Here’s a beautiful reminder by Ram Dass of how to appreciate the rich diversity of human beings, each uniquely carved by their life experiences. Enjoy!

When you go out into the woods and you look at trees, you see all these different trees.

Some of them are bent, and some of them are straight, and some of them are evergreens and some of them are whatever.

You look at the tree and you allow it. You appreciate it. You see why it is the way it is….you sort of understand that it didn’t get enough light, and so it turned that way. You don’t get all emotional about it. You just allow it. You appreciate the tree.

The minute you get near humans, you lose all that. And you are constantly saying, “You’re too this or I’m too that.”  The judging mind comes in.

And so I practice turning people into trees. Which means appreciating them just the way they are.

Ram Dass