Being Mindful involves waking up your consciousness so that you're fully aware of every present moment, aware of how you're feeling and what exactly is happening around you. If you're not awake to those moments in your life, whole days or even a whole life can go by unnoticed. Part of this awakening process is to let go of any judgement you may have towards others, as a judgemental mind hinders your success.
Judging people reaps no reward, and only perpetuates negativity within your mind. Gossiping about people, deciding what they are doing to be right or wrong will only affect the friends you make and the life you lead. People are scared to act themselves in fear of a society where they will probably be gossiped about or judged. Thinking about who's right or wrong, and comparing yourself to others can harm your journey of self-improvement. The truth is every person is walking their own path, fighting their own demons, exploring the unknown. Being non-judging you can appreciate the life they lead, and the ventures they take, no matter how insignificant they may seem.
Someone who lives through compassion as opposed to judgement radiate the choice they've made, and people sense it. Compassionate souls are contagious, and people want to talk to you, approach you and make friends with you. People aren't scared to say what they believe and it nurtures their confidence and helps them to suceed, what better way to make you feel good about yourself. Unfortunately getting rid of your judgemental thoughts isn't always easy, and can be rather difficult to prevent.
Here's something that I've learnt through my reading on meditation and mindfulness, to help prevent me judging others, that I'd like to share:
Look at those around you, and ask yourself whether you are actually seeing them, or just your thoughts about them. Our thoughts can act as dream glasses, distorting what we actually see. We might see dream children, dream husband/wife, dream job, dream friends, or the complete opposite. Without realising everything you've seen you coloured and put your own spin on it, and you haven't seen what is actually there. While things through the dream glasses may change, giving the illusion of being vivid and real, it's still just a distortion. If you can try take off the glasses, and therefore be non-judgemental, you might actually see a little more accurately what is there.
When I first read this lesson and was trying to practice it, sat on a bench at my local park, something beautiful unfolded. Two Polish men came up to me, and asked if they could sit down next to me without wishing to disrupt my reading. Being open and non-judgemental I put my book down and started chatting away to them for the next two hours about life in London, cultural differences and personal stories. We had a really nice discussion, they offered me a few beers just relaxing, watching the sunset on the skyline of London. In that moment where I had freed myself from judgemental thoughts, almost instantly people approached with warmth, which is a rather rare encounter in London town. Goes to show how much of a difference can be made, just by the aura you radiate.
Thanks for reading ;)
Keepin' it real,
Francis
Wake Up, See with Nonjudgemental eyes
October 08, 2015
