The following talk was given at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California.

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One more reason to be critical of yourself.

Mindfulness is turning that around and using mindfulness as a way to start having a positive relationship with oneself

so that something different can happen than that couldn't happen if we're critical, angry, upset,

we're caught in greed and all kinds of things.

So the same thing in our external world, We're learning how to be mindful out loud.

One of the reasons why mindfulness of speaking is so useful is it's useful to understand yourself better.

It's a way of looking and understanding, tracking what you're saying and why you say it.

Many people speak without really much care to what they say.

There's a kind of a little quote that goes around sometimes that says that many people take more care in how they dress than what

they say. But what we say has a much bigger impact on our life and our communal life than how we

dress. And so to start seeing, what are we doing here when I speak, what motivates it?

Why am I saying what I'm about to say?

This creates a tremendous, useful window into your inner life.

Why am I saying this?

Really?

Is that the reason?

You might say, well, the person asked me a question, so I'm just going to, you know, I'm just answering the question. That's why.

But then if you look more deeply, well, I want the person to like me, I want the person to see

that I knowledgeable and I know how to, you know, and there's all these different

motivations that are operating at the same time. And so to stop and have the ability to take a

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