Dec 13 Tip: From Pema Chodron: Learning to be a "Mirror Image"

From Pema Chodron: Learning to be a "Mirror Image"

(The December 13 Compassionate Living Tip from Interfaith Paths to Peace)

I try to practice what I preach; I’m not always that good at it but I really do try. The other night, I was getting hard-hearted, closed-minded, and fundamentalist about somebody else, and I remembered this expression that you can never hate somebody if you stand in their shoes. I was angry at him because he was holding such a rigid view. In that instant I was able to put myself in his shoes and I realized, “I’m just as riled up, and self-righteous and closed-minded about this as he is. We’re in exactly the same place!” And I saw that the more I held on to my view, the more polarized we would become, and the more we’d be just mirror images of one another—two people with closed minds and hard hearts who both think they’re right, screaming at each other. It changed for me when I saw it from his side, and I was able to see my own aggression and ridiculousness. 

http://www.shambhala.com/practicing-peace-in-times-of-war.html