Judgment

Admitting my addiction to PMO has opened me up to the fact that I'm addicted to other things too.

Like judgement. I'm addicted to judging.

I seem to have an opinion about everything I see or hear. Politics, sports, media, gossip, you name it. Much of it has been prodded by the world we live in. It's like sports talk radio or clickbait journalism---there are all these things others want you to care about, but which honestly your caring will have little-to-chance of improving anyone's life or your own.

We are finite beings. We only have so much time and attention. Think of all the ways we burn these precious resources thinking or caring about things simply not worth the effort.

I've been finding that mindfulness meditation helps me catch myself when my mind is unnecessarily analyzing and evaluating things that have no practical relationship to my sphere of influence.

One exercise I do is that when I catch myself doing this, I just say in my mind's voice, "Judging." For whatever reason, recognition of that really helps in halting the train of thought and letting it go.

I'm trying to be more indifferent to things---to recognize that I spend almost all my time worrying about things not in my control to the neglect of the precious few which are. When I succeed, it's very gratifying.

 

Amen, brother! I say this all the time. If people stopped trying to change the world and would instead change their minds, imagine the peace. If people cared half as much about what their minds eat as they do about what their body does, imagine their happiness.

Judgment is a good thing. A precious gift. How terrible it is to waste it and spend it on matters not worth its dignity.