To make bread or love, to dig in the earth, to feed an animal or cook for a stranger—these activities require no extensive commentary, no lucid theology. All they require is someone willing to bend, reach, chop, stir. Most of these tasks are so full of pleasure that there is no need to complicate things by calling them holy. And yet these are the same activities that change lives, sometimes all at once and sometimes more slowly, the way dripping water changes stone. In a world where faith is often construed as a way of thinking, bodily practices remind the willing that faith is a way of life.

∆ Barbara Brown Taylor

We all have the capacity to dehumanize and even hate people we don't know personally - especially on social media. But this is a delusional impulse. Four little exercises I use to crank up the compassion in my mind.

THINK SMALL
Imagine the little details of a person's life you're hating: the calls they get from their mother, the presents they buy for their son, the list they have on their desk with plans for the future. Like you, everyone else is ultimately just trying to be happy.

THINK BIG
Read about the universe. Nothing makes hatred seem more ridiculous than internalizing how vast time and space are. Doing so makes me want to turn to anyone who will listen and hug them and say, "We both exist! On the same tiny planet at the same exact time! Hi!"

THINK OUTSIDE YOURSELF
Every person has a unique childhood, a unique set of traumas, unique mental health issues. There are many people not lucky enough to be born as intellectually or emotionally intelligent as you were, not lucky enough to have an upbringing like yours. You have no idea what kind of grief, heartbreak, or other misfortune another person may be suffering through. However awful someone is acting, it would probably make a lot more sense if you could spend a few minutes inside their brain.

LOOK IN THE MIRROR
What are you like on a really bad day? What are you like when you're in an awful mood? We all have our bad sides. We all have topics that bring out our most biased, irrational selves. We all have areas of embarrassing ignorance. We all look back on our previous selves and cringe about the way we used to be in one area or another. Others may be flawed in ways you're not, but you're probably flawed in some ways they're not.

You certainly don't have to like everybody. But when you HATE a person or a group of people, you've gotten swallowed up by human craziness. A quick pause and reflection can snap you back into reality.