Hi,
It's Rebecca here.
I want to share something with you that I found incredibly helpful when I was going through my breast cancer treatment.
It's a loving-kindness meditation and I'd come across it many years ago with the teachings of Jack Cornfield and then Sharon Salzberg and I just was called somehow during my treatment to find some words that would really help me,
That would become my prayer I guess in a way.
And these are the words that really struck a chord with me and I'd like to share them with you now.
May my spirit be strong.
May I be safe and protected.
May I know deep healing.
May I be held by love.
I found deep reassurance in reciting,
Saying these words over and over and over again to myself and especially when I was struggling with the onslaught of chemotherapy and just resting in bed as much as I could,
The feelings of overwhelm and fear and panic and all of that and I just found that reciting these words were of deep comfort to me.
There were times that I would almost just repeat and repeat and repeat and then there were other times that after each phrase I would pause and I would think about what it meant for me in that moment.
May my spirit be strong.
And I'd often affirm that yes,
My spirit was strong.
It was incredibly strong.
I was powerful.
I'd got this.
I could make it.
How incredible was my spirit.
May I be safe and protected.
I really felt that.
I was in my own very comfortable bed.
I knew that the sea was almost at the end of the road even though if I couldn't get to it I could know it was there.
I was safe and protected with the deep caring from the chemo nurses and my oncology and surgical team I felt in safe hands and I was grateful in that moment for the brilliance of science and medicine which meant that I had very good chances of staying alive.
And even whilst I felt overwhelming nausea and physical weakness from all the treatment I knew that deep healing was taking place.
The more that I could rest my body,
The more I could do my job which is what that felt and was for me.
I was healing not just my body but my soul as well.
I was healing from past wounds and even though I was utterly immobilized in bed for so many months drifting in and out of sleep,
Deep rest was what I was doing as I reflected on my life.
And may I be held by love.
Yes I was.
I had never felt such love in my life.
I feel emotional thinking about it now.
I was surrounded by those who cared deeply for me for my well-being and my healing and then it helped me turn that love inwards and feel that same love for myself.
I found it incredibly humbling.
And then we move on in the traditional loving-kindness or meta meditation is that we then consider extending that meditation,
That loving-kindness meditation to someone that we know really well,
Someone we care for deeply.
So I'd often then repeat each sentence and hold them in an embrace in my mind if you like.
May your spirit be strong.
May you be safe and protected.
May you know deep healing.
May you be held by love.
And then the meditation continues and we reach out then we extend it to someone we don't know so well,
An acquaintance,
Maybe someone who lives down the road that we see out on a dog walk or it could be the server in a cafe.
And I would reflect on those in my life who touched my life but in an indirect way.
And the person that came to mind was my postman,
Because I had so much mail coming last year.
There were cards and gifts and so he was busy coming to my house.
And I would say,
May their spirit be strong.
May they be safe and protected.
May they know deep healing.
May they be held by love.
And then finally,
And this can feel the greatest challenge,
Is to extend the meditation to someone that we dislike,
Someone we find discomfort with being in their company,
Someone who irritates us maybe.
And sometimes during that time I'd find it easier to extend these words instead to our troubled world in a way that's not so difficult to understand.
In its entirety.
And I would say,
May our spirit be strong.
May we be safe and protected.
May we know deep healing.
May we be held by love.
And I would feel a deep sense of peace.
Now that I'm on the other side of my cancer journey and becoming stronger,
I felt the need to change the words to different ones that now resonate with me,
And ones that will fill my heart with hope and love.
And these are the words I now say.
May I be held in loving kindness.
May I be healthy and strong.
May my peaceful heart be filled with love.
May I experience joy and well-being.
And I leave you now,
Dear listener,
With these words.
May you be held in loving kindness.
May you be healthy and strong.
May your peaceful heart be filled with love.
May you experience joy and well-being.
I'm curious to know if you practice loving kindness meditation,
And how you find it benefits you.
Do leave me a message and I'll be sure to get back to you.
Sending love.
