"When you go out into the
woods and you look at trees, you see all these different trees.
And some of them are bent, and some of them are straight, and
some of them are evergreens, and some of them are whatever. And
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. And 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 this.’
That judging mind comes in. And so I practice turning people into
trees. Which means appreciating them just the way they are."
~ Ram Dass