When you judge things, you don’t experience them as they are. You’re experiencing them through the filter of your judgments.
Your judging habit is so engrained, you rarely experience something without immediately judging it. Your head is full of stories about the past and future. Usually, these stories are about regrets and expectations. Even positive stories block you from seeing the actual situation in front of you. Only the very first time you encounter something do you purely experience it form a place of open-mindedness. Soon after, however, your judging habit kicks in and labels your experience as good or bad, something you either like or dislike. By judging you lose the freshness of life.
Life is incredibly fresh and vibrant. No two moments are alike. If you can resist the urge to put every situation into the context of something you already know, life is one continuous inspiration. You don’t feel separate from it. You are part of that continuous experience.
The challenge of not judging is that your mind still needs something to focus on. You cannot exist in the physical realm without giving your attention to something. Giving your attention to something is what constitutes your experience of being alive. That’s what your five senses are for. So what to focus your attention upon, if not your judgments? How do you find joy in living, if not by judging? You’ve got to focus on something, right?
The joy of living is in experiencing. Not experiencing something. Just experiencing. When you focus on experiencing itself, what you experience is secondary. Experiencing itself is primary. What all situations of life have in common is that you are experiencing them. Whether they are good or bad, that’s judging. If you’re attached to the judging, then life is a rollercoaster. But if you’re anchored in experiencing itself, life is steady, easy, blissful. Finally, you’re not constantly taking yourself out of reality with your judging. You have space to be you. You’re not looking for happiness in your circumstances anymore. You are finding your joy in the experience of experiencing.
When you get to be you, you don’t have to worry about outcomes. Being you ensures the best possible outcome in all situations. Clear action takes you down the path to your realized self. While you still have a choice, when you’re clear, you realize choice is an illusion.
Whether you find yourself at a busy intersection or sipping a cup of tea, experience experiencing. When you experience experiencing, you’re connected to a reality without filters. You’re connected to you. And it’s good to be you.
How much of you are you experiencing?
