After attending Dhamma discussions for a while, my teachers started talking about internalizing.  It is one thing to know, but another to believe.  LP Anan related it to the stories about the enlightenment of Buddha’s disciples.  One saw the petals falling off and flower, related it to impermanence and became enlightened…..WOW.  I understand that!  Why am I not enlightened?  It goes beyond understanding, they truly believed.  The first time I can really say that I “believed” happened during a discussion I was having with LP Anan one weekend about my son, Jason.  We were talking about Karma.  We were talking about how I was disciplining/teaching my son.   Of how my way was flawed (I did it because I wanted him to be like me which is an unreasonable expectation).  We talked about karma, cause and effect.  He posed a simple question.  When I grow old, can I see Jason treating me like I treat him now.  I actually imagined it and started to cry.  WOW.  I not only knew that what I did was not right, but in seeing the possible consequences of my actions and felt what Jason felt when I disciplined him.  I believed.  I was like that disciple who understood impermanence by looking at the falling petals.  No, I’m not enlightened, far from it, but I’m starting to understand.  This practice of internalizing (putting yourself  in the other persons shoes and feeling what they feel) has helped me develop compassion which helped me not be so judgmental and has helped me develop compassion.    A few years have passed and my relationship with him has gotten better.  I still have a long way to go in my journey, but this experience gave me another tool to use during my journey…