Evaluation

I am constantly evaluating my life. Most of us associate evaluations with grades, work promotions or raises. This is the way we are introduced to evaluation from our early school days. This is unfortunate when it is tied to a carrot-stick system of rewards and punishments. 

Quality of life is central to my practice of humanism. I measure that quality by the peace of my mind and environment in whatever life circumstances I devise or encounter. My measure of my own quality of life requires regular evaluation of my own state of mind and my environment. 

This evaluation requires internal honesty, which is developed with practice. Internal honesty is difficult. My self-perception is often skewed by my desire to be the good guy or to be "right". Admitting that I have failed someone or at something doesn't always come easily. It is necessary to admit this at times to make progress in my own life, to learn. If my denial of my failure leads to my repeating the same dysfunction over and over, I am being self-defeating in the long run. 

This is where the good-bad paradigm gets in the way. Failure is not a measure of badness, or evil, in most cases. Failure is simply human. Without recognizing failure, there is no reaching for the correct way. Success is not always good, if it is achieved at the expense of ethics and other people. Without evaluation of success, there is no understanding of the complexity of life and relationships.