What if you tried this….
Imagine yourself along with a large group of people in a room or space. See yourself. See everyone (both people you know and that you do not).
And as you look around notice the thoughts and feelings that begin to arise. Notice any opinions, concepts or judgements that ensue.

To clarify upfront, I am not suggesting there is anything inherently ‘wrong’ with these thoughts. In fact they come quite naturally to us based on sterotypes or past experience/history with someone.
But since all these thoughts and opinions seem to be our general mode of operation, this exercise is an opportunity to try something different and see how it feels; offer the possibility for something new to emerge. It can even present the gift of witnessing ourselves and others without thought or critique constantly accompanying it.

So then, back to our visualization.

As you look around at all the people and energies simply lay down your judgements, opinions and attached emotions. Empty yourself of them and set your intention to be ‘present’ in witnessing everyone (including yourself) with a balanced neutrality. See if you can view and feel everyone as ‘equal’…..nobody exisiting as greater than or lesser than another. (Equal yet different.)
Observe the energy of the entire space and find if there is anywhere you feel a ‘dip’ or ‘elevation’ in how you perceive a person or area of the room. Continue to see if you can breathe into a sense of balanced neutrality throughout the space.

After a few minutes, are you able to get there?  If not, can you ask yourself ‘why?’ Or what got in your way?
Either way, simply notice what you onserve and how you feel.

Remember….this is not about erasing the unique qualities we all possess, diversity or past experiences.
It is simply a practice of letting go of attachment to our opinions and this accepting of an unquestioned standard of judgments. It is about interrupting the convenience of this system we have put in place of greater than/lesser than; a tendency to predominantly view the world through conditioned perceptions such as we find in social comparisons, concepts of success and ideas of ‘bad’ & ‘good’.

And….. it is just a practice.

When you ‘complete’ the exercise you can revert back to ‘business as usual’ if you choose……
and ….
there is also an invitation to see if there was anything you noticed in trying this.

Was there anything that felt different? How did it feel to step into this space?
In what ways do you feel curious about stepping outside your opinions and conditioning?
Either way, there is no right or wrong in this practice…………