"Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary" defines judgment as "the process of forming an opinion or evaluation by discerning and comparing." However, health-deterring judgment is more than an evaluation and comparison. Judgment imposes your personal standards and beliefs on others.

Most (but not all) judgment is negative. Judgment, like indecisiveness, is made up of "shoulds" and "shouldn'ts," "oughts" and "ought not to's" (as in "John should keep his grass cut" ... "Mary shouldn't spend so much time on the phone" ... "The company ought to provide better benefits" ...etc.). From politics to parenting, from appearances to actions, judgment by an onlooker or outsider is futile and frustrating.

Judgments, such as, "The government should keep its nose out of [fill in the blank]"... or "That mother should discipline her child" have no effect on those judged. Judgment merely fosters anxiety and fields interference in the self-appointed judge.

Despite the dictionary description of judgment as a process of evaluation, from a health standpoint, judgment and evaluation are not synonymous.

The process of evaluation poses no threat to the body. Evaluating the pros and cons of a situation in an effort to make an informed decision is based on determining which of two or more courses of action has the greatest potential for the most beneficial outcome. An element of control over the outcome distinguishes evaluation from judgment.

Evaluations look for the best resolution to achieve a future condition. Judgment deals with conditions of the present or past. For example, investment possibilities can be evaluated to determine those with the greatest potential for the greatest yield in the future. That's evaluation. Judgment is made after you've bought a stock and see whether or not your evaluation and decision were wise.

Evaluation is a rational function of your mind, tinged with beliefs and, perhaps, a whisper of emotional personal preference. Judgment is emotional. Emotions can (and usually do) stimulate and sustain inappropriate defense physiology. That's what makes judgment hazardous to your health. The judgment itself isn't the problem. It's the effect it has on your body (and relationships) that's the problem.

Keep in mind that nothing is good or bad, right or wrong, until you judge it so, and then it is merely your perception. That's all that judgment really is -- one's perception of a given event, person, action, or thing.

One of the greatest ironies of judgment is that, when we are judging we think we are performing positive thinking because we are sure that our judgment is right. However, I believe the mere act of judging is a negative one.

To judge is to rate something using your opinion as the scale. Although your opinion is sometimes based on certain theologies, philosophies, or doctrines that have been handed down for generations, that doesn't change the basis for your judgment, which remains your opinion. It also doesn't matter that your opinion may be one that is held by others, perhaps many others. We judge when we want others to learn our lessons.

I believe that humans have been given the power to think freely and that we often abuse this privilege by performing such acts as judgment with our minds. You cause a conflict, balance, or blockage when you use your free will to perform acts of judgment, hatred, and the like. This conflict within you will manifest itself in illness and, as I have said before, the illness, condition, or disease will vary from person to person. However, it is certain that some form of ill health will be created.

There is an immense and calming freedom that comes with loving unconditionally and letting go of judgment. When you learn to love unconditionally you will no longer feel the need to judge others or their actions. You will no longer feel the pangs of jealousy or the fires of hatred burning within you. You won't be chained to fear or lost in loneliness. It is a difficult trait to overcome, a hard habit to break if it has become commonplace in one's life.

Yet, when a higher level of consciousness is attained, when you become in tune in soul and spirit, then the need or urge to judge dissipates. It becomes no longer necessary. It will no more be part of your life or your way of thinking. Once you can unconditionally love others and the world around you, you are freed of all those negative feelings and of the stress they cause your body.