Acceptance

My inner critic has been working overtime lately. With several creative projects coming to completion, the doubts and critical thoughts have picked up a notch in my mental space.

Not This, Not That

To get a break from all the critical noise in my head, I decided to do an experiment this past week. On Monday morning, I resolved to spend the week not judging others. You see, my idea was that if I didn’t judge other people for a week, I would get a break from my own judging towards myself.

By Thursday, however, it was apparent something was amiss. It is all fine and good to say “do not judge”, but how does one drop judgment altogether? At least on two occasions, I was asked to give my opinion on professional matters, and in both cases, I had to exercise judgment of other people’s qualities. After all, we have to exercise judgment all the time – driving our cars, buying groceries, making decisions at our workplace.

Acceptance

On Friday, I finally sat down and gave it some serious thought. Clearly, there is a judgment that is necessary and beneficial, and there is a judgment that is not. Where was the line? And how do I get better at one without falling prey to the other? Carrying the signature of Spirit, the answer came out very simple and creative.
Instead of spending all of my day mindful not to judge, I merely had to practice acceptance. Acceptance of what is, that I do not have all the information, of where people are in their personal journeys. Acceptance without qualifiers, exceptions, or justifications.

There it is, my next experiment – to spend a week of my life accepting everything that comes my way. Without jumping to conclusions, rushing to fix, or giving unsolicited opinions. Accepting that the world is as it is, and that there is nothing I can do about it.

I wonder what life would be like at the end of that week. Care to join?