Being Judgemental

Today's ZenHabits' post talk about something that is quite applicable to me.
The post is titled "A Simple Method to Avoid Being Judgmental (yes, that means you!)". Psst... that TOTALLY means me!!!! :P

“Be curious, not judgmental.” - Walt Whitman
“I am grateful that I am not as judgmental as all those censorious, self-righteous people around me.” - Anonymous

I've always known that I'm rather judgmental.
I had no problem being judgmental.
Sometimes I even admit it quite happily.
I guess it could be because I grew up in an environment where everyone is judgmental.
The thing is - even though it's extremely easy to be judgmental (Leo - the author of the above post - agrees - he think it's human nature) - it's really not nice when you are being judged.

That is a lesson that I've learnt recently by experiencing the following:
When I am not doing anything wrong, I'm being judged for not doing anything.
When I'm trying to do things right, I'm being judged for not doing it right at one go.
Do 10 things right, they fly by unacknowledged;
Do 1 thing wrong, it is drilled to microscopic level.

Well - what can one do?

Luckily for me - having been on both sides now - I know that there is no point in pointing out to the person being judgmental that they're not helping the situation by judging everything.

In the past, whenever I have a not-so-nice habit/behaviour that affects others - I find that more often that not - the reason I change is because I've realised how it felt to be on the receiver end of the behaviour. It's a little dumb to wait until I have experienced the "pinch" before I change.
But I find this is a quite common behaviour amongst people who do not know better.

I'm not saying to judge the other person back so that they learn the lesson. (In which case it wouldn't work anyway - cause once they have started judging you; your judgement no longer has weight to them. :P)
What I meant is more that life experiences will normally help us in being less and less judgmental.
Reading something like the above article definitely will not hurt too.
Leo reckons we should all start by being aware when we're being judgmental and move from there (see Leo's DUAL method mentioned).

Leo also said "... I don’t think it’s always useful to us. We look down on others, as if we are so much better … and that creates division between people."

As with many other things - realizing and admitting that what we are doing something that is not-so-nice - is the first step to improvement...