Daily Gratitude: It is, unfortunately, human nature to make snap judgments. Why do I say “unfortunately”? Because all too often we stop there. This trait is or was a survival mechanism. It really didn’t matter whether it was a lion or a tiger barreling down at you. What mattered was that some massive and dangerous animal was threatening your life. And, you needed to get out of the way. Nowadays the majority of our judgments continue to be made this way even though there is no life threatening situation. Your brain doesn’t know that. So what do we do? We can accept that and be grateful we have such a mechanism. BUT THEN we have a responsibility to slow down, take a deep breath and examine everything that went into that judgment. You’re not in a hurry or shouldn’t be. You should be challenging your brain’s first impression. And if you don’t understand something (or someone), then you have two jobs ahead of you. First you should discard that initial impression. What do you need it for anyway? It’s not a lion or tiger so just ignore it. Then take the time to analyze and ask questions so that you can understand the situation better. Let’s take something easy. You see a father (or any man) apparently grabbing his son roughly by the arm. Your first impression might be that this is an abusive man/situation. But if you took time to understand it, it might look like this. This is a very hyperactive little boy who runs all over the place, darting here and there. Dan saw him headed straight for the middle of the street and he grabbed the boy to keep him from running into traffic. He wasn’t abusive at all. He was protective. Let’s say you see someone at the office that you don’t know very well. You walk by and want to be friendly but you see a scowl on her face. “Whoa” you say to yourself “I’m not going to talk to that woman. She must be a real __ (you can fill in the blank with what your probable word would be)”. Later, at the water cooler (they don’t even have those anymore I guess- showing my age), you find out that she just had major surgery and had to come back to work early because she needed the money. Your coworkers, who know her pretty well, tell you she’s in a lot of pain and is a wonderful friend and worker. Now you understand the situation better and you can and should alter your original assessment. Take your time. It’s important that your judgments be based on more than just your first impression. After all, I bet there are times when you wouldn’t want someone to judge you based on how you look or what expression is on your face?