As Angela basically said, judging implies conditional acceptance of a person. The person must change in order to be fully accepted by you.
But it's possible to make evaluations while still offering someone unconditional acceptance of who they are.
Unconditional acceptance can be very difficult, but it does point us in the direction of positive growth and change, both individually and collectively.
There was a time when I judged my past self and failed to accept who I was back then. I wanted that part of me to stay buried in the past. Later I learned to let go of that resistance and decided to just love him unconditionally. That was a very empowering release for me. Yes, he made some mistakes, but I can still forgive and accept him completely.
I've found that when I can't love and accept other people as they are, it's because there's some part of myself I'm refusing to accept. The more I can accept myself, the more I'm able to accept others.
|