I’ve been interested in humanity and our tendency to judge dang near everything for a long time. Both in terms of my own judgments and the judgments others make.
I find it so fascinating that I even had this awesome, life-changing ‘game’ we played in my Camp Millionaire camps with kids ages 10 to adult. It went like this…
We had created a bunch of 3x5 cards with all kinds of judgments on them…
I am rich
I am spoiled
My parents are divorced
I am famous
I am a smart ass
I have a stutter
I limp
I come from a poor family
My dad is in prison
Etc.
We’d put the cards on the floor, words down, cut a bunch of pieces of painter’s tape and had the kids grab a card and attach it to someone else’s back without them seeing the card.
THEN, the interesting ‘fun’ started. The instruction was that they had to go around and treat the person as if they thought the judgment was true. It was AMAZING and powerful to say the least.
We’l let the kids do this for about 10 minutes with fun music on in the background. Then we’d get in a circle and everyone got to guess what the card said on their back. Many knew, but many didn’t.
THEN, we’d ask everyone how it made them feel to be judged. Oh, the learning that happened and the ah-has and insights these kids took away from this activity were literally life-altering. We used the same activity in my adult teacher trainings with even more profound results. If you teach kids or adults, try it. And if you want the list of words we put on the cards, just let me know!
Anyway, exploring our tendency to judge, I noticed that everyone is really good at making judgments…about EVERYthing. People, food, cars, politics, clothing, drugs, even pandemics of all things.
We often even start our days with them. We slept well, we had a terrible night, that tree needs to be pruned, the car is dirty, my dress looks wonderful/ugly…etc. It’s just the way we are. But we don’t have to be this way.
So, while trying to stretch my body out of its very crampy temperment today on my little hike in the woods, I wanted to share a bit about what I have learned and how I’ve come to think of judgments.
I share a little strategy that helps me in this area and I’d love to see if you find it helpful as well.
Enjoy…
I wish for you some insight into your own tendency to judge. As always, let me know what you think.
I offer you presence in all things. Thanks for being here…I appreciate you.
Elisabeth…
My personal philosophy…“I question therefore I am.”
This is a fascinating experiment! And I love how they had to discuss the feelings of judgement afterwards. I saw a video this week of a teacher telling a young student “go over and tell them that they hurt you. People don’t always know. Tell them.” Getting those lessons in young is amazing…I’m still trying to figure out how to tell people they’ve hurt me lolol
Happy you got some woods time. Always a delight to hear you 🤍