Mindful speech principles

[mac_stone]

I have a number of friends who work very hard to adhere to these guidelines, when choosing whether or not to say something:

Is it true?
Is it kind?
Is it necessary?

I've been giving this a good deal of thought, of late. It honestly seems to me a pretty good rule of thumb for moving through the world.
I certainly have a temper, I know. So like most humans, I struggle from moment-to-moment with what to say, what to let go, and when to walk away.

ETA Meanwhile, I spent the day doing hoof-trims on a bunch of horses, and I'm staggering tired. So if I'm slow to respond in the comments, please know it's probably just because I fell asleep in my chair. For the record - this is NOT a conversation about race. Attempts to tie this conversation to the GCADofDoom2009 will be summarily deleted.

Comments

[rhinemouse.livejournal.com]

I would tend to believe in (not necessarily live by!) those guidelines too, though I think the word "kind" is unfortunately vague--since it can be interpreted into either "I can't hurt their feelings, who cares about the truth?" or "It's always a kindness to give people the truth of my pure, unvarnished opinion!"

The questions I've been trying to ask myself the last few years are "What am I trying to accomplish by saying this?" and "Do I really want to do that?" (Funny how often the answer to the second one turns out to be "No, not really...")