'Just Like Me' Meditation (one of my personal favorites)

Mindfulness exercises dot com just like me. Let's begin by taking a moment to allow your body to settle in a comfortable position, inviting a sense of ease and relaxation throughout the body.

Breathing full deep breaths with a soft belly. Feeling grounded by feeling the weight of your body on the ground or your chair. Just softening around any tightness, dropping the shoulders, softening your hands, and relaxing the muscles of your face and jaw. Gently closing your eyes or looking downward just to limit visual distractions.

Today we'll be practicing acknowledging the similarities between ourselves and others. We often focus on differences, but realizing that even people who seem very different from us in fundamental ways, just like us, can become the basis of real connection. This can include people we don't know very well, people with whom we're in conflict, or even people who we see as an enemy. It's possible to develop a sense of compassion and understanding by coming to feel our shared sense of experience as human beings. This practice called Just Like Me can help overcome that sense of difference and distrust by opening channels of compassion. So allow yourself to take a deep breath in

and a long breath out. And as you breathe out, allowing a sense of releasing any tension that you're holding in your body. Just releasing tension. And as you breathe, briefly scan through your body with your awareness, noticing any sensations or emotions. Just noticing what's predominant for you. And inviting a sense of spaciousness and acceptance for whatever you're experiencing right now in your body or in your emotions. Just acknowledging them without judging anything to be good or bad, right or wrong.

And now bring someone to mind who you don't know very well. Maybe someone who seems very distant or different from you. Even someone you're in a minor conflict with. Emotions

and thoughts just like me. This person has at some point in his or her life been sad, disappointed, angry, hurt, or confused, just like me. This person has in his or her life experienced physical and emotional pain and suffering just like me.

This person has experienced moments of peace, joy, and happiness, just like me. And as you hold this person in your awareness, just notice what do you experience. May they be well.