And then John Lewis asked this question in his mind: "What happened to you?"

John Lewis, the legendary Senator and Civil Rights activist, told Krista Tippett in an interview before he died that he was able to bypass bitterness and hatred when police and other men were beating him unconscious, spitting at him and calling him foul names. What he trained himself to do was to picture his assailant as a baby, an innocent infant. And then he asked this question in his mind: "What happened to you?"

Think of someone, dead or alive, whom you really don't like because they have been cruel, thoughtless, or toxic to you. Picture in your mind's eye all their physical details. Sit with the negative feelings you may have.

Now try to imagine that person as an infant laying on a blanket.

How hard is this to do?

Write down and describe three or four feelings that this exercise brought up for you.