Equalization Meditation

Begin by reflecting on your own wish to be happy and to avoid pain suffering. Really feel this deeply within your heart.

Bring someone you know to mind, and reflect on the following:

• • This person has a body and a mind, just like me.

  • This person has feelings, 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 may have different unpleasant situations or sufferings that he or she wants to be free from, but you are alike in wanting to avoid suffering. One may suffer from losing a job, another from a break-up in a relationship, another from being lonely, another from poor health. No matter what their sufferings, they are the same as you in wanting to be free from them.

  • This person wishes to be healthy and loved, and to have fulfilling relationships, just like me.

  • This person wishes to be happy, just like me.

  • There is no reason that my happiness or wish to avoid suffering is any more or less important than this person’s. We are the same.

Do this reflection with several people you know, including both some you like as well as some you may dislike, as well as strangers. As you add more and more people, you will better experience the universal truth that we all equally want happiness and want to avoid suffering.

This practice can also be done as you stand in line at the grocery store, at the airport, or any other place where we encounter beings.