"The world at large does not judge us
by who we are and what we know;
it judges us by what we have."
-- Dr. Joyce Brothers
"Never judge a book by its movie."
-- J W Eagan
"Don't judge a book by its thickness either."
-- Craig Bruce
"I judge people on how they smell, not how they look."
-- Jennifer Lopez
Our eyes can be so deceiving sometimes. The real problem is that our eyes are connected intricately to our brain and we process every nanosecond of a visual image and that information runs through our memories, values, beliefs and rules; our opinions, and our fears. Each visual image then is not what really is, but what we interpret it to be based on the filters we use.
Judging others appearance, behaviors, tone and language, perceived intelligence has become second nature to us. Even though, in the grander scheme of things, we know we should not judge others, as in the Bible where it is said to 'judge not, lest ye be judged. . .' we do it habitually and constantly.
Now think of the last judgement you made of the last person or behavior you saw. Did it feel good to make that judgement, or did it not feel good? You might find as I have that it doesn't feel good, no matter how 'righteous' we think we are. It isn't really satisfying. Of course, that being the case, therein is the key to change: If it feels good, do it and if it doesn't feel good, don't do it.
I kind of like Jennifer Lopez's quote in that she has to at least get close enough to make a decision. Of course, getting closer means getting to know a person and as we do that, we will naturally have less of a tendency to be critical of them, for the closer we get to a person, the more of ourselves we see.
I Am More Like My Brother Than I Think.
Spread Some Joy Today--Becoming aware of our daily, hourly, judgements of people, things and events is the first step to freedom. Begin with awareness and expand from there.
No comments:
Post a Comment