Have you ever been blamed for something that you didn’t think was your fault? Have ...

... you ever had someone dislike you and you didn’t know why?
How did it make you feel?

How many people do you have non-favorable opinions of currently, whether you know them personally or not? Donald Trump? That annoying bully from middle school? Your ex-husband or ex-wife?

One of the biggest shifts in my ability to hold a lens of love came when I took on this belief: if I lived the EXACT same life as someone else, every single moment, then I would behave in the same way as them. The belief that I wouldn’t do what they did is simply my ego assigning some form of moral superiority to my soul. Saying that my consciousness, undefinable and unprovable, is simply better than theirs. Essentially, I have a nicer soul than they do.

Holding that belief will forever keep me on a pedestal and prevent true compassion for those I judge. And without compassion, how will we ever create the safe environments necessary to have truly authentic conversations? And like it or not, these are the conversations that are necessary if we actually want to see a loving shift on this planet.

Can we have compassion for those we feel have wronged us? Can we find the humanity in someone even when we disapprove of their actions?

Remember that you don’t need to agree or approve of someone’s choices to be able to have compassion for them. You don’t need to like someone to love them.

This is the Art of Choosing Love.