20211119 - Non - Judging Breath

Jon Kabat-Zinn outlines The Seven Attitudes of mindfulness: Non-judging, Non-striving, Acceptance, Trust, Patience, Beginner’s mind and Letting go. This is how he describes Non-judging: Mindfulness is compassionate, openhearted, choice-less awareness. It is cultivated by taking the position of an unbiased attentive witness to your own experience as it happens in the present moment. To do this requires that you begin to relate to the contents of experience, without judgment, as the present moment unfolds. The habit of categorizing and judging experience locks you into patterns of reacting and repeating thoughts, feelings, and behavior. You may not even be aware of these patterns. Judging acts to separate you from the direct experience of each moment and from the unfolding reality of life. When you practice mindfulness, it is important to recognize the judging quality of mind and identify the judgmental thinking as it arises. It is equally important not to judge the judging! Simply note that judging is present. - Jon Kabat-Zinn I want to emphasise the last part here! Non-judging is not anything we _do_. We cannot not judge and we cannot undo judging. As soon as we try to do that we make judging wrong which is in itself judging. The only thing we can do is to become increasingly aware of the judging as it arise. Another word for non-judging could be non-evaluating. We experience the present moment without evaluating it as good or bad, right or wrong.