While briskly walking through the produce section at my local grocery store, I briefly glanced at the non-organic produce and gave it a look of disdain.
When out of the corner of my third eye I saw a salad head shrinking away. It stopped me in my tracks and I looked at the salad head more closely and discovered to my utter horror that it felt afraid of me and deeply judged.
For a deep Empath this was a very sobering experience!
Of course I immediately apologized and conveyed to the whole non-organic produce section how very sorry I was for judging them.
And no, I didn’t get down on my knees to apologize even though it would have been warranted. My intuition told me that the produce section was not the place to out myself as a vegetable and fruit whisperer. I wisely chose to keep it on an inconspicuous non-verbal level.
I probably looked slightly pained while standing there staring into space having my inner conversation with the produce section.
After my apology I heard a chorus of murmurs from the non-organic section. That unfairly judged salad head told me with a slight edge in its voice that they too are proud to be vegetables and fruits and obviously have no say how they got raised.
What a deeply humbling experience this was! It made me think of all the other “heads” I have judged in my life without considering that they too didn’t have a say how they were raised.
Although a very deep voice within my Self reminded me that deep deep inside I do believe that I, on some very wild level, chose my narcissistic father which by the way sucks when I’m trying to wallow in my painful memories.
But that for now is not the point or focus of my judgmental experience.
After deep contemplations I have to humbly admit that, more often than I wish, I’m going over the heads of many during the course of my day.
So what was behind my judgment?
I try to buy organic whenever I can. I love Mother Earth and despise how she is so carelessly poisoned with pesticides etc. Buying organic is filled with my good intentions.
AND I also need to consider another pollution. How my judgmental thoughts can be a pollutant, too.
So what have I learned from all of this?
Quite a bit but mainly approaching life more as an AND experience.
Do I still mainly buy organic? Absolutely yes! AND I walk by the non-organic produce, the super cute fluffy perfectly shiny vegetables and fruits, much more kindly.
I greet them and I acknowledge them with a smile and an invisible hug on my way to the organic section. It feels more organic, pun intended, including them all while I’m meeting them on my pursuit of good intentions.
And here is a practical hint if you consider something similar. It might be best to not start giving physical hugs to all the veggies and fruits. Invisible hugs work really well.
I have also expanded this into other areas of my life.
I have noticed that it’s sometimes difficult to smile at someone directly from eyes to eyes and heart to heart because they look away or down.
So I share my inner heart smile with them and often times remind myself that I have no idea how they were raised.
Considering my upbringing with my father being a severe narcissist, I remember how I used to be afraid to look into other’s eyes when I was a little girl because I expected judgment and contempt.
I once was this judged non-organic salad head shrinking away under the scathing stare of my father.
The kindness of strangers was one of the reasons I got my belief in humanity back and started to trust people again.
So lesson learned.
It does bring up the question about rotten “heads”.
I’m totally up for showering kindness on all rotting SALAD heads, but definitely not on all rotten “heads” i.e. toxic people.
I’m drawing a clear boundary here. Toxic people do not deserve my kindness.
I find the behavior of toxic people rotten.
Around hurtful behavior it is my civic duty to take a stand and speak up.
Giving kindness to a person with toxic behavior makes me an enabler.
Toxic people have been in charge of our planet for too long. And it’s my responsibility to be part of the change I want to experience.
I refuse to be part of a rotten system and choose a wildly organically grown diverse new ecosystem which honors our Earth and all its people.
I’m an empath with solid boundaries which is another wildly fascinating topic I will write about soon.
Sometimes we need to set boundaries to create more wholeness.
So to sum it up, I have kept my good intentions AND I try doing it more inclusively.
I’m an Empath AND I have solid boundaries.
The AND can be quite a magical word.
And if while reading this you questioned at any point the intention of my words, I applaud you. Wild Spirits look beyond the words.
I infused this Newsletter with a lot of silly jokes AND I was also serious.
I let you decide which was what ;-)
Prompt
Maybe adding an AND instead of an end to it?
I would love to hear from you in the comment section.
What are you discovering when you add more ANDs?
“May the Wildness within your Heart inspire you to become more of YOU.”
Until next time!
I love that you illustrated how easily judgment can cloud our thoughts.
Thank you, Dawn 🤗
It’s so freeing for me to be able to write about my experiences authentically. I was definitely hesitant publishing this post but I followed my wild heart and feel enriched by your comment ❤️