How can we foster kindness and compassion in ourselves?
It can be easy to get caught up in our own thoughts and projections and forget to relate with other people. We get road rage when we’re driving behind someone who is a horrible driver, or angry at the woman who cut in front of us at the coffee shop even though we know she saw us standing in line, or silently shame that guy who was so rude to blow up at the grocery store clerk.
We often jump to conclusions and assume that people are just being selfish or arrogant. But maybe the woman who walked in front of you at the coffee shop truly didn’t see you because she was deep in thought, or the man who blew up at the clerk is not himself because he’s worried about his son who’s in the hospital, or the slow driver you are stuck behind recently moved to the neighborhood and is completely lost.
If we can remind ourselves once in a while to stop our minds from running wild and slow down for a moment, I think we would often have the chance to understand each other rather than shut each other out so soon after making contact.
We all have moments in our lives when we are distracted or simply not ourselves. What would it be like if we could all develop a little compassion toward each other and not take everything so personally? Maybe we could see each other as people rather than an idea we have in our minds.
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