Psychologist, yogi, spiritual teacher Ram Dass’ devised a simple method for disabling judgments of the people around us:
When you go out into the woods and you look at trees, you see all these different trees. And some of them are bent, and some of them are straight, and some of them are evergreens, and some of them are whatever. And you look at the tree and you allow it. You see why it is the way it is. You sort of understand that it didn’t get enough light, and so it turned that way. And you don’t get all emotional about it. You just allow it. You appreciate the tree. The minute you get near humans, you lose all that. And you are constantly saying, ‘You’re too this, or I’m too this.’ That judging mind comes in.
And so I practice turning people into trees. Which means appreciating them just the way they are.
We’ve been trying it out and find it takes practice. It makes for a wild and calming shift of view, as we turn people into trees on the bus, in a gallery, in the supermarket…
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