Go ahead and take a moment to deeply inhale,
And as you do,
Notice the sensations of clothing moving or shifting as your body takes in air.
And again,
As you exhale,
Next,
Think about someone you love.
Maybe picture them.
Call to your senses the way that they feel,
And the way that it feels to love them.
Now picture their face.
Picture them smiling at you.
What's the last thing you did together?
What would it feel like to see them again?
Did the corners of your mouth turn up a little bit?
Good.
It's working.
Keep your attention on your loved one.
And allow your imagination to put the two of you together in a delightful place that you love and feel safe in.
Maybe one of your homes,
Or a fictional place that you can imbue with security,
Warmth,
And ease.
Focus again on the face of your loved one as you observe their physical features that you know so well.
Look at their relaxed forehead.
Their smile.
Their hands.
Fill your awareness with the fullness of this imagined moment with one of your favorite people.
Now we'll send them some phrases of loving kindness spoken directly from our hearts to theirs.
May you be at ease.
May you be safe.
And may you be filled with loving kindness.
Try that a few times on your own.
Keeping a light touch of awareness on your breathing body.
The shifting clothing on your skin as you breathe in and out.
Scanning the face and body of your loved one.
Really connecting with them in your imagination.
May you be at ease.
May you be safe.
May you be filled with loving kindness.
When a distracting thought pulls your focus away,
Try this.
Bring the feeling of a smile into your heart space.
Allow the feeling of upturned corners of the mouth to spread in your chest and turn your attention back to your loved one.
May you be at ease.
May you be safe.
May you be filled with loving kindness.
Trust yourself with a few more minutes of this practice.
Noticing the dance of attention,
Distraction,
Ease,
Challenge.
Notice it all unfolding at the same time.
Allowing your body to be an open field of awareness.
I'll watch the time.
You watch your mind.
May you be at ease.
May you feel safe.
May you be filled with loving kindness.
So what is it like to try to keep your attention on someone you love?
Probably not as challenging as keeping your attention on something like the breath.
This is because our minds enjoy the steady stream of loving chemicals that we get when we turn our attention to a loved one.
We feel safe and serene basking in loving memories and it's therefore easier for our attention to be held.
Just remember what it was like to hold the gaze of someone you were in love with and how time seemed to stand still.
You didn't care what was happening in the world or on your phone.
Nothing else existed except the gaze of your loved one.
What we can do slowly and over dedicated practice is hack into this natural phenomenon of undivided attention we easily get something or someone we love deeply.
We'll go ahead and play with this a little bit right now since we have the momentum of our loving kindness practice within us.
What we'll experiment with next is turning our loving attention to attention itself.
If that sounds complicated and meta then just ignore whatever layers of complexity open up with the prospect.
Keep that upturned smile spreading through your chest and let's drop back into meditation.
This time choose a sense,
Seeing,
Hearing or feeling,
Up to you.
Just whatever is most present for you at this moment.
See if you can feel deeply into the truth of this sense.
If you're focusing on seeing,
Notice how clear and bright the colors and textures are around you.
If you're using the sense of hearing,
Feel into the depth and richness of sound.
Consider for a moment the simple miracle of this sense,
The basic and fundamental blessing of it.
Let's try deepening this practice just a little bit.
As you're watching the play of light or listening to the depth of sound,
Try to imbue your focused attention with the same quality of loving kindness and care that you did your attention to your loved one.
Just as you notice the fine details of your loved one's face and body,
Bring loving attention and awareness to the details of your present time sense experience.
And then repeat the following.
Ease.
Safety.
Loving kindness.
Watch what happens as your experience of this sense evolves.
As distractions arrive and as you just as easily let them go,
Notice the serene and miraculous qualities of sensation and pay them the compassionate reverence that you know comes easily when you consider something you love.
Ease.
Safety.
Loving kindness.
Turn now to the experiences of your body.
Your breathing,
Living body.
Notice the way that breathing shifts your experience of your body with each inhale and exhale.
Notice the open heartedness that lingers from your loving kindness practice.
And see if you can deepen that compassionate response and turn it toward yourself.
May I find ease.
May I find safety.
May I find loving kindness.
Let's be here with these sensations for a while.
As your attention shifts gradually and naturally from the body to the senses,
To memories or distractions,
Back to the breath,
And so on.
Watch the attention as it changes and moves.
Shifting.
Opening.
Narrowing.
Opening again.
Ease.
Safety.
Loving kindness.
Okay,
That's it for this meditation.
I hope this loving awareness of attention itself will help you as you create a simple,
Safe place for you to go.
Your durable home.
