Jesus said, "If your leaders say to you, 'Look, the (Father's) kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the (Father's) kingdom is within you and it is outside you.
When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you live in poverty, and you are the poverty."
- The Gospel of Thomas
They say that twin souls, twin flames and soul mates reflect what is within each other. Many times you find the same types of issues present in each. In looking at the other in love, you have no choice but to accept the issues and work through them. That's how you grow and spur your soul partner to grow as well.
Yet even in our every day connections we mirror each other. We see in others that which is in ourselves. We can "relate" to some people more than others because of similar circumstances. We can show compassion for those like us, because we too have felt the same way.
We are continually mirroring in one another that which is present in ourselves. Our deepest connections come with those we feel are "on the same page", have the same beliefs as us and concepts about life. We "resonate" with those who are most "like us."
Knowing this and recognizing the traits you most like and dislike about others is a great tool for inner growth. The moment you realize you feel compassion for another notice the reason why. Dig deeper for the instance in your life that you relate the compassion you feel for another to. Ask yourself why and from there expand your scope to other feelings you've had in the past for others. Did you try to make "their" situation like your own or did you try and help them so they wouldn't go through what you went through?
We all relate to one another on a certain level. Where ever our consciousness is operating is where our thoughts are. If it's on negative thoughts, the traits we'll notice will most likely be negative. If we have established belief patterns that are pervasive for a gender, a class, a nationality or race we'll have to work past those patterns of belief before we can actually "connect" to the person that is mirroring ourselves. It is the patterns built within us that keep fogging up the mirror of consciousness. We must work past those to see the clearest reflection.
In some traditions they say the world and events don't come at us, they come from us. Meaning the reality we create for ourselves most often is from the conscious state we broadcast to the universe. The universe, our world, is created "through" us and "from" us. Resonating frequencies and bringing back like vibrations to what we send out.
It makes good sense then to be conscious of the thoughts and beliefs we transmit. For it's not only in the thoughts we think, but in the feeling body as well. Our creative power is so strong we emit it from our very core. This is the blessing of being fashioned like our father. Our feelings about ourselves and others are as strong as, if not more powerful than, our thoughts. For here in the feeling body our beliefs have found fertile ground for roots. We may think our way into "I'm not going to eat that cookie", but most likely our body will say "I really can taste that cookie right now..I need it". The two go hand in hand and when we learn what we are saying and feeling inside ourselves, then we will also know what we are saying and feeling to others and our universe as a whole.