We don’t see things as they are. We see them as we are
As humans we are assessment making machines. Assessments are judgements we make of others and ourselves based on OUR OWN interpretations. These assessments can be external e.g. the way we sum others up as either, ‘good or bad’, ‘right or wrong’ to ones we make of ourselves e.g. ‘worthy or unworthy’, ‘failure or success’.
When first learning about assessments I recall spending weeks re-examining ‘my truths’ on life. I was horrified at how small my world had become because of my judgements. It was then that I accepted that my assessments only BELONGED TO ME, they were my chosen truth based on my interpretations; they did NOT BELONG TO THE WORLD and were very far from the actual truth.
How often have you labelled people or situations as, ‘right/ wrong’, ‘good/ bad’ to only be proven wrong in time? How many times has a friend had to remind you of your value when you’re struggling to see it in yourself?
When we live as if our judgements are THE truth, without any solid evidence to prove their validity, our worlds get smaller. Why so? A life spent in judgment results in emotional, mental and spiritual stagnation and eventual decay.
In my coaching practice 95% of my clients experience crippling anxiety and depression solely based on their self-assessments. The majority of which stem from small pockets of trauma which they have accepted as THE TRUTH and in doing so they remain stuck. In my experience 99.9% of these accepted truths are no more than inherited past lies.
How to know when it’s your interpretation VS the truth? When next you find yourself entangled in a web of assessments separate the fact from the fiction by asking: “Where is my overwhelming evidence to prove this assessment is THE truth?” If you cannot find this evidence, and it cannot be verified by others as a fact, then it is simply your interpretation.
Our emotional wellbeing is our responsibility so seize yours by interrogating your long held ‘truths’ about yourself, others and situations by asking this one simple question:
“If I was standing in a court and asked to prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that my assessment was true, could I?” If the answer is, ‘no’ then it is your responsibility to allow that assessment to shatter and to step outside of your self-crippling judgement. On the other side, just behind the walls you’ve put up, lies a life of opportunity, possibility and expansion.
