Right speech

Saturday night, after attending the San Diego Brewers Guild Festival, my boyfriend and I got into a row. A pretty good one. I’m not going to blame it all on the fact that we were diligent in drinking all 10 tasters provided with our entrance fee, some varieties of which had alcohol contents upwards of 10%, but it didn’t make the disagreement any more civil.

We all do it; we lose our temper and say words we really shouldn’t, and wouldn’t if we took some time out to think about what we’re doing. If we took time out to think about the potential lasting effect the words could have.

I really wasn’t planning on blogging about this today. It’s not something you really want to tell people about. “Oh yeah, me and my boyfriend got in a big fight and we both really behaved badly.” But when I was making my tea this morning, the tea bag quote was “By honoring your words, you are honored.”

It’s true isn’t it? Words are so powerful, and we don’t always honor them, or ourselves. “Right speech” is a tenant of Buddhism, it’s one of the Five Precepts for ethical conduct and one of the components of the Noble Eightfold Path. It’s a biggie, and something Buddhists practice, because let’s face it, it’s not easy, and it takes practice.

I’m not going to beat myself up about this weekends blow out. It happens. Instead, I’m going to take it as a reminder to watch my mouth, and to practice right speech. I’m going to remember that "wrong speech," if you will, leads to tension, agitation, remorse. And when I do find myself feeling the need to shout it out, I’m going to try to stick to the facts and keep it light.