It's easy to judge from a distance It's easy to wear black and white glasses And declare what is right or wrong But the devil is in the details In the shades of gray and color Come closer, look into my eyes Take in my shades, my colors Come closer, feel my heart Take in everything I've hidden away Come closer, touch my soul Judge me now
I shared this as my weekly wisdom recently with my yoga classes. It brought some wonderful conversations with students. In the middle of the week, a first time practitioner of any yoga came to my class. I shared this quote at the beginning and end of the class. Immediately after class she quickly got up and approached me. She told me she found the words to be beautiful and it hit her squarely. It cut through her many layers of judging and brought her to the present moment. I'd say a very successful first time yoga class. A regular student of mine also commented that she had been having this exact conversation with her kids. That judging seems to be so constant and conscious as well as unconscious judging. She was trying to convey to them to not react with judgments but to give every person or situation the benefit of the doubt. Give yourself a moment to read the poem out loud. Notice how it makes you feel. Observe any changes for "My eyes", "My shades", "My colors", "My heart", "My soul". With sharing this 30ish times this week. I notice the vulnerability of speaking these words and directions out loud. It cuts through my layers and delivers me into my humanness. From my humanness, it allowed me to be present with students as they came and went. To make eye contact and try to notice their shades and colors. Once I looked into their eyes with that intention, I found that I didn't want to judge them. I was much more accepting of how people are. Yes, thats how it should be but it isn't always that way. Continue to try and do better.