Sunday, April 26, 2009

Goop, Gwyneth & Frenemies

Gwyneth Paltrow does this blog newsletter called Goop and she recently wrote about bad news friends. Seeing as my latest book is about being a better friend (and learning when it's right to cut your losses with a bad one) I thought I should write about Apple's Mom's take on the topic. And this is why her blog is pretty interesting-- she asks a question, in this case "why do we feel pleasure when we talk badly about other people"-- to several different spiritual people. And then she posts their answers.

Why do you think you get pleasure out of making fun of someone else? And you know we all do to a certain extent. I can admit it. And taking this beyond the goop question, what is the motivation for talking trash about a friend? What is the payback? Do we feel better about ourselves when we put other people down? And not to sound like a weenie, but is that any way to feel good? Aren't there other, far better ways?

The answer of course is yes. Yes, there are.

But don't get me wrong, I have to work at it all a little harder than I should, sometimes.

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