How to Stop Judging Yourself and Others and Live a Life of Acceptance

“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”

~Mother Teresa

Learning how to be accepting, both of yourself and of others is the first step towards living a more meaningful and positive life. Being judgmental of others or yourself is like poison to the spirit. At the moment it might make you feel more powerful, but that is an illusion. The reality is that you actually become less powerful. Remember, love is power and being judgmental and refusing to accept the people around you in a loving fashion is the opposite of love.   

 

Although, there are many ways to practice love and acceptance in your life, here are four to set you on the right path so you can stop judging yourself and others and instead live a truly powerful life.

 

Practice Empathy: You may have guessed this. Empathy is a quality that you could say is lacking in today’s society. To be open-minded and understanding of where another person is coming from, you must first learn to empathize with them (or in some cases animals). Imagine what their life is like and what they may be feeling and why. Empathy is a vulnerable form of love and because of that, people tend to avoid that part of themselves. That said, if you are empathizing with someone, you are less likely to judge that person in any way. This includes YOU too.

 

Be Open-Minded: First, let’s take a moment to define what open-mindedness is since not everyone will interpret it’s meaning the same way. Being close-minded means being very opinionated about the way you view the world and do not at all consider that other people may have a view that differs from yours.  Being open-minded would be the opposite of that.  It would mean realizing that we are all deserving people no matter what our opinions are. Open-mindedness doesn’t mean you don’t have your own opinions, it simply means that you are accepting of others.

 

Understand Your Reasoning for Judgment: This can sometimes be difficult and takes a great deal of work, but in the end, it is worth it because being judgemental is almost always tied to other psychological baggage you may have endured in the past and thus far unable to depart from. In other words, it is a good way to let go or unburden so to speak. How do you understand where your judgment comes from? Most often judgment is rooted in a place of fear, so you can start by asking yourself what you are afraid of.

 

Be Thankful and Leave Envy Behind: One common conception of judgment comes from envy. We often make judgments about the people we envy. If we believe that a person is a certain way and we are not that way, we can believe that trait of theirs as a  bad thing.  It makes us feel like we are in a more powerful place because that negative thing we perceive of them couldn’t possibly be displayed by us. But remember what we said earlier, any gratification you get from judging others is fleeting and a lie.

In the end, the best thing to do is replace your moments of judgment with love and acceptance. When you learn to embrace that then you will feel the true power. There is power in letting others and yourself be exactly who they are.

Related Article:  3 Reasons Why Emotions Are A Positive Force In The World

How You Treat Others Is A Reflection Of What You Hold Within

©Love Wide Open

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