Judgment or Self Preservation

Hello Peeps,

Something I've been trying to be more aware of lately is how much I judge others.  From what I've read we judge others because we judge ourselves.  And in the moment of passing judgment there is a brief high of feeling better about ourselves, which I suppose to the ego is the appeal of judging.  However that moment is at the expense of thinking someone else in some way is lesser than we are.

Here's where I find trying to be more aware of passing judgment gets a little tricky.  Today I went to the laundromat.  Doing laundry on a Saturday is a bit risky because there is a guy that is usually there and he likes to talk.  About government conspiracies and such.  So I get to the laundromat and the coast is clear.  I get my laundry started and then head over to a little gift shop to browse while my wash is going (27 minutes).  While I'm looking around the gift shop the salesperson comes over and starts chatting with me.  The conversation somehow got to dogs and the woman started telling about her dog and how she dog sits for everyone else but she doesn't ever get to take a vacation because no one ever offers to watch her dog and she probably wouldn't trust them to care for her dog anyway.  So I'm standing there listening.  And part of me is feeling empathy as I had a hard time leaving my dog Clyde with anyone.  On the other hand I'm thinking why is this lady telling me all this.  It felt like too much information for the circumstances.

In this situation part of me was being an empathetic listener and part of me is thinking RUN!  So is the part of me that's thinking "run" passing judgment on this woman, or is it intuition telling me to make a break for it?  I was finally able to make my exit and returned to finish my laundry.  The conspiracy theorist was there by the time I got back.  Now, in case it seems like calling him a conspiracy theorist is passing judgment, this guy believes there is an organization in Alaska that controls our weather.  He is also very suspicious of the fact that the city built a new police station and he hasn't been able to see inside it.  "Have you?" he asked.  Um, no and I'm completely fine with not having a reason to.

This evening at the dog beach I think I did just flat out pass judgment on a couple with four dogs and not one of them was on a leash.  For the most part unleashed dogs don't bother me.  There is a leash law though.  The issue I have with it is, I can't let my dog off his leash.  His instinct is to run far and run fast and in a place like that I might not ever see him again.  When he's around other dogs that aren't leashed, Jak gets overly excited and I have a hard time controlling him.  So I stopped where the couple could see me, thinking they might get the hint to contain their dogs.  Nope.  Eventually I just turned Jak around and headed back.  It was a short beach walk today.

I was able to snap a few pictures before we left the beach and I will leave you with those.  (No, it's not a pirate ship!)

Dredg-er!  Dredg-er!

Until next time...

Peace & Love,

Hope