Just taking a few moments to get settled into your seated posture.
Noticing where the attention feels naturally drawn.
Which parts of the experience most clearly call our attention.
As we start to welcome this interplay of the streams of sense experience,
Hearing,
Smelling,
Tasting,
Physical sensations and seeing.
Also getting a sense of the quality of the mind.
Sometimes we get a sense of the different types of thoughts arising.
Sometimes it's more just the feeling and flavor of the mind.
We can get a sense of the kind of undercurrent.
Sometimes it feels as if it's the screen through which we receive other experience.
Other times it might simply be an equivalent stream that comes in and out of focus in relationship to the other sense experiences.
But whatever the flavor of mind,
Of heart that we encounter,
Can sometimes be worth exploring.
Just to see if there might be a little bit of softening,
A gentleness toward whatever flavor we're experiencing in the heart and mind.
Whatever the emotional posture is.
Can we bring a little bit of tenderness,
That sense of caring toward that mind heart space.
Maybe we notice we can.
Maybe it doesn't feel particularly available.
But we do try to notice what impact there is in this inclination toward tenderness.
Do we feel any softening in the heart,
Mind?
Any softening in the body?
As we move to start to open the attention to the stream of sounds.
Keeping a little bit of connection to the heart,
Mind,
And quality of attention.
Seeing if there is any harshness,
Any strain in reaching out to here.
Or can the attention really settle back into a soft receptivity?
Receiving these sounds,
Sound formations arising and passing.
Receiving them with gratitude as gifts.
Without focusing on their pleasant or unpleasant qualities.
Without analyzing.
Perhaps attuning simply to the preciousness of each moment of hearing.
The wonder.
The worthiness of each moment of sound.
Of being heard.
Of being received.
Of being cared for.
That we can receive the stream of sound with this tenderness of heart.
And feeling the goodness of that tenderness.
The soft,
Comforting warmth of the heart that is kind,
Caring,
Appreciative of each moment of sound that it receives.
And if there is any sense of this tenderness developing,
Allowing ourselves to feel the goodness of that.
The wholesome beauty of a heart that cares.
That doesn't cling.
But feels its own goodness in the goodness of sound.
And any bit of this tenderheartedness that we might experience.
Letting ourselves feel it fully.
Washing it.
Cleansing it.
Relieved in its levity.
When it dissipates,
Coming back to this receiving of sound.
And finding our way back to this tenderness of heart.
And when that is there,
Focusing more on the tenderness than on the sounds.
Letting them simply be a doorway to this experience of softening of the heart.
Softening of the body.
The same is happening at the eye door.
Even with our eyes closed,
Visual impressions are arising and passing.
Color,
Light,
Shape,
Motion.
Can the heart receive these in that same quality of tenderness?
The preciousness of each moment of sight.
The wonder,
The beauty,
The agility.
Can we find the place in the heart-mind that recognizes its worthiness in feeling that sense of care as best we can?
As the visual impressions change and move or rise and pass,
We may find a deepening stability in this quality of care.
Genuine,
Unattached love for these formations.
Appreciation for the sensitivity of the eyes.
And feeling where we can that softening of the heart.
Feeling it in the body.
Receiving that tenderness ourselves.
Receiving the visual field attuning to care.
Nourishing ourselves with that tenderness in heart,
Mind,
And body.
And when it dissipates,
Finding our way back.
Through sight,
Through sound.
We're starting to receive the sensations of the body in the same way.
This range of pleasure and pain.
The heart can receive the fullness with care.
Appreciation for the sensations that are pleasant.
And feeling the joy,
As small as it might be in the heart.
Caring for the places of discomfort.
And feeling the goodness of that care.
Or simply recognizing the wonder of each moment of physical sensation as worthy of our affection,
Of our well-wishing.
And feeling that tenderness.
The heart,
Mind,
As we receive sensations of the body.
And letting any softening permeate the body as well.
Nourishing the heart center and outward.
With whatever sensations of care,
Of compassion,
Of appreciation that may arise.
Feeling the sense of thirst and of quenching,
Of offering and receiving.
This loving awareness.
Seeing,
Hearing the body.
And including the mind in this growing field of metta.
Of tender heartedness.
All these thoughts,
All these worries,
All these hopes and fears.
Trying,
Wanting,
Not wanting.
Tenderness,
Frustration.
Seeing that can all be received in the same way.
Received with care,
With compassion,
With love.
Not needing to fix our minds,
Change the thoughts.
Receiving them and their arising and passing.
Caring for them as they are.
Recognizing their worthiness.
To be loved.
Bringing the mind into this field of care.
Of acceptance,
Compassion,
Appreciation,
Love.
And any time we feel a sense of connection and tenderness,
Knowing that we can drink from it,
Be nourished by it,
Fill the heart,
Mind,
Body.
Abide in it as long as it lasts.
And when it dissipates,
Finding our way back through any sense door.
Hearing,
Seeing,
Smelling,
Tasting.
The body,
The mind.
There are no experiences that the heart cannot receive with care.
Anything can be folded into the space of tender affection.
And when we find our way,
Abiding in it,
Nourishing ourselves,
Feeling the goodness of this love.
Quenching this deep longing in our hearts.
And trusting more deeply each moment that we can always find our way back.
You
