Sutra 1.33

Picture of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul by Jorge Láscar, via Flickr.

मैत्रीकरुणामुदितोपेक्षणां सुखदुःखपुण्यापुण्यविषयाणांभावनातश्चित्तप्रसादनम्॥३३॥
maitri-karu-naam-uditopeksha-naam sukha-duhkha-punya-apunya-vishayaa-naam bhavana-ata-chitta-prasaada-nam॥33॥
Hariharananda Aranya interprets this as, ‘The mind becomes purified by the cultivation of feelings of amity, compassion, goodwill, and indifference respectively towards happy, miserable, virtuous andsinful creatures.'

First, one has to learn to focus the mind, and only then can one start to see everything as equally important or trivial. All those negativities in our lives are no more relevant or permanent than that which makes us glad.