One of the things that motivated me to develop a consistent meditation practice is the Muse headband. It is a headband that reads your brain waves. The Muse app tells you how relaxed and calm you were physically and mentally during a mediation session. One of the meditation collections on the Muse app explores seven characteristics of mindfulness. They are Non-Judgmental Attitude, Patience, Beginners Mind, Self-Trust, Non-Striving, Attitude of Acceptance, and Attitude of Letting go. My next few posts I will discuss each of these characteristics of mindfulness more in depth. I am going to discuss Non-Judgmental Attitude in this post.
What is a Non-Judgmental Attitude in Mindfulness?
The definition of non-judgmental is letting go of automatic judgments that arise in your mind with every experience you have. Mindfulness is defined as paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, without judgement. In other words, a non-judgmental attitude in mindfulness is purposefully letting go of all judgments your mind makes moment by moment. This is the first key component to starting a mindfulness practice. Letting go of any conclusions of how something may appear to be and viewing it for what it actually is. Another way of thinking about it is intentionally not assigning any positive or negative meaning to a situation or thought as is arises. Just acknowledge that it exists. Nothing more and nothing less.
How to Develop a Non-Judgmental Attitude
In the nonjudgmental attitude meditation session on the Muse app, the instructor states that to begin developing a non-judgmental attitude you have to first become aware of when you are judging. He recommends during the day when you become aware you are making a judgement on a thought, idea, or situation just say to yourself “Judging” this will help you become aware of when you are being judgmental in any way. The next step is to acknowledge that you were judging and cease doing it. Instead focus your mind on just acknowledging the thought, idea, or situation exists. This takes some practice. However, the more you do it the easier it becomes. Eventually noticing when you are being judgmental on anything will become second nature.
Concluding Thoughts on Non-Judgmental Attitude
Above I stated a non-judgmental attitude is the first key concept to beginning a mindfulness practice. This is because having a non-judgmental attitude allows you to look at a situation or idea more logically. When we are judgmental our emotions drive the majority of our perspective. This clouds our ability to see reality in its fullness. Emotions have their place in our lives. However, making sound decisions relies on viewing reality logically. That is why a non-judgmental attitude is a prerequisite for developing mindfulness.