In developing compassion and inner peace, daily meditation is key, explains Geshe Lobsang Tenzin Negri, PhD, a senior lecturer and director of the Emory-Tibetan Partnership.
During meditation, one becomes mindful of one's thoughts and feelings, he tells WebMD. "Meditation is a moment-by-moment awareness of your thoughts. Then, we work to change those negative feelings -- to view other people and their actions differently."
It is a human tendency to react to certain thoughts and feelings in a preconditioned way, says Geshe Lobsang. "We all have aversions and cravings, likes and dislikes. If a thought of a person comes up, we tend to immediately react based on whether we like or dislike them. That sets up a chain reaction about what's wrong with that person."
That cycle of preconditioned reactions is what we seek to change. "When people cause us difficulty, we can learn to see that they have difficulties in their own lives -- and that they act from ignorance or weakness," he says. "It's not about condoning injustice. What's wrong is wrong. But we can see them as our spiritual teachers, teaching us lessons like patience."
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