Transforming Judgments Into Growth

What we see in others and judge the most is worth getting curious about. Maybe you’re someone who is pretty serious, responsible, and works very hard to do the right thing. That flamboyant, fun-loving, loud person should be more responsible, right? They’re just obnoxious! Probably trying to get attention. Or maybe you’re a great listener, there for other people, willing to be present to others and stick it out with them through thick and thin, but don’t think much about your own worth or value. That guy who constantly promotes himself is an arrogant, self-centered jerk.

We have these kinds of judgments toward specific kinds of people for a reason. It isn’t random. Often, we judge the qualities we see in others that we actually need to embody. We can be so committed to our own way of seeing that we get stuck there, and write off the very people who could help us grow!  What if we took note of and greater ownership of what we judged in others, and used this as a sign post for what we need to develop more in ourselves? What if we are judging the very things we secretly want? How would this change how we think about people who annoy us, or think about what we need to develop in ourselves?

It’s worth looking at.