Love And Kindness Metta Meditation- Strengthening Positive Thoughts And Emotions Toward Ourselves And Others

Welcome to this meditation where we're going to practice love and kindness.

The purpose of this meditation is to feel more love for ourselves,

For others,

For all sentient beings.

Practicing love to others cultivates positive thoughts and helps us be in a more positive place in our lives.

We're going to focus on the breath,

Go through the stages of metta and recognize the time we've taken to cultivate these positive thoughts.

Let's begin by acknowledging that we've taken time out of our day to cultivate these thoughts of love and kindness to ourselves,

To those we love,

To others and to all sentient beings.

Let's feel gratitude for the time that we've taken and know what we're doing is a positive thing for ourselves.

So I want you to sit in a relaxed posture,

Your back straight,

Your head high,

Like you have a piece of string to attach the back of it,

Pulling your head up.

So you're focused.

You can put your arms on your lap.

You can face up or down.

The most important thing is that you're comfortable and you're able to gain attention.

If you prefer to lie down,

It's absolutely fine.

There are many different ways to meditate.

And the posture that you choose is your choice.

We're going to bring our attention to our breath.

Focusing breathing in through the nose and out through the nose.

We're going to bring our attention to where the breath comes in through the nostrils and releases through the nostrils.

We're going to do three deep breaths.

One.

Release.

Two.

Release.

Three.

Release.

It's important to recognise that we are in a safe space.

We can fully relax.

And become one with our breath.

Our breathing can return to normal now.

We can breathe in and focus on peace.

In peace.

Out relaxation.

In peace.

Out relaxation.

Peace.

Relaxation.

Peace.

Relaxation.

Peace.

Relaxation.

Peace.

Relaxation.

I want you to feel the whole body relax.

Muscles in your face and your shoulders.

Softening your stomach.

Relaxing your legs.

Or maintaining a focused posture.

Allowing your whole body to breathe.

We're going to focus on the first stage of matter.

We're going to bring ourselves into mind.

We're going to say to ourselves.

May I be well.

May I be happy.

May I be free from suffering.

And when we say this we want to say it with authenticity.

Kindness and compassion to ourselves.

Recognising that we want to be well and happy.

Free from suffering.

Let's kindly wish this upon ourselves.

May I be well.

May I be happy.

May I be free from suffering.

May I be well.

May I be happy.

May I be free from suffering.

May I be well.

May I be happy.

May I be free from suffering.

May I be well.

May I be happy.

May I be free from suffering.

Going to move to the second stage of matter.

I want you to bring into your mind someone that you care for very deeply.

Someone you love.

Imagine them in your mind's eye.

Picture them.

Maybe their face.

The details of their face.

And we're going to wish matter upon them.

Love and kindness.

And share this kindness with them from ourselves.

May you be well.

May you be happy.

May you be free from suffering.

May you be well.

May you be happy.

May you be free from suffering.

Can you be well.

May you be happy.

May you be free from suffering.

We're gonna move into the next stage of matter,

Bringing to mind,

Someone you know in neutral space in your life.

Maybe someone you see on a regular basis,

Someone that you don't have deep emotion for.

Maybe someone at the shop,

Or on your walk to work.

I'm gonna practice our matter towards them,

Recognizing that we all want to be well and happy,

Free from suffering.

Picture their face,

Details of their face in your mind's eye,

And say,

May you be well,

May you be happy,

May you be free from suffering.

May you be well,

May you be happy,

May you be free from suffering.

May you be well,

May you be happy,

May you be free from suffering.

Now I'm going to move on to the next stage of matter,

And we're gonna bring into mind someone who's a bit more difficult in our lives,

Someone who we might feel anger or frustration towards.

We're gonna bring them in our mind's eye and recognize that they too,

Just like us,

Want to be well and happy and free from suffering.

We're gonna bring them into our mind's eye,

Focus on the detail of their face,

And say to them,

May you be well,

May you be happy,

May you be free from suffering.

