Welcome to the Mindfulness Without Bells and Beads meditation series.
Unconditional Friendliness Meditation This meditation practice strengthens our capacity for compassion and kindness towards ourselves and others.
These can be trained just like any muscle in the body.
Deliberately bringing up feelings of unconditional friendliness and kindness allows us to experience and intensify those feelings,
Thereby strengthening the related neural pathways in our brain.
This enables us to access and use these emotions on a more regular basis when interacting with others as well as being more self-compassionate and treating ourselves as we would a friend,
Helping us release the impulse to harshly attack ourselves.
In this meditation,
We'll bring up these emotions and offer them to ourselves and others.
Let's begin.
Beginning by taking a seated posture and settling in for the exercise.
Once you're reasonably settled,
Allowing the eyes to close if that's comfortable,
Otherwise lowering your gaze and softening your focus,
And tuning into your attention and awareness.
Just noticing whatever is here in the mind and body for a few moments,
Allowing whatever you notice to be just as it is,
And letting go of any impulse to wish things to be different or to wish them away.
Holding the body with an attitude of unconditional friendliness and care.
And beginning to sense the movement of the breath in the heart area near the center of the chest.
The capacity for unconditional friendliness and kindness exists within all of us.
The ability to be supportive,
Open,
And kind towards others.
Bringing to mind now someone for whom you have deep feelings of affection or love.
It can be anyone,
A child,
Friend,
Partner,
Or anyone who evokes feelings of love and kindness.
As the image or thought of this person arises,
Noticing any physical response that arises along with it.
Perhaps your chest becomes warm,
Or your face softens into a slight smile,
Or perhaps something else.
Then turning toward whatever comes up and inviting it in to be fully felt and experienced.
Releasing this person from the mind and keeping on the main stage of awareness of feelings that arose with them.
And now offering these same feelings of unconditional friendliness and kindness to yourself by opening to the following words.
May I be safe.
May I be healthy.
May I have the courage to meet life fully.
May I be at peace with the inevitable ups and downs of life.
Noticing any feelings that arise and allowing them to be just as they are,
Holding them in mindful awareness.
And now directing unconditional friendliness and kindness to someone who has supported you in your life.
Bringing this person to mind and offering these words silently to them.
May you be safe.
May you be healthy.
May you have the courage to meet life fully.
May you be at peace with the inevitable ups and downs of life.
Noticing any feelings that arise and allowing them to be just as they are,
Holding them in mindful awareness.
Bringing to mind now someone with whom you may not get along so well.
Perhaps someone you have friction with from time to time.
It's best not to start with the most challenging person,
But someone who it's not as easy to wish well.
And seeing if you can offer these words silently while keeping this person on the main stage of awareness.
May you be safe.
May you be healthy.
May you have the courage to meet life fully.
May you be at peace with the inevitable ups and downs of life.
Noticing any feelings that arise and allowing them to be just as they are,
Holding the entire experience in non-judgmental mindful awareness.
And seeing if you can open up this offer to the wider community,
Family,
Friends,
Neighbors,
And colleagues,
Perhaps expanding to include everyone and yourself as you silently offer these words to all.
May we be safe.
May we be healthy.
May we have the courage to meet life fully.
May we be at peace with the inevitable ups and downs of life.
Noticing whatever sensations and feelings arise,
And sitting with them for a few moments.
Now returning attention to the breath for the last few moments of this exercise.
Reducing the full duration of each in-breath and out-breath.
And when you're ready,
Inviting you to open your eyes if you've closed them,
Bringing your attention back into the room you're in,
Giving yourself a moment to get your bearings,
Before moving into the next part of your day.
