Stopping impulsive judgments

[ZZZZ]

Hey guys, I'm just wondering if anyone has any tips/resources for rewiring habitual, impulsive judgments about others. I've noticed that my awareness is so many times better when I'm alone, and being around others distracts me quite a bit.

What I am most unsettled by is how rapidly my mind immediately and impulsively picks out any judgement it possibly can about another person, doesn't matter who it is. If it's an attractive woman its usually something sexual, but if not, its really any possible (usually) negative judgement that comes to mind at the time...

I know that I'm not necessarily in control of these thoughts occurring, but there must certainly be a way to decrease their occurrence, or turn these negative judgments into objective or positive observations instead. It really affects the way I see and interact with other people, and it is one of the last byproducts of lower level consciousness that I've got left to address. Any insights are appreciated, thanks.

[Sahil Pandit]

@ZZZZ Usually, the thought passes rather quickly if you just observe it and don't react to it. Of course it is a bummer when you notice those micro judgements in your awareness, but what i found is that i have more "control" when i see them happen and watch them pass.

I used to "try to stop" my thoughts from doing that, but that just made my monkey mind even more elusive.

[Nahm]

@ZZZZ Meditation, focusing on the breathe, let’s go of thoughts. Identity soon follows. Awareness is present. Awareness without judgements, or thoughts, is present. Identity follows. 

[Faceless]

3 hours ago, ZZZZ said:

rewiring habitual, impulsive judgments about others

Don’t rewire. There your go??‍♂️

The wiring is where it all comes from. ?

Edited May 12, 2018 by Faceless

[starsofclay]

@ZZZZ I kind of come in and out of awareness about this myself...  thank you for reminding me. 

What seems to work is not to judge yourself for judging, but be aware and maybe label it and let it go. Then go to the store, or anywhere that you might interact with people, and pick a few people that you will consciously pass by, smile at them (or not), and see how long you can go without passing judgement. Interject a positive thought about them concentrate on it until you pass by, not letting any judgment in. After so long it should become habit. 

[ZZZZ]

Thanks for the responses guys. I know not to judge myself for having my thoughts. These thoughts are just very quick to occur and consistent, versus the other random subjects of monkey mind that I find myself observing, so I didn't know if there was anything specific I could do to work on this subject in particular. 

Getting rid of all thoughts follows the same logic though I suppose, so I'll keep at it with meditation and awareness.

[Faceless]

7 minutes ago, ZZZZ said:

Getting rid of all thoughts follows the same logic though I suppose, so I'll keep at it with meditation and awareness.

To move in this direction is still a movement of thought and will only fuel impulsive judgments amongst a hole lot of other impusions as well. 

Any movement/action of psychological time will only fuel the fire. 

The ending of time calls for a ceasing of all such movements of the center.

Which means a very deep understanding of the entirety of that movement.  

Edited May 13, 2018 by Faceless

[ZZZZ]

@Faceless You lost me there... I was mostly referring to what @Nahm mentioned about focusing on the breath and attaining awareness without thoughts, judgement, etc. I was saying that after thinking about it, I don't see why I need to discriminate one thought from the next; the content is inherently lacking in substance/significance, so I do not see why I need to assign it any more meaning by creating further dualities. 

 

Edited May 13, 2018 by ZZZZ

[Faceless]

19 minutes ago, ZZZZ said:

I was saying that after thinking about it, I don't see why I need to discriminate one thought from the next;

Indeed discrimination makes it worse

Its another movement in duality?

dont mind my post earlier. It just falls out of me. Hehe

i don’t know what my friend @Nahmtold you anyway. I just responded to your last post?

Edited May 14, 2018 by Faceless

[Nahm]

1 hour ago, ZZZZ said:

@Faceless You lost me there... I was mostly referring to what @Nahm mentioned about focusing on the breath and attaining awareness without thoughts, judgement, etc. I was saying that after thinking about it, I don't see why I need to discriminate one thought from the next; the content is inherently lacking in substance/significance, so I do not see why I need to assign it any more meaning by creating further dualities. 

 

Yes! If you’re saying what I think you’re saying here...(after your op)....that’s a big realization. As in, thoughts are chair & trees stuff, not ‘you’ / awareness stuff. So yeah, the meaning, magnitude, importance, etc,  - we assign. Is that what you’re realizing? I hope so cause it’s awesome.  

[ZZZZ]

1 hour ago, Nahm said:

Yes! If you’re saying what I think you’re saying here...(after your op)....that’s a big realization. As in, thoughts are chair & trees stuff, not ‘you’ / awareness stuff. So yeah, the meaning, magnitude, importance, etc,  - we assign. Is that what you’re realizing? I hope so cause it’s awesome.  

Yeah, exactly. A thought is a thought, interpreting it any further is just assigning an additional layer of meaning to it. So instead of fixating on one "theme" of thoughts I've noticed, I am just going to treat them like any other thought, and continue to let them go until they are no longer a part of my awareness

EDIT: I am extremely pleased with my ability to go back and answer my own questions with a little prompting and deeper thought now. It's as if I have finally grasped this whole consciousness thing and only need to continue to put it into practice until it is seamless and automatic

Edited May 14, 2018 by ZZZZ

[Faceless]

@ZZZZ

That’s ending a crucial aspect of time “movement of thought” by you having that perception. Your seeing thoughts pattern at work. Awareness??

Thats great ?

[Nahm]

@ZZZZ That. Is. Awesome.