Love is the absence of Judgement- Dalai Lama
Coming into this New Year, I am sure that you have probably heard the words “new year’s resolution”. I have never before made a new year’s resolution as I always thought, “What’s the point?”… There’s no way I will be able to commit to a statement of words for 365 days so why bother. This year when 12:00am struck and 2017 became present, I made a promise to myself. I didn’t call it a resolution, or a decision. By calling it a promise, it gave me the passion to do it for myself.
My promise was simple: judge less, love more. Many people may think that this is easy but let me tell you that it has not been a field of rainbows. On a daily basis, I catch myself judging individuals for no apparent reason. It’s common. It’s familiar. We all do it. However, the difference now is that I catch myself doing it. I catch myself thinking negative thoughts about others and I stop these thoughts dead in their tracks. I tell myself that I have no place to judge other people and I feel a sense of relief in knowing that maybe that person that is in my vision has made the same promise to themselves and is therefore not judging me either. We never know.
Our world is full of hatred. Hatred for things like sports, or weather conditions but these things can be avoided and easily overlooked. However, when hated for other individuals come into view, it’s hard to avoid. Some people use hatred and judgement as a way of bonding with other people but if you’re judging an individual in order to feel a connection with another individual, aren’t you going in a constant cycle?
This past year has been a huge eye opener for me. I have seen constant negativity in the media and I have read multiple instances of individuals who are going through the worst times of their life. These negative images aren’t going to just go away. It’s hard to watch the world become such a negative place but you need to remember that there are people out there just like you who are hurt by these images and who would give anything to make the world a brighter place. I learned a very important lesson in 2016. Surround yourself with individuals who make your light shine a little brighter. Quality over quantity. Once I learned this lesson, it was easier for me to see the kind of person that I wanted to be. I began to develop a deep love for individuals who were passionate and loving and who put others before themselves. It’s hard for me to think about how small I am in this huge world. It hurts my heart to know that I may not be able to make a permanent change in it. But I know that even if I can’t change the world and affect all of human kind, I know I am able to make a difference in many lives along the way and that’s what matters. I inspire to be a better person and I can’t wait to look back on 2017 and smile at where life has taken me.
