Breaking the Judgment Habit

When I embrace the practice of unconditional love — seldom an easy exercise, I might add — I am able to see how similar I am to those around me, and my habit of judgment lessens.  Please note the word “habit.”  Judgment does become a habit, and so can unconditional love, though it is more difficult to perfect.  A tool that has worked for me (when I remember to use it) is to express a statement of unconditional love out loud every time a judgmental thought crosses my mind.  Try it next time you find yourself gripped by judgment.  As soon as you catch it, state your unconditional love.  It works….

It’s easy to tell ourselves that we are not judging, we are merely observing.  But most often this is just a lie.  Our minds are quick to judge, and just as with any other thought, that which we focus on becomes magnified.  When it’s the failings of others or missed opportunities or cynicism or mean-spiritedness that we choose to focus on, these are the attitudes that are magnified, thus injuring all the people on our path and on their paths too.

Of course the reverse is likewise true.  If we choose to see the good in others, which is abundantly there, we will help to increase it in them, in ourselves, and in our communities as well, widening the circle of good with every glimpse.  The choice to see the good is always available to us.  It’s a mindset we can practice to the benefit of all….

As long as we sit in judgment of someone, we cannot experience peace.  With each judgment we make, we hurt all our relationships.

— Karen Casey, Change Your Mind and Your Life Will Follow, p. 55-58

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