Mindfulness.com
Meditation
See all Meditation

Browse

Top articles

How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners

10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation

What is Meditation?

Mindful LivingSleep
CommunityFor Work

00:00

00:00

Cory Muscara

4.6

Duration

Scan the following QR code with your camera app to open it on your phone

Judgment Is Not Bad

Personalized support for learning how to integrate mindfulness into your life. Delivered fresh everyday by our world renowned experts. Choose meditation duration:

Hi, welcome back to

your Daily Mindfulness.

In today's session, we're going

to talk about the judgmental mind.

A lot of times within the mindfulness

and meditation spaces, we, well,

we could give the judgmental

mind a bit of a bad reputation.

You hear in a lot of different definitions

of mindfulness that it's paying attention

in the present moment, non-judgmentally.

And this can make us think that

having judgments is a bad thing, or

if we are being judgmental, it must

mean that we're not being mindful,

but that's not necessarily the case.

Having a judgmental mind is not bad.

It's actually essential.

And mindfulness is not

about eliminating judgment.

It's about becoming more aware of your

judgments and understanding how they

might be subconsciously coloring your

perception of things, people and events.

With this awareness and this

understanding, you can now choose

to accept your judgements, challenge

them or let go of them entirely.

And this is essentially what it

means to work skillfully with your

thoughts, which aren't going away.

As long as you're going to be human,

in this body, with this brain,

you're going to have thoughts.

And with that comes discernment,

judgments, critical thinking.

So we're not trying to get rid of it.

We need to be making decisions in

each moment and the capacity to make

decisions rests on our capacity to have

some sort of discernment and judgment.

So we're not trying to eliminate it,

but rather become more aware of those

judgements so that we don't have to be

subconsciously tossed around by them.

That is the practice of mindfulness.

So when you're engaging in your

meditation practice, notice your

relationship to the judgmental mind.

And instead of beating yourself up

when you do notice judgments arise, see

if you can smile for a moment and go,

Oh yeah, there's the judgmental mind.

Thank you mind.

Thanks for trying to assess.

Is this situation good?

Is it bad?

Am I doing it right?

Am I doing it wrong?

And if the judgment is not

necessary in that moment, maybe

just allow yourself to let it go.

Just watch it, like again, a cloud passing

through the sky and see if you could

drop into this moment exactly as it is.

But if the judgment is important, such as

like, Ooh, I actually shouldn't be here.

I need to make a call right now.

Well, that might be important and

something that you need to respond to.

So we meet the judgment in the moment

with mindful awareness, with curiosity,

assess its merit, and then choose how

we want to relate to it from there.

You could do that in your meditation

practice and do that in your life.

Thank you for your practice.

Let's settle in for today's meditation.

Get Unlimited Access

Start your mindfulness journey today.

A Mindfulness Plus+ subscription gives you unlimited access to a world of premium mindfulness content.

  • Over 1,800 meditations, sleep, calm music, naturescapes and more
  • Daily mindfulness video meditations 365 days a year
  • 100s of courses and tools to help manage anxiety, sleep and stress

Get started today

Start your 7-day free trial
Or sign up with

Email Missing

We couldn’t detect your email with the SSO provider you have selected.
or

Mindfulness Guarantee

We are here to make a positive impact on the world. We never want to sell you something that hasn’t helped you live a better life. That’s why if you’re unhappy with any purchase from us, you have 30 days to get a full refund and your money back.

If you subscribed to Mindfulness Plus+ and are unhappy with your purchase, please get in contact with us within the 30-day period and we’ll refund your purchase.


Learn more about our Mindfulness Guarantee.

Mindfulness

Bring balance into your everyday life.

We believe in a world where everybody has access to the life-changing skills of mindfulness.

  • 2,000+ Guided Meditations
  • Daily Coaching
  • Sleep Content
  • Mindful Exercises
  • Mindful Radio
  • 10+ Courses from world-class teachers

Private Browsing

Added to your cart!

Checkout

Claim your free access

Create a mindfulness account and we’ll unlock this premium session in your account forever.

or continue with
By continuing, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Do you already have an account?

Start a free trial to play this session

7-Days free trial, cancel anytime.

Finish personalizing your account

Complete a few quick questions to make your own personalized mindfulness plan.