Maitri Karuna Mudita Upeksanam

Sunday's discussion group was focused around the idea of how we react to those around us in a way that brings peace of mind.  Patanjali's 33rd Sutra of the 1st pada (chapter) spells out 4 strategies:

I.33 maitri karuna mudita upeksanam sukha dukha punya apunya visayanam bhavanatah cittaprasadanam

Through cultivation of friendliness, compassion, joy and indifference to pleasure and pain, virtue and vice respectively, the consciousness becomes favourably disposed, serene and benevolent

maitri	friendliness
karuna	compassion, mercy
mudita	gladness, joy
upeksanam	to be indifferent and apathetic, to look at things without interest
sukha	happiness
duhkha	sorrow
punya	virtue
apunya	vice
visayanam	regarding an object, concerning a thing
bhavanatah	conception, remembrance, infusion, recollection, thoughtfulness
cittaprasadanam	graceful diffusion of the consciousness, favourable disposition

“This sutra asks us to rejoice with the happy, to be compassionate to the sorrowful, friendly to the virtuous, and indifferent to those who continue to live in vice despite attempts to change them....This approach to life keeps the mind on the [practitioner] serene and pure.” ~BKS Iyengar,  Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

• Rejoice with the Happy - How do I act when others are happy? Do I celebrate their happiness? Do I feel jealous? 
• Be Compassionate to the Sorrowful - How do I respond to others sadness? Do I empathize? Pass judgment? Do I try to become the center of attention?
• Be Friendly to the Virtuous - How do I feel about other that are honorable and ethical? Do I feel positively to them? or somehow feel like I don't measure up? Do you ever feel that others are "too nice" or "too good"?
• Be Indifferent to the Unethical - Do I get emotionally attached to the faults of others? Do I judge them and drag myself into their drama?  Can I let go of my desire to feel superior?