Unmitigated jerks and extremely spiritually advanced people have (at least) one thing in common. Both kinds of people love to tell you not to take things personally.
When I'm feeling particularly copacetic and one with nature, this might roll off the back like water from a duck. But typically I feel like saying: "How interesting! Would it be personal to you if I shoved your meditation pillow down your throat?"
Recently, though, I came to a realization. People are like icebergs. Most of who and what we really are is floating beneath a dark, uninviting sea. Only our everyday selves poke through up above the surface, and they are often unrepresentative of who we really are. Under the waves of everyday life, we are enormous, tender, strong, guided by currents that the surface doesn't see.
Using the heart, you can sense some of what is really there, hidden under the cold sea. So lately I've been much more interested in doing that. I forget about the world above, and I find it easier to be kinder, more generous. Oddly, I feel like I'm getting to know people better.