We are up to our fourth and final misdeed related to speech. Lama Marut puts this very clearly.......... 

Don't engage in useless speech / Make your words meaningful and sincere. 
 
As I always say I try to remember to check in with my wise self before I speak for speech which is truthful, inclusive, kind and meaningful. I also try to be aware of my internal speech and check in with my wise self to replace any untrue critical, unkind thoughts with positive kind encouraging ones. As I always say, this is a work in progress.

Meaningless, idle or useless speech includes......

• Speech which is a meaningless discussion or debate with others about things you really don't understand that much about. This could include debating about politics or sport when not in a position to understand or know much about it. Certainly for me it would be meaningless for me to attempt to discuss AFL football or politics.  
• Speaking for the sake of speaking. Chatting about things that are not of meaningful or relevance to others. Like chatting on endlessly about food or any other interest or experience you may have had with someone who is not at all interested. This wastes the precious time of ourselves and others.
• Gossipy. This involves idle gossipy talk about others. It is often more common for us to gossip about other's problems, rather than talk about the good stuff that is happening. Talking about someone's good qualities and rejoicing in their good fortune is to be encouraged. It is important to be aware of the temptation to gossip, as it is destructive to our own ability to communicate and be heard and respected.
• Saying we will do something and not following through on doing it. Lama Marut uses the example of saying 'we must catch up soon' when we have no intention of doing so. By doing this we are hearing ourselves say something which is not in line with what we are thinking. We hear ourselves talking rubbish and then we come to think of ourselves as rubbish. 

The karmic (what goes around comes around) consequence of meaningless speech is that no one pays any attention to what we say. If we have engaged in meaningless speech, others will see our speech as meaningless. Because you have not valued your own speech in the past others will not value it either. 

Lama Marut tells us that there is an even worse consequence to meaningless speech. Because you have heard yourself talking rubbish (meaningless speech which is not respectful, or promises you have no intention of following through on) you will have the perception of yourself as having no value or worth in general. He tells us lack of confidence, depression and low self-esteem come from meaningless speech. 

On the positive side of things there are positive karmic consequence for making our words meaningful and sincere, and making our actions match our words by doing what we said we would. By hearing ourselves speak meaningfully we are creating the perception of ourselves as sincere, someone who says what they say they will and respectful. We will feel good about ourselves and others will respect, listen and value our speech contributions.  

With love, appreciation and very best well wishes to us all 
Maree xx
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​Having covered the misdeeds related to the body and the first misdeed related to speech, don’t lie, we are up to the second of the misdeeds related to speech. (number five in our list of ten).
 
Before we get onto discuss this, I wanted to share some questions I have found very useful to consider before I speak. Often our emotions can be strong and can lead us to express ourselves in unhelpful ways.  Remembering wise speech really helps with this.
To do this we can ask ourselves these important questions, before we speak our truth- 

1. Is it True? – or is it exaggerated (watch for you 'always' and 'never') or out of context?

2.  Is it Well intended/Kind? - What is my intention in saying this? Is it helpful and kind?

3.  Is it Necessary? Do I really need to say this?

4.  Is it timely? - We can also add timely - is this the right time to be discussing this?
 
As I also said I try to remember to check in with my wise self before I speak for speech which is truthful, inclusive, kind and meaningful. I also try to be aware of my internal speech and check in with my wise self to replace any untrue critical, unkind thoughts with positive kind encouraging ones. As I said, this is a work in progress.

So, Vishuddi, or our throat chakra relates to speech and the four misdeeds related to speech. The second of these four as Lama Marut puts it is........ 
 
Don’t use your words to drive a wedge between people – Speak in ways that bring others together.
 
This is known as divisive speech, when we say something about someone to someone else with the intention of dividing them. I can recall doing this as a teenager, when I had the misguided idea that turning someone against someone else would make me more popular!
 
Quite the reverse is true. The karmic correlation related to this divisive speech is that we lose friends easily. We also experience others as speaking badly of us. Another karmic correlation is that we may perceive we live in an environment where travel is difficult. Lama Marut explains that by tearing others apart through our words we are creating the causes for that to come back to us as experiencing difficult joining ourselves to our destination.
 
Instead of being divisive with our speech we can use our speech to bring others together. We can say nice things about others, especially when they are not around! We all have many opportunities to do this and it always feels good. Many years ago, I got the opportunity to do this when I introduced a new mother at my children’s primary school to other mothers. She still reminds me that it made her feel included and we are good friends to this day, some thirty years later.
It is not surprising that by being inclusive with our speech we generate loyal friends and more harmonious relationships in the future.

With love, appreciation and very best well wishes to us all 
Maree xx