The Opposite Direction

-by Matt Leedham

What is the opposite of the color blue?

I was eating ramen noodles last night with my wife at a new joint around the corner from where we live. We began talking about people we know and in particular about one person who seems to pass judgment very quickly on others. We began to theorize about why, and then we caught ourselves.

You guessed it. We were judging that person for being judgmental! Argh!

So we began to reflect on what the opposite of judging someone or something might be. We blurted out words like proactive acceptance, unconditional love, selfless giving, etc.

What we discovered is that the opposite of judging someone isn’t merely to not judge them, it is to project outwardly with opposing forces. It’s not to act in a congruent way with judgment (e.g. not judging them back), but rather to stand judging on its head and become the antithesis of its meaning.

So, what is the opposite of blue? No, it’s not green. It’s not white. And it’s not black. The opposite of blue is not the presence of an opposite color, but rather the absence of color altogether. To arrive at this answer, your thinking must be moving in the opposite direction.

It’s not good enough to simply “not judge.” You must instead be moving in the opposite direction.

How does this all relate to goals and achieving more?

Imagine for a moment that you stopped judging yourself so harshly, and instead replaced your judging with opposing forces. These forces are at the core of happy, creative people doing what they love and they can be at the core of you.

Action: be acutely aware of every time you judge other people, places, situations, challenges, etc. And be especially aware of how often you judge yourself. Becoming conscious of your judging will help you release it.