May you be well,

May you be happy,

May you be free from suffering.

May you be well,

May you be happy,

May you be free from suffering.

When we imagine this person being free from suffering,

Being happy,

Being well,

We see them in a different light.

We see them just like us,

Trying to be well,

Trying to be happy,

Trying to be free from their suffering.

Now we're gonna bring into mind all of us,

Ourselves,

The person we feel great love for,

The neutral person,

And the person we've experienced difficulties with.

Imagine us standing in a circle,

Maybe holding our breath,

Maybe us standing in a circle,

Maybe holding hands.

And we're going to give our metta to each other.

We're going to distribute our love and kindness equally towards each other,

Not giving more to one person,

But an equal distribution.

When I want you to imagine this,

I want you to imagine looking in each other's eyes and seeing each other through this,

Recognizing that we all want to be well and happy,

Free from suffering,

That we're all human,

And we all have this goal in life.

So let's say together,

May we be well,

May we be happy,

May we be free from suffering,

May we be well,

May we be happy,

May we be free from suffering,

May we be well,

May we be happy,

May we be happy.

May we be free from suffering.

May we be well.

May we be happy.

May we be free from suffering.

It's important to recognise that all of us want to be well and happy,

Free from suffering.

That we all share the experience and we're all doing our best.

Now if we feel that we've cultivated love and kindness to these peoples in our lives,

We're able to expand our circle.

Maybe you can bring into mind everybody in your local area,

Or in your local tight knit community.

Let's say to all of them,

May we be well.

May we be happy.

May we be free from suffering.

May we be well.

May we be happy.

May we be free from suffering.

May we be well.

May we be happy.

May we be free from suffering.

May we be well.

May we be happy.

May we be free from suffering.

And broaden our circle of love and kindness.

To people in our wider community,

Maybe in our state,

Or general area.

And wish all of those people well and happy to be free from suffering.

Recognising that those two,

Just like us,

Experience these emotions.

May we be well.

May we be happy.

May we be free from suffering.

May we be well.

May we be happy.

May we be free from suffering.

May we be well.

May we be happy.

May we be free from suffering.

May we be well,

May we be happy,

May we be free from suffering.

Now we're going to expand our love and kindness even further,

Taking to mind your whole country and imagining love and kindness radiating from you all over your land and saying to everybody in your country who all want to be well,

Who all want to be happy and all want to be free from suffering just like us.

May we be well,

May we be happy,

May we be free from suffering.

May we be well,

May we be happy,

May we be free from suffering.

May we be well,

May we be happy,

May we be free from suffering.

We're going to expand our metta even further,

Taking to our minds the whole world and all of its people,

Recognizing that those two just like us want to be well and happy and also free from suffering.

Taking into mind the whole world,

May we be well,

May we be happy,

May we be free from suffering.

May we be well,

May we be happy,

May we be free from suffering.

May we be well,

May we be happy,

May we be free from suffering.

Now we're going to expand our metta to all sentient beings here on earth and throughout the universe.

Imagine your love and kindness expanding out from you into the universe,

Yourself being like a radiant light,

Pulsing kindness and love,

Peace and compassion,

Understanding and empathy.

Saying to all sentient beings,

May we be well,

May we be happy,

May we be free from suffering.

May we be well,

May we be happy,

May we be free from suffering.

May we be well,

May we be happy,

May we be free from suffering.

It's important to take into mind that we spent time today cultivating love and kindness,

Developing strong neuron paths in our brains so we can think lovingly and kindly to ourselves and to others.

We're also programming our brain to understand that people just like us want to be well and happy and free from suffering.

We all share in the same human experience,

We all share in our reality and when we practice love and kindness we try and make our reality as well as others reality more positive and we practice compassion and empathy.

As we go out through our day we'll carry our love and kindness with us and if we have a moment of frustration to ourselves or to others we'll simply say may we be well,

May we be happy,

May we be free from suffering.

Have a peaceful day,

Be nice to yourself,

Be nice to others.