Non-judgement as the answer

I have been living in my childhood home for the past week and with some extra pair of hands to help (thanks mum & dad), I have had some more time to reflect. On many things.

And one of them is how do you navigate a context in which 2 completely different lifestyles and life values coexist in a healthy and sustainable way for a given time. Of course open, transparent communication is always a great place to start. So are aligning expectations and needs, discussing comfort zone and setting healthy boundaries. Because as human beings we all have the same basic need to feel safe and accepted. By our family, community, friends, work space and pretty much all social contexts that we choose consciously or unconsciously to go into.

And after days and days of strategizing and problem solving ways and means to bridge 2 apparently opposing worlds in peace and with ease (yes my left brain was in high demand) , the penny dropped. It only dropped after being triggered constantly by the same behaviour and only after finding the space to be aware on what is going on and what the trigger was. The trigger that brought me immense pain (now and in the past) was judgement, criticism and blame. Times and times again. BUT if I tossed this coin, on the other side was non-judgement, the relief from pain (self pain or pointed unconsciously towards others). There was the answer, simply shining into my face: no judgement.

I believe the biggest GIFT one can offer another person is a space of non-judgement. Be it for a person you know or with whom you are just temporarily sharing the same square meter in a check-in queue. Be it a family member, a grumpy colleague, the doctor who is checking your blood tests or the angry driver in traffic. Your child, your lover or your dad. Non-judgment brings instant peace for the one offering it and a sense of safety and acceptance for the one at the receiving end. Only from a space of non-judgement can we allow ourselves and others to be as we are and to collectively heal.

And where judgement is suspended, there can't be anything else but Oneness. And the Awareness of Love's presence. And that is all there is.

Same flower, same root, same context. Yet different (colours). Developing healthily and spreading visual joy. Can non-judgement be its answer too?