This is SO true and is part of what I will cover in my class at Brick Factory Nashville Monday evenings, May 7, 14 & 21. Tickets are $45 -get tix soon at the Skillery. 



"Be Grateful To Everybody"

If we were to make a list of the people we don't like-people we find obnoxious, threatening or worthy of contempt-we would find much about ourselves that we can't face. If we were to come up with one word about each of the troublemakers in our lives, we would find ourselves with a list of descriptions of our own rejected qualities. We project these on the outside world. The people who repel us unwittingly show us aspects of ourselves that we find unacceptable, which otherwise we can't see. Traditional lojong teachings say it another way: other people trigger the karma we haven't worked out. They mirror us and give us a chance to befriend all of that ancient stuff we carry around like a backpack full of granite boulders.
"Be grateful to everyone" is a way of saying that we can learn from any situation, especially if we practice this slogan with awareness. The people and situations in our lives can remind us to catch neurosis as neurosis-to see when we've pulled the shades, locked the door, and crawled under the covers." - Pema Chodron