“Judge not”
Harsh words
For most of us
Who judge automatically
When each new experience
Brings forth a feeling
Of this is good
Or this is bad
Unmuted feelings become
Judgmental thoughts
I judge
So, tell me
How do I “judge not”
Do I cover my emotion
With a shroud
So often that
I become unresponsive
Or do I learn to greet
Each new experience
With openness and compassion
Showing unconditionally
Welcoming acceptance
Ideally, learning such openness
Would come with ease
In reality it seems
To take a lifetime
*One of the three necessary and sufficient condidtions of a helping relationship according to Carl Rogers, author of “On Becoming a Person*. I previously posted a rondeau about another condition, empathy. The third condition is “unconditional positive regard.” Irv Yalom an eminent psychotherapist has said, “there’s nothing that’s more empirically validated than Rogers’s assumptions.”
