This reminds me of something Brene Brown said in a free audio book chapter she gave way from her new book Rising Strong. It’s a great listen if you’re trying to drift off to sleep as Brene narrates herself, and her tone is smooth and relaxing. Get the download here: – it’s about half way down the page. https://brenebrown.com/downloads/
In the chapter she talks about a concept of looking at people as “doing the best they can”. She describes a situation where she is forced to spend time with someone who really irks her.
It really highlighted to me that we never ever know what someone else is going through. And that that person who cut you off on the crossroads, or jumped ahead skipping the queue or was rude to you, they may not be doing that to directly piss you off or to hurt you. Perhaps they have unknown numbers of shit heaps to deal with at home.
The main point is that it most probably wasn’t, or isn’t about you. But that’s another story. If we can allow ourselves to have compassion for ourselves, we can allow ourselves to have compassion for others.