During my recovery meeting yesterday we talked about tolerance vs.. judgement and people spoke up about the various things they tended to judge about other people and situations. While they were talking I kept reflecting back on my family of origin and the fact that we used to sit around the dinner table and criticize Cincinnati, where we had recently moved. The sense was that the criticism somehow made our family superior, never realizing that we were feeling and expressing a negative energy which actually made us feel worse. Later in the meeting I spoke of my memory and my realization that judging others had a negative impact on me and had no effect on the object of my judgment. I likened judging others to “pissing on my own leg”, an image that has helped me give up my judgmental tendencies. Being loving and tolerant feels much better, much freer and clearer.
