La Sarmiento, a mentor for the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program and Vipassana meditation practitioner since 1998, shares insights on being judgmental. They discuss how mindfulness can help differentiate between discernment and harmful judgment. La reflects on the challenges of self-acceptance, offering practical questions to explore our judgments. The conversation emphasizes recognizing motivations behind our thoughts and encourages compassionate self-reflection, promoting healthier relationships with ourselves and others.
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Early Judgment
La Sarmiento realized they were queer and non-binary at five years old.
This led to feelings of being inherently wrong, fueling judgment of others to feel better about themselves.
insights INSIGHT
Present Day Judgment
La Sarmiento still experiences judgment, like feeling anxious about the podcast.
Mindfulness helps acknowledge these feelings as the "inner five-year-old" and practice self-compassion.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Four Questions for Judgment
Ask yourself four questions when noticing judgment: Is my heart open or closed?
Am I suffering or free? Empowered or disempowered? Connected or disconnected?
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The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It
Ethan Kross
In *Chatter*, Ethan Kross delves into the silent conversations we have with ourselves, examining how these internal dialogues shape our lives, work, and relationships. Kross, drawing from his own lab research and real-world case studies, explains how negative self-talk (referred to as 'chatter') can have detrimental effects on our health, mood, and social connections. However, he also provides tools and strategies to manage and harness this inner voice positively. These tools include techniques such as zooming out to gain perspective, using the second person to increase psychological distance, and leveraging the power of nature and placebos. The book is a comprehensive guide on how to transform negative self-talk into a constructive and supportive inner voice.
New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers.
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Meditation and mindfulness doesn’t uproot your capacity to be judgmental, but it can help you see the value in being judgmental by learning how to work with the judging mind.
La Sarmiento has been practicing Vipassana meditation since 1998. La is a mentor for the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program, a teacher with Cloud Sangha, and a contributor to the Ten Percent Happier app.
In this episode we talk about:
How mindfulness can help us identify when we’re being judgmental
The difference between discernment and judgment
How it can be so delicious to be judgmental of others – but why it’s actually harmful to ourselves and others
The four questions to ask when we notice ourselves going into judgment mode
How to operationalize the phrase “am I suffering right now?”
Investigating the motivations behind striving for success
Why owning up to being a jerk is sometimes the exact right answer
10% Happier with Dan Harris 
