Stop, Cancel, Help

One of my friends the other day said "Everyone has demons, whether they show them or not, they definitely have them."

This got me thinking about every person I have ever made comments about, every silly and stupid thought I have thought about a person I don't really know. I used to be extremely judgemental and I think it was a defence mechanism, if I could see the flaws in others it would make my insecurities seem better. Since I have grown up a little, I try my best to get to know people first and give every person the benefit of the doubt before I come to some form of conclusion, however I now realise that I should never come to a conclusion about anyone, because there I know so little about them. I don't know what their deepest insecurities are. I don't know if they have demons that they have to fight on a day to day basis.

I then started to think about myself, and how it would feel if someone judged me. I know it happens, but I tend not think that way. I have demons, I fight them daily, so I may not always seem like the happiest person, but that is because I am having to wrestle with thousands of emotions and insecurities. Having realised that nearly everyone in the world also has these problems, next time I see someone not smiling, I'm not going to think that they are a miserable person, instead I'll think, maybe they have a lot on their mind, maybe something has happened, but instead of judging them, I shall instead go up to them and talk to them, like I would any of my friends, because maybe all they need is someone to listen to them, someone to share the burden. And if they then refuse my help, I still won't judge because maybe they need to conquer this battle on their own.

You probably don't think you are judgemental, it's not a nice thing to admit, so you probably deny it, but even those thoughts about people, whether or not you say them, they are still judging a person. So instead, next time those thoughts pop into your head, and they probably will, cancel them out and go and help a person, because who knows? You being there, is possibly the thing they need.

So here's a mantra for you. STOP (stop yourself for a moment whilst those thoughts happen) CANCEL (cancel those thoughts) HELP (go and make a difference to that person)