Seeing past what it seems

A few months ago, I happened upon this awesome website called the "Brave Girls Club" and read this post.  I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since.  The post uses a powerful personal experience to encourage others to practice "seeing past what things seem" more often in our lives, or in other words: being quick to understand and slow to judge.

I believe that the majority of people--myself included--could learn from the wisdom of that post.  We're all human and we aren't perfect.  I think that if everyone had perfectly mastered the art of being quick to understand and slow to judge, then there wouldn't be much of a need for us to go through this life test of becoming more like our Savior. 
Sometimes I think we women are extra-cursed with this bad habit of judging.  We like to know what's going on with others so that we can help them out and form meaningful relationships with  them.  For that innate desire and inclination to love and serve others, I'm glad to be a woman.  However, sometimes this innate goodness gets a little twisted.  We begin to want to know a little too much about others' lives.  We begin to analyze what people do, how people do them, why they do them, and we begin to judge them.  We forget that they might be struggling with something personal or hidden.  We forget that they are usually just trying to do their best.  We may not all be Chatty Cathys or super gossipy, but it can be quite easy to silently and unfairly judge others from time to time.  Since reading the Brave Girls post, I have been more aware of how often I pass silent judgment and it has been driving me nuts.  Time for a change!

I decided to make an early New Year's Resolution.  I know it's a few months early, but it's far better than the 31st of December arriving only to find myself thinking, "Crap, I need to make a resolution!  Uh......okay, I'm going to exercise every morning and write a novel.  Yeah, sounds good!"  I pretty much fail at those horridly thought-out resolutions by mid-February.  Not to say that I'll master this resolution easily, but I want to really make this change.  I want to envision everyone I meet, talk to, or think about as having a sign hung around their neck that reminds me why I need to be more understanding and less judgmental.

I hope that by this time next year, I won't have to catch myself passing judgment quite so often but will frequently remember that we are all just doing our best.


Thanks, Brave Girls, for the visual and the new goal.  And really, you should check out their blog.  So uplifting! :)