Being Non-Judgemental

‘When you judge another, you don't define them, you define yourself.’ – Wayne W. Dyer

Being non-judgemental means that rather than evaluate what is happening, rather than see something as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, you just experience or observe it.

You don't need to give any meaning to events, your thoughts, feelings and actions or other people's actions. You are simply looking at things in an objective way as opposed to having an opinion about them.

In fact, it's only when you give thoughts to experiences and events that they have any meaning.

In his book Origin of the Species, Charles Darwin doesn't describe anything – any plant or animal – as ‘beautiful’, ‘ugly’, ‘frightening’ or ‘timid’. He simply categorizes things according to a common descent.

Left to itself, your mind will often judge things as good or bad, right or wrong, fair or unfair, important or unimportant, urgent or non-urgent and so on. This happens so fast that your experiences are coloured almost as soon as they occur.

Mindfulness is about being aware of that and taking a fresh perspective. It involves noticing your experience as it is and not as your mind judges it. This approach can then open you to the possibility of thinking about things in a different way.