Mindfulness attitude of non-judgment: what is non-judgment and how can it help you?

Mindfulness without the mindful attitudes is like a bird without wings. Without wings, it’s not going to fly. There are nine attitudes of mindfulness described by Jon Kabat-Zinn (a key figure in developing mindfulness in the 20th and 21st century). These attitudes are so important for practising mindfulness exercises, during formal seated exercises, or when paying mindful attention as you go about your day. These nine attitudes are qualities of mind which we can choose to develop when we bring our attention to any given moment. They include: non-judgment, patience, acceptance, beginner’s mind, non-striving, letting go, trust, gratitude and generosity.

In my 8 week online mindfulness programme, we will spend time talking about the nine attitudes of mindfulness. This article is the first in a series covering each of these mindfulness qualities. Each is a key philosophical approach to be developed. Some may resonate more with you or be more beneficial to you than others.

Shakespeare said, “Nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” What Shakespeare is describing here is our natural human tendency to categorise things as good, bad or neutral. We all have personal likes, dislikes and predispositions, we are attracted to or repelled by ongoing stimuli - sights, sounds, tastes, art, political views, people, pastimes and so the list goes on. We are all unique when it comes to our preferences. It is our mind’s way is to keep things simple by boxing things off. It’s automatic. In an evolutionary sense,' to make judgments about things may well have served us and ensured our survival as a species over the millennia. eg. ‘Don’t eat that it’s bad.’ ‘Run away if you see large animals with sharp teeth, they’re bad.’ ‘My tribe is safe, that tribe spells trouble.’ Just the everyday concerns of a hunter-gatherer!

Being able to make snap judgments about whether or not something in our environment was safe or threatening to our survival was a fantastic feat of our brain’s neural superhighways. The problem is we are dealing with the same brain systems which drive us to avoid bad or pursue good as our primitive ancestors. In our contemporary everyday lives, for the most part, our survival is not at risk and yet our brain is still carrying out these automatic assessments on a regular basis. Good or bad? Safe or threatening? Nice or nasty? Most of the time the judgments we make are arbitrary, based on our assumptions, tastes, opinions, upbringing, past experiences, comparing this with that. In simple terms, these judgments are mere automatic thoughts… and thoughts are rarely facts, simply one perspective. You could always say, other perspectives are available!

When we practise mindfulness, we are developing awareness of this automaticity. Automatic thinking can get us into all kinds of trouble, and it is well worth developing awareness of when judgments about the self, others or the world at large might be hindering rather than helping us.

Judgments

What is the problem with judging? The problem with judging is that it’s a kneejerk reaction. Imagine that you’ve gone for a drive and someone cuts you up badly in traffic. An snap judgment might be, “what a rude individual, such an idiot.” What do you think are the consequences of this automatic and global judgement of this person? Do you feel calmer by labelling them in this way? Or more likely, does it wind you up a little more when you think of the rudeness and allow yourself to get caught up in this thinking? Perhaps you then go on to ruminate on all the other rude people on the roads? Maybe you start to imagine getting your own back? Irritation rises. Thinking and judging continues. Maybe you even start to judge your own anger… Judgment can create quite the vicious cycle.

The attitude of non-judgment

Okay, now for the opposite. What’s good about cultivating non-judgment? To start, let’s be realistic, it’s probably going to be impossible to switch off judgment, but simply becoming aware of judgment can open up a space for us to consider before we respond. Let’s think about the situation above… what if, this time, upon noticing that an individual as acted in a way that is less than ideal for you, you notice your tendency to leap on it and write them off as a rude person. This is just your current perception of a person in a specific place and time. It’s probably not true 100% of the time. Maybe they’ve got their reasons for cutting in. If you choose not to continue judging that person, and let the judgment go instead of getting hooked in by the judgment of their behaviour? Does it help you to manage your stress? Even if you do feel irritated by their behaviour, what would it be like if you simply acknowledged your irritation rather than judged your emotions as good or bad?

Practising non-judgment

We can practice non-judgment in our mindfulness practice and in our lives. When we start out meditating, we might immediately start to have judgey thoughts. eg. ‘I’m no good at this.’ ‘Why can’t I concentrate, what’s the matter with me?’ The judgments can crop up, whether it’s during your first or your 1000th meditation. That’s neither good nor bad (see what I did there?), it just is. Notice judgment. You don’t have to buy into a judgment as a truth, because it probably isn’t 100% true. Even if it is true in a moment that you ‘can’t concentrate’, it’s not true 100% of the time. If you buy into the judgment as a fact, you act accordingly, you might give up. If you notice the thought that you’re no good at meditating or no good at sitting still, you can just practice leaving that judgment there. You don’t have to get rid of the thought, just allow it to come and go. It’s here, so just accept that this thought has popped up. You could try saying quietly to yourself, “I notice I’m having a judgment that I’m no good at sitting still.” What happens then? This very likely frees up your choices of how to act in that moment.

The philosophy of non-judgment frees up our behavioural choices. It unlocks patterns of thinking and behaving which might take us away from the life we want to lead, the person we aspire to be. You can choose to let go of judgments because you notice it’s worth it for you to do so. Try it out for yourself. Don’t take my word for it. What is your experience of this?

If you’d like to learn more about my 8 week Mindfulness Now programme, please get in touch via my Contact page or email info@alibinns.co.uk. The sessions are in small groups online or if preferred can be held individually.

Ali Binns is a mindfulness teacher, based in Bath, UK. She is also a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist.