Sleepy Stories Chapter 1: Let Go Of Judgement

Give up judgment.

Judging puts you out of balance and it disturbs your own energy.

Judging takes away from your own energy.

The energy is being used towards judging instead of towards good things.

Once you no longer judge,

You have the energy to use however you want.

Like to relax and be in the moment.

If you are judging before you go to sleep,

It keeps you wired and stimulates your brain.

Judging gives you a little bit of a good feeling in the moment,

But ultimately it is taking away from you.

In the moment it may feel good to judge,

Releasing energy and activating the mind,

Allowing it to control you.

So become relaxed right now in your bed and allow for this time to let go of any judgments.

Any judgments you have of other people and any judgments you have of yourself.

Just allow them to pass through your mind,

But don't hold on to the thought for too long.

And as you get nice and cozy,

Relaxing even more,

I'm going to tell you a nice story about how letting go of judgments can open up possibilities.

Mike never felt like he could connect fully with others.

Even his closest friends he kept at a distance.

He was really skilled at avoiding telling people how he truly felt,

And as a result,

His life became more routine than he had wished.

Every day for years now,

It seemed like nothing changed.

Nothing was different,

And he rarely made new connections with others.

There was a bad habit.

Mike was practicing almost every moment of the day,

Yet he was totally unaware of it.

He was judging everyone he knew,

And would judge each new person he met,

Shutting himself off from them.

Each person had something he didn't like about them.

It could be something they wore that he didn't think looked good,

Or even things like what kind of music they listened to,

Or even their stances on things in life.

Most everyone was not like him,

So he thought why should he even talk to someone who is not like him?

It's not like they would agree on anything anyways.

These judgments became automatic for Mike.

His judgmental nature had consumed him to the point where he didn't even notice he was doing it.

It got to the point where if someone cut him off in traffic,

He would assume that they were people who had the opposite opinions than he did,

And he would call the person stupid in his mind,

Causing him road rage.

And even though they had no bumper stickers or any indication of their thoughts or opinions,

He still thought badly of them.

Then one day,

Everything changed.

Mike was driving to pick up some groceries,

And he came to a stoplight where the car in front of him displayed several stickers proudly stating the driver's stance on almost every issue.

Reading each sticker one by one,

Mike said to himself,

How can they be so stupid?

It's people like that that create all the problems in the world.

In an angry mess,

He made a quick turn of his steering wheel to go around the vehicle because he didn't want to be stuck sitting behind them,

Forced to look at these opinionated stickers.

Unfortunately,

Mike was so filled with judgment,

Clouding his thoughts too much,

Distracting him from checking his blind spot.

Making this quick decision out of haste,

He pulled out in front of a car.

Mike woke up in the hospital,

Surrounded by family.

He was unconscious for several hours,

But when he woke,

He remembered everything about the crash.

The people around him were smiling and overjoyed to see his eyes open.

He looked around the room,

Seeing familiar faces,

But there was someone he didn't recognize.

As he took a moment to regain his speech,

He said,

Oh my goodness,

I was so judgmental about the person in front of me,

And I was so blinded by these thoughts,

That I sped around them without looking,

And… Just then,

The unfamiliar person stepped forward with a smile and said,

That person you sped around was me.

I am a nurse at this hospital,

And I had just gotten off work.

As soon as your car was hit,

It caught fire,

And the fire was spreading fast.

I pulled you out and stabilized your wounds.

Luckily,

I had some nursing gear in my car.

I was the only other car on the road,

And the dump truck behind you was trying to save himself.

If I wasn't there,

You wouldn't have made it out of the car.

Tears streamed down Mike's face.

I am so sorry I thought these terrible things about you.

Thank you so much for saving my life.

The nurse who was so loving and almost glowed with purity held his hand and said,

I would have saved you no matter what you thought of me or anyone else.

How could he have thought these things about this lovely person who rescued him?

The judgments he made were completely not true,

And actually caused him to almost lose his life.

After regaining strength,

Mike was released from the hospital.

He hugged the nurse who saved him and almost didn't want to let go.

He could feel the goodness in her as they embraced.

He said,

Thank you again,

How can I ever repay you?

And the nurse said,

Don't worry about me,

Just start observing your thoughts about others and ask yourself if these thoughts help or hurt you.

That is what I want you to do above anything else.

Nothing good ever comes from judgment,

As you very well know.

Mike took these words deep within his heart and soul.

From then on,

The judgments he made about others were so loud in his mind,

He never realized how often he was practicing this detrimental thought process.

Each time he made a judgment,

It was so clear to him,

And so he challenged each one,

Asking himself,

Does this thought help or hurt?

Over the next week,

He was labeling an overwhelming amount of thoughts as harmful.

But then there was a breakthrough.

He pulled up behind someone with those same bumper stickers he had seen before on the car of the nurse.

His thoughts didn't go towards any judgment.

All he saw were words,

Opinions,

And ideas that differed from his own.

He caught himself in this moment of automatic non-judgment,

And was overjoyed by this accomplishment.

It almost seemed unreal that he read these stickers and didn't feel anything bad towards this person.

So he checked his blind spot and made a turn to go beside this vehicle.

The person inside was the woman he had helped pay groceries for at the store earlier.

She had forgotten her wallet.

She was smiling and singing to her kid in the back.

Mike's life over the next year changed dramatically.

He talked to new people,

Regardless of the clothes they wore,

And made some new friends who made him laugh until he cried.

When people shared different views,

He respected that,

And actually asked them further questions about why they felt this way.

He was able to open himself up to a better understanding of all the different components that make up this world.

Mike was so proud that he had stopped judging others negatively.

It made for his life to be filled with accomplishments and advancements toward a better life for himself and others.

Just as practicing non-judgment will do for you,

You never know what you will accomplish once you open yourself up to a life free from negative evaluations.

Let this story go deep within your awareness,

Affecting you on all levels of your life.

Begin watching how you judge and learning about the way you talk about others in your head.

Slowly allow this story to relax you and inspire you.

A good night's sleep is ahead,

So simply allow my voice to fade away and enjoy the rest that you deserve.