Nonjudgemental awareness

We all have thoughts and emotions and reactions running constantly through our heads. Some may even be things we wish weren’t there! But such is the nature of the mind. Harnessing it’s power doesn’t mean controlling or restricting but rather allowing it to work without judgement.

Nonjudgmental awareness of the mind is one of our “how” skills of mindfulness. The “what” skills being to observe, describe, and participate. How we begin to do those things is through this action of nonjudgemental awareness.

Nonjudgmental awareness is a practice in logic. We see our thoughts but don’t attempt to evaluate them, good or bad. We stick to facts, not feelings.

As we see our thoughts we next move to accept each moment as it is. We do not ruminate or project. We simply take each moment as it comes, warts and all. We still want to be aware of what is helpful and harmful, not to ignore those differences, but also not judge them. If there is danger in a situation we mustn’t ignore that.

We will have values and desires emotional reactions to thoughts and situations. We acknowledge them but, again, don’t judge them. They are part of us and will ebb and flow into our minds like the tides onto the shore.

Inevitably we will catch ourselves judging. When that occurs, don’t judge the judging! When in full practice I will often find myself caught in laughter at the absurdity of it all, judging my judgement of judging.

Work to find nonjudgmental awareness of your thoughts, beliefs, emotions and actions. Work to develop the skills that help us to stay present. Only then can we work towards being mindful of each moment as it exists.