't always make us fearless. It can make us headless and mannerless. When something inappropriate [...]
Why people think we are disrespectful
Just because something is obvious to us doesn't mean that it has to be obvious to everyone else. To use the word 'obviously' can come [...]
See beyond harsh language
Just because we don't endorse someone's language doesn't mean that we can't empathize with their feelings. Sometimes some people express their concerns in language that [...]
Why words hurt
What some people consider friendly banter, others consider to be beastly torture. In this world, different people perceive things differently. And sometimes someone who might [...]
Two kinds of extremism
Two kinds of extremism: Extremism can be in thought and in action. Extremism in thought is often called exclusivism, where people believe, for example, if [...]
Courage in the absence of danger?
We all sometimes dream of situations in which we act bravely and offer great help, even life-saving help, to someone in need. Whenever we think [...]
Fight today’s battles not yesterday’s battles
Life in this world is characterized by constant change. Functioning effectively in such a world, therefore, demands a dynamic approach to life. The need for [...]
The difference between cleverness and wisdom
When we interact with others, we often like to be perceived as lively and witty. Accordingly, we may aspire to come up with clever comments [...]
Taking responsibility for the effects of our speech
When a doctor gives a medicine to a patient, the doctor's intent may be good: to help the patient heal. Though the doctor may carefully [...]
Why sensitivity in speech is especially needed in the internet age
The Bhagavad-gita (17.15) urges us to speak the truth sensitively — that is, in a manner which is non-agitating at the very least and pleasing [...]