zen habits : Practicing non-judgement

Amy Poehler

We go through our day judging our experiences, other people, ourselves: if all goes well, most of it will be good, but more than we realize, we seem to spend a disproportionate time in disapproval.  I know I find myself doing this more often than I would like.  Some years ago, sadly, this was a fundamental part of my personality - but I have worked hard to change. As well, in the small town where I was living I noticed that much of the adult get together chatter was gossip, and small minded.  I grew to really dislike it.

We “like” online comments by others, or pages on the Internet. We give a thumbs up or thumbs down to movies, to restaurant experiences, songs. It’s ingrained in our thinking processes. The internet has only made things worse.

What would it be like to drop all of that judging as good and bad?

What would it be like to simply experience ?  This is zen.

Try it now: sit here in this moment, and don’t think about whether it is good or bad … just observe the sensations of the moment. Don’t think about those sensations, just experience them.

These sensations are just phenomena in the world, happening without any good or bad intention, just happening. They aren’t happening “to” us, nor are they there “for” us. They just happen, without thinking about us as the center of the universe.

A surprising number of very nice quotes have been attributed to the comedienne Amy Poehler.  Including this one;

" I want to be around people who do things. I don't want to be around people anymore that judge or talk about what people do. I want to be around people who dream, and support, and do things".

Now, realize we can’t do this all the time — as humans, it’s part of our experience to judge. And that’s OK. I’m simply suggesting that, it frees your heart to grow when you resist the urge to judge.

with credit to Leo Babauta

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