To form an opinion or estimation of after careful consideration
Everyone judges. We have to to a certain point. It is how we make decisions and form opinions. People can be defensive over judgements, but in reality, I have not met one person who doesn't judge. It is how we decide what we do with our lives and choices. At some degree, judgement is necessary. But judgement becomes another issue when we judge a human being and label them. To the degree to which we judge others we will also be judged which also explains why there is so much judgement. We judge, therefore we will be judged.
What happens when we judge another person?
If you have a judgement about a specific person I think those thoughts should be kept to yourself. I am talking about judgement, not facts or actual events that have taken place. Why should negative judgements be kept to our self? Because they will only hurt and break down that person's self worth. Plus, it's only your opinion of that person. It doesn't make it valid or true. I myself struggle with judgment as everyone does. It's so easy to stand on the sidelines and make assumptions of what we think and paste a label on it like that person is selfish, rude, broken, insecure, a bad person, etc. The biggest problem I have noticed when people judge and label is that many times it's not the case at all. We just are not close enough to the situation to get the full story or we don't know the person well enough so we make a judgment based on what we see.
A new practice I have come up with when I start to think judgmental thoughts is to first stop and back away from the situation and realize that I am only a spectator. There may be a factor I don't understand or a situation I have never been in before. As I was looking out of our RV window this morning something hit me as I was watching the waves. When you are on the beach watching the waves they don't look that big. When I didn't surf when I was pregnant I would watch my husband. The waves didn't look very big from shore but he would rush in telling me how strong they were, but I didn't understand because they looked small from my point of view. Then after I was able to go back out in the waves again I was literally overcome by the force of the waves. They were bashing me and throwing me around. Every wave I would catch the wave would shoot me under the water for seconds as a time. I felt like I was fighting this massive force. BUT when I was on the shore they looked like little baby waves.
It's so much different being a spectator than actually being in the situation. So before you rush your thoughts and are ready to label an individual, think. Are you in their shoes? Do you even know the person well enough to place judgement? If you do have a negative judgement of someone why not take a step forward to get to know them? Step off the shore and put your feet in the water. Walk a little closer to the situation. You might be surprised that things were not as they appeared on shore.
Photo Cred: Steven Huff Photography
Contact Steven for prints:
Estevenhuff@gmail.com
714-650-2555
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