“Shed the burden of judgment. You will feel much lighter. Judgment imposes right and wrong on situations that just are. Everything can be understood and forgiven, but when you judge, you cut off understanding and shut down the process of learning to love. In judging others, you reflect your lack of self-acceptance. Remember that every person you forgive adds to your self-love.” Deepak Chopra

We are often our own worst critics. We place this immense pressure on ourselves to be, look, act, perform, and interact in a certain way. We are influenced by the way others are, look, act, perform, and interact. To be different is to run the risk of being judged by others. Judgment seems to come from all angles. In a world full of judgment, our true happiness relies on us breaking that burdensome weight that we put on ourselves and on others.

What if we made the conscious decision to live a judgment-free existence? Happiness comes from within and the moment we give ourselves permission to be who we are in each individual moment, we in turn give ourselves the opportunity to focus that freed up energy elsewhere. Judgment is a stagnant action; it sits like a weight wherever it is placed. It is something that we should refrain from placing on ourselves and most definitely not place on others. Who are we to judge?

Self-love flourishes from freedom of judgment. Self-acceptance comes from freedom of judgment of others. We are who we are and how we are because that is who we are supposed to be. The same goes for everyone else too. Love is always part, if not all, of the solution. It is easy to see the effects of hatred and judgment; the same goes for the other side of the spectrum.

Change from within starts with the decision to place one foot in front of the other in a different direction. Start with one day. Consciously decide that you are going to live a day entirely judgment-free. And keep walking from there. The inevitable lightness that will you will feel at the end of that day will serve as a gentle motivation to keep walking in that direction.

Let there be love.