A hailstorm engulfed the woods.
I walked, partially sheltered by
the bare branches,
cocooned, warm in my coat as
the hailstones drummed on my head.
It passed over, the last balls of ice
bounced off my hair as
I put my hood down.
I emerged into sunshine,
a cool fresh breeze,
and contentment.
You can always find contentment if you walk far enough!
These gentle beams
which bathe my skin
touched the cold rock of the moon
moments before they touched me.
I sit in wonder
intimately connected
to the universe.
Imagine
turning certainty
and judgement
into wondering,
into curiosity.
How then
would we see
this world?
I joined a really interesting coach training course this week, all about releasing judgement.
I thought it would be a good one for me to do, because sometimes I can be very judgemental. The current political climate does not bring out the best in me!
It is so easy to slip into a judging mind-set, comfortable even. It means I don’t have to think, to put myself into another’s shoes, to feel the discomfort of acknowledging that maybe someone else’s opinions are just as valid as mine. To assume that I know why they say what they say, why they do what they do.
And then there are self-judgement, comparison, self-criticism. For as much as I judge other people I also judge myself, and my work.
Two things really struck me:
Instead of comparing myself with others, how about looking back at how I was at a point in the past, or how I would like to be in the future? So instead of looking at the blogger with thousands of followers and feeling discouraged, not good enough, I look back to a year ago when I had less than 10 followers and I realise how far I’ve come. Or I imagine a future where lots of people read my blog and I work out how to get to that point and then take the steps to get there.
Instead of thinking I know why something is as it is, I could be open and curious instead.
Ultimately, judging is just part of being human. I can just notice that I am doing it and let it go. Another one of those under the category ‘simple but not easy’!
What do you think? Do you have any tips for releasing judgement?
The evening light fades
without effort
Yet I must practice daily
doing
without doing.
I hear them before
I see them.
Balls of energy
twitter,
flitter,
and suddenly
the tree is full
of a tumble
of long tailed tits.
Today’s dawn chorus starts with a tawny owl.
Soft hooting drifts through the
7am darkness.
The shrillness of my alarm clock
is so ugly by comparison.
The absence of fairy lights
reveals the gloom of January.
Let’s make our own light.
