Non-Judgment

The neural process goes: 1) Notice that you’re in a mindless state - 2) bring our attention to the present moment - 3) calm the brain and body through a focus on the sensation of breath - 3) begin to observe what rises and falls naturally in and out of consciousness  - 4) pay close attention to your moment-to-moment experience as an observer, without getting caught up in your ideas and opinions, your likes or dislikes.

​

We’ve evolved to make constant judgement calls about our survival. That wiring leads us to habitually judge ourselves, our lives, and other people. We also tend to judge our experiences, thoughts, feelings, wants and needs. We might get angry about being scared, or scared of being angry - ashamed of having certain needs.   

Non-judgement is the practice of stepping back and noticing this as it occurs. While it is called “non-judging” it might be easier to think of it as getting better at noticing our habitual judgements, discerning which are useful, and ‍‍‍those that are simply automatic reactions we can let come and go.