When you are angry, you are trying to control. Someone didn't do what you thought they should, and now you take affront. Who are you to take affront? Who are you to supervise your brother? Over whom exactly do you think you rule? Rule yourself, beloved.

When you are certain you know exactly what and how someone should do things, you are wise to keep your advice to yourself. Who asked you? I didn't.

Are you an orchestra leader to decide who plays what note when? Not even an orchestra leader tries to turn an oboe into a flute, or a triangle into a drum, or a drum into a tuba. Yet you don't hesitate to try to turn someone else into you! You have your way of doing things. Others have theirs. Beloved, you are really not an expert on anyone else's life. Have your opinions, and know that's all they are. Do not distribute them.

By what presumed right would you decide your way is the right way for someone else? Even if by some remote possibility you are correct, how do you presume to dictate to someone else what they are obliged to do and when? Must they conform to your preferences? Beloveds, you have your hierarchy of standards, and others have theirs.

When you find yourself finding fault with someone else's methodology, stop. Say something supportive instead. When you want to find fault and execute some power that you like to think is yours, stop. Turn your attention elsewhere. No one appointed you the boss of the universe! The more certain you are that you are right, stop. You are trying to push someone around. Even bosses have boundaries. There is a line not to go beyond. Whether subtle or overt, bullying is bullying. You must know enough not to try to supersede your will over someone else's. What claim to authority do you have over another? When you are perfect, perhaps then you can cast the first stone. Even then, until you are in someone else's shoes, you don't know that you would do better. You think you would. You might not do as well. You might not last a minute.

Students criticize their teachers. Teachers criticize their students. Could they not give each other a break?

Teachers and students are doing the best they know how at any given moment. You can give them credit for that. Better now that teachers and students come together on a meeting ground of compassion and regard. Neither the student nor teacher is perfect, and yet they are each entitled to their own perceptions. It will be a different classroom when teacher and students pause to honor one another. It will be a different world.

Before you examine another's practices, examine your own. Before you attempt to streamline another's practices, streamline your own. Each person has his own rhythm with the Universe. Do not attempt to intrude on another's. Others have rights that do not belong to you. You are not meant to be a fixer of other people's views of the world. Your priorities are your priorities. You must be allowed yours, and you must allow others theirs.

When you want to take over another person's way of engaging in the world, this is a signal that it's time for you to examine your own ways of engaging.

Perhaps you feel you are taking honorable responsibility when you instruct others on how to live their lives and spend their time. There is a difference between responsibility and meddling.

You are responsible for the fault you find. Your neighbor isn't. Pluck out the splinter from your own eye. Never mind finding fault. Find something to appreciate instead. It may be easier for you to find fault and harder for you to find appreciation. What can you do now but practice appreciation, beloveds? Practice appreciation.