When every day is judgment day

It may be a group in the WWE, a song, a film title, or a Biblical reference. But for most of us, it is simply our day-to-day living. We forget something and say, “I’m so stupid.” We see a store worker talking on the phone and think “they are so lazy.” Our minds are a constant stream of categorizing and judging, by our likes and dislike, our beliefs on what is desirable behavior and what is not. Our mind is a judging machine.

In his book Full Catastrophe Living, Jon Kabat-Zinn describes the foundations, or attitudes, that are considered fundamental for cultivating a mindful approach to life. These attitudes are all interconnected and cultivating these attitudes will deepen your meditation practice in addition to enhancing your energy, creativity, and well-being.

The first of these attitudes is non-judging.

Non-judging is about witnessing your own experiences as an impartial observer, without this constant stream of judgment. It is about letting experiences unfold in the moment and being in the content of the experience itself, rather than labelling, categorizing, and judging the experience.

Often these are habits or patterns we are barely aware of, but that we repeat over and over. We end up reacting the same way to the same experience.

Let’s remind ourselves what a judgment is, which is a situation overlayed by a personal preference, feeling, or belief. This weather is terrible! That store clerk was in a bad mood because they didn’t smile at me. I’m so forgetful, I’m always misplacing my keys. These are all judgments. We are preoccupied with liking or disliking our experiences.

Practicing non-judging reduces anxiety and stress because we are no longer labeling things as good or bad and reacting to the labels. The weather is what it is. I have no idea what kind of mood the clerk was in. I often misplace things when I am distracted.

Just like with thoughts during meditation, the point is not to stop judgments. It is the nature of mind to label, categorize, and judge. So don’t judge the judging!

The point is to notice judgments, release them, and be present in each experience as it arises.

I’ll end with a joke. Too many people are judgmental. I can tell just by looking at them.