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| St. Paul, MN - Ordway Dance Series (CMG original) |
“When you
see people only as personalities, rather than souls with life missions to
fulfill, you forever limit the growth and possibilities of what God has in
store for another person.”
― Shannon Alder
“Sometimes
your light shines so bright that it blinds people from seeing who you really
are.”
― Shannon Alder
“Worry less about what other people think about you, and more about what you think about them.” -Fey Weldon
I have been thinking about judgments. My brain is constantly sorting and
categorizing. That is what it does
best. It assesses a
situation. Judges it for
safety. It has kept me alive. Good, bad, right, wrong…is there a car
coming, is the water too hot? I
have survived because I have made good judgments so there is a time and place
for the brain. What prompted me to
think more deeply about this recently was a Wii game. You know the Wii it is a gaming device, a bit like the Xbox
but the Wii targeted movement. Wii Sports, Wii Fit.
For Christmas this year I got a game for the Wii. “Leela” by Deepak Chopra. It is now September and I just put it
in the Wii last night. You see, I
hardly ever play on the Wii, I don’t find myself in my living room sitting on
the couch all that much and I hadn’t found the time to play this game until
now. Before I opened it, I found
myself placing a judgment on it as well and asking questions, “What is this
game?”, “Meditation on the TV?”
“That is not TRUE meditation.”
Then, I played “Leela” (which is the Sanskrit word that
means “play”) and found it truly wonderful! I sat and silently meditated with it for 7 minutes. I focused on my breathing with some
beautiful background music. I
reviewed the charkas. As I was
doing this, my thirteen year old came in the room and said he wanted to
play. Great! My thirteen year old is going to
meditate, nothing wrong with that.
He wants to try to plant the trees and get them to grow in the sunlight,
cool!
It was then that I had another ahHA moment. We are all not Tibetan monks in a small
village in the mountains. Some of
us live in busy cities, in rural farmhouses, in suburban sprawl. It’s all good! My judgments led me to believe that
meditation or stillness could not occur through a TV, through a Wii but who am
I to judge? Maybe it can. Maybe if a few more people bought
“Leela”, the world would be a more peaceful place.
Yes, we judge.
We are human. But let that not be an excuse to do so. Just for today, where can you let go of
some of those judgments? How are
those judgments limiting you? What
judgments are you placing on yourself?
Can you let go of ONE and set yourself free?
Lately one of my maxims is "Always challenge your mind!" -- meaning that we should always self-check those judgements, especially if they limit the amount of experience and information we are consciously aware of and operating with. This self-check is an absolute necessity in order to cultivate the creativity, capacity for problem-solving and adaptation necessary for leadership. If you judge a situation and close the door on the full spectrum of info, you are operating with blinders on, and vulnerable to error and the great cosmic slap-down!
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