Do you ever get caught up judging your situation negatively? Mentally complaining that it’s bad or uncomfortable? Obsessing over things that don’t go your way?

This post will teach you how to flip your perspective from judgment to gratitude so that you can make use of every experience by learning from it instead of judging it.

You’ve likely heard people say “you shouldn’t judge” or “judging is bad”, but why?

Judgment Limits Personal Growth

Mental judgement limits the way you can perceive the world around you. When you are caught up judging the world, you only see the labels you’ve placed instead of the multi-faceted reality. This oversimplification of the world prevents you from seeing alternate possibilities and exploring new ideas.

You’ve likely heard the term “think outside the box” in reference to creativity, think of that box as the collection of all your judgements. When you’re inside the box, that’s all you see. This is how judgment limits creativity.

When you are stuck inside that box of judgments, you base all your actions and thoughts on those judgments. This means that you miss opportunities for growth that are outside that box because you simply can’t see them.

Since you’re the one creating the box, you also have the power to let it dissolve.

Shift Your Perspective and Grow

When you get caught up judging an uncomfortable experience, explore different ideas and perspectives on it. What other ways could you look at this situation? What ways can this situation benefit you?

If you feel wronged in some way, ask yourself: is this an opportunity to practice forgiveness and letting go of the past?

If you feel really stressed, ask yourself: is this an opportunity to practice staying calm despite life’s chaos? Is this a sign for me to slow down and focus on what is in my control, and let go of what isn’t?

If you’re judging yourself for something you did, ask yourself: is this an opportunity to find love and compassion for myself? What does this experience show me about the power of my thoughts? Since I have the power to bring myself down, do I have the power to lift myself up?

When you notice yourself judging a situation as bad, that is your signal to change your perspective and look for the good. Staying in that negative head space has no benefit, it will only prevent you from moving forward.

After you find the good that came from the experience, you can then become grateful for it – grateful that it provided you the opportunity to learn and grow.

It’s never too late to learn and grow from your experience. Even if it’s from years ago, and you’ve been negative about it for years, you have the opportunity right now to reflect and grow from that experience.

You can actively reflect by shifting your perspective and looking at the situation in different ways. Often this includes expanding your perspective to see the broader picture: how has that negative event shaped your life on the whole? Did it bring you closer to people you otherwise wouldn’t have gotten close with? Did it push you in a new direction or uncover new opportunities? Did it make you more resilient?

Even the Worst Experiences can be Learned From

Every moment brings the opportunity to learn, especially the worst experiences. A traumatic event, such as the premature death of a loved one, shatters your world view. It leaves you with big questions and strong emotions, it seems like everything you thought you knew about life was wrong. This leaves you in conflict with reality: “how could this have happened? Why me? Life is so unfair, I didn’t deserve this!”

It seems like the world is out to get you, but there is a tremendous opportunity underneath the trauma: the opportunity to rebuild what was broken, to construct a new outlook on life that is more resilient than before. One that incorporates your traumatic experience.

In studies that have been done on post-traumatic growth, they’ve found that the people who were deeply affected and had their world view shattered the most were also able to experience the greatest amount of growth.

If they took on the challenge to rebuild their world view, they benefited the most from the experience and came out with a calmer, happier, more resilient outlook on life. (For an in-depth look at post-traumatic growth, read this post I wrote on the subject: You’ve Heard of PTSD, but What About Post-Traumatic Growth?)

From this perspective, every moment is good because it provides us the opportunity for growth. Since every moment provides the opportunity for growth, we can be grateful for every moment. How lucky are we to be constantly given new opportunities to experience and grow!

The more you embody the perspective of gratitude, the more joyful and content you will be with your life. There is a magic to that feeling of happiness, with it comes new opportunities to connect with people and create something beautiful.

The next time you find yourself judging your situation, take it as a sign to shift your perspective and grow.