10% Happier with Dan Harris

How to be Less Judgmental (Of Other People – and Yourself) | La Sarmiento

Feb 20, 2023

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.

54:42

Creator website

Episode guests

La Sarmiento

Highlights

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Being mindful in the face of suffering

01:01

On Complacency and Happiness

01:50

Growing up Queer and Non-Binary: Coping with Insecurity and Judgment

00:48

Being Present: What Stands Between You and Mindfulness

01:20

Intro

3min

Navigating Health Choices and Personal Identity

4min

Overcoming Judgment: A Journey to Self-Acceptance

20min

Mindfulness and Self-Awareness: Recognizing Emotional States

5min

Cultivating Self-Awareness and Compassion

16min

Celebrating Progress in Meditation and Compassionate Discernment

2min

Meditation and Self-Compassion

7min

Embracing Discernment: Transforming Judgment into Compassion

3min

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers.

---

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

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/la-sarmiento-564