Awareness of judgment

an excerpt from Live Beautifully:  A Book to Sit With, by Doris Wedige

Reflections on judging...
Sometimes I am judgmental of others and the things that they do.  I watch them and shake my head.  
It strengthens my ego to feel like I got something right that someone else got wrong.  
Other times I judge myself.  I look in the mirror and judge my appearance over and over again.  
The next time I see a fellow human being struggling, instead of judgment I will choose awareness.  I will see souls who yearn to break free of what binds them so that they can spread their wings and fly.  
Judgment fuels fear.  Awareness weakens fear.  I yearn for compassion towards our human race as we struggle to fully emerge and fly.  

To Live Beautifully is to live with compassion.