Release Your Judgments

A “tune-up for Spring” exercise for you…. This exercise involves releasing judgments.

In order to release judgments, we need to acknowledge what we believe, and how we are ‘judging’ the world based on our beliefs.

The judgments we hold can be obvious to ourselves and others – someone who judges themselves ugly will rarely dress or behave in a way that is beautiful – and then there those that are not so obvious – someone who is subtly resentful of your success, will usually qualify their words of praise with some off-putting remark that leaves you wondering about yourself.

We all hold some judgments about others and many of us judge ourselves much harder than anyone else possibly could…While it is useful to be discerning, to know what attitudes, patterns, situations in life and people that you wish to avoid, holding judgments can be particularly insidious in one’s life. – Judgments have a way of limiting perspective, preventing you from seeing and responding to a situation clearly.

For this exercise, we’ll work on recognizing, then releasing, some of those limiting judgments.

  • List what you perceive to be your big “mistakes” in life. List the judgments about yourself that you have held about those mistakes. Take a moment to review the outcome of each event, “what ended up happening”. What was the purpose, the lesson, the pattern in each….How is this lesson serving you right now? What did you really learn and gain?
  • Acknowledge that you’ve learned from your life and your “mistakes”, and take responsibility for the consequences of your learning and the impact it’s had on others and the world. This acceptance and acknowledgement is not the same as judgment . Releasing judgment does not mean denying responsibility. It means not labeling yourself as “incompetent” or “bad” or “useless” in everything that you do. It means accepting who you are and what you’ve done, cleaning up after yourself and moving on….
  • Take a moment to actively release yourself from those judgments you’ve held around those events in your life. Let go of the sense that you somehow performed “badly” and accept that if it could have been different it would have been different. If you are feeling pained or guilty or resentful in any way about some past situation, DO something about it. If you feel you hurt someone, reach a helping hand now, if you can, and failing all else, send then some love and prayers for their prosperity and health…

Somehow, every event served you, as it was…..accept that it had value in your life.

This type of release can be assisted by a little ritual. You may already have releasing rituals or techniques that you use regularly. Here are two that can be helpful.

  • Visualize the event and some symbol that represents your judgment and perceived “mistake” and place it in a bubble. Send the bubble off to the One Source to be transformed and returned to you as understanding and light.
  • Write out the details of the event and all your judgments around it. Burn the list (safely) and scatter the ashes to the wind, with the same good intentions – to be transformed into the light of understanding.

This can be especially helpful in trying to move through and get beyond the end of a relationship or a sudden job termination. We often take judgments into ourselves as a result of the way others were affected by our actions or behaviors, or as a result of something “shocking” others may choose to tell us about ourselves. (You’re fired because…..)

Release of judgments can bring with it, peace. How did this exercise work for you? Are you relieved? Have you gained understanding? Can you forgive yourself or another? Let us know.

Good Luck! Tell us what happened when you tried the exercise.

Continue reading here: Meditation for Planning the Coming Year

Was this article helpful?

0 0