Detoxing from Judgment

Every year my mother asks for experiences for gifts. She is at that point in her life where she no longer wants to accumulate actual possessions and strongly desires to fill her memory bank with meaningful, impacting experiences.  I find the challenge of trying to find unique and mind provoking happenings in the Boston area highly entertaining.  The added bonus is that it makes me feel more connected to the cultural happenings of the city I love.

This year I stumbled upon a book tour for an author.  Her latest book focuses on our need to look at how we judge others and how we judge ourselves.  This was the perfect gift for my mother and I to do together. Her two hour talk focused on the steps she outlined that helped her let go of the judgment in her own life. It immediately caused me to think about the life of high school students and the natural tendencies of children in this stage of development.  They are most focused on their relationships with their peers and how others view who they are. How freeing it would be if they could all just live in a judgment free zone.

Think about the experiences of judging in your life. In your child's life? What if, instead of judging, everyone could respectfully acknowledge each other's viewpoint and perspective? What if, instead of beating ourselves up for things in the past, we framed them as stepping stones toward growth? What if, we just let go, stopped judging ourselves for the things we haven't done or shouldn't have done? What if we focused on acceptance instead: accepting ourselves, accepting our children, accepting each other?  After all, we are all works in progress.