Just Like Me

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from Leap Before You Look

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Whenever a judgment or evaluation arises within you, whether positive or negative, add the three words "... just like me"

You can go ahead and judge another
as lazy, but be inclusive with it:
     He is so lazy, just like me.
     She is arrogant, just like me.
     They are incompetent,
     She is unreliable,
     He is angry,
     Just like me.

Call back positive judgments in the same way:
     The Dalai Lama is so wise, just like me.
     She is so compassionate,
     He is so strong,
     Just like me.

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It is the habit of the mind in separation to want to externalize everything.  If we have not fully accepted the anger or hurt or rigidity we carry in our own hearts, we seek it out in others and blame or judge the qualities we see.  We project our disowned ghosts onto other people or situations.  We judge another as lazy or rigid or cold or closed only when we do not want to see those tendencies in ourselves.  It is in this way that we create division between a you and a me, an us and a them.

On the other hand, if we can feel the judgment and immediately call it back, we can turn it into an opportunity to pass through a small process of expansion and growth.

The three simple words, "just like me", will transform judgment to self-acceptance. 

Practice this as often as you can.  You can use this practice silently inside yourself, or you can speak it out loud.  Either way, you will start to laugh at what previously seemed so serious and begin to celebrate the areas of yourself that had been hidden by your judgments.

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touch your body, touch the fragile part,
but don't break the mirror in your heart.
~ And One
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