Thursday, August 17, 2006

Judgment: Judgment Limits Our View

I mentioned briefly in the Module how when we label someone or something, evaluate them, or judge them, we limit how we see them and that then keeps us from fully accessing our compassion with them. On one of the teleclasses, we were drawn into a lively debate around this topic. Think of how you viewed your teachers in grade school. We saw them as teachers and couldn’t imagine that they had families and lives outside of the building. We saw our parents as only parents and couldn’t imagine they had feelings and needs too. (I still harbor the belief and hope that I was conceived by immaculate conception!) Can you see how those labels limit how you see those people? You cannot even begin to appreciate their depth when you can only see them in your limited way.


Think about how you label others in your life and how that label may limit appreciating them for all they really are. Do you see your children through a limited scope? Your parents? Your electrician who is having a bad day? The telemarketer who just called you during dinner (and who, by the way, is an amazing single mother who works nights to support her family…)? Can you see where this is going? Can you see how this might engender some compassion on your part? It is a powerful tool…