Let's begin this loving-kindness meditation sitting in a comfortable position,
Resting your eyes,
Bringing your attention to the breath,
Noticing the quality of the sensations as you inhale in,
Feeling that expansion in the chest,
And noticing the quality of the exhales as the air exits your nostrils or your mouth,
Whatever's comfortable,
Noticing the relaxing,
The sinking of the chest,
Just being with the natural rhythm of your breath,
Not needing to make it any different than what it naturally is,
Coming into a state of peacefulness and stillness.
And from this place of peace and calm can be a beautiful practice to slowly,
Gently turn the corners of your lips upwards towards your eyes,
Placing a slight smile on the face,
Noticing the uplifting quality this smile has,
Perhaps there's a slight warmth in the body,
Slight upturn of positivity,
Just placing the smile on the face and being with the smile.
And from there,
We'll begin our metta,
Our loving-kindness meditation by beginning to generate feelings of love and kindness towards yourself,
Allowing this warmth from the smile on the face to flood through your body,
Through your being,
Rays of kindness,
Rays of love towards yourself.
And in your mind you can silently repeat after me,
May I be happy,
May I be safe and protected,
May I be healthy and well,
May I be free from suffering,
May I be free,
Allowing each of these phrases to be an offering to yourself.
Sometimes this feels difficult,
Sometimes we don't feel worthy of our own love,
Of our own kindness,
We might feel self-indulgent,
Or a critical voice might come forward,
And if you're feeling or thinking any of these things,
It's okay,
We can hold space for those voices,
For those parts too.
We'll just peacefully return to that smile on the face,
Gently feeling the smile,
Letting well wishes circulate in the body.
And from here,
We're going to extend these well wishes to a loved one.
So bring to mind somebody who you care for deeply,
Someone who makes you smile,
Someone who supports you,
Loves you,
Cares for you.
Bring to mind this dear person,
And hold them gently in your heart as we say,
May you be happy,
May you be safe and protected,
May you be healthy and well,
May you be free from suffering,
May you be free.
Feeling the sincerity behind each of these words,
Letting them flow from your heart,
Out into the collective,
Out toward this person who you love.
And now we'll extend this positive energy to a neutral person.
And so just think of somebody who you don't have any strong feelings for,
You don't particularly like them or dislike them,
Maybe you don't know them very well.
This could be a neighbor,
A distant acquaintance,
Or a person you ran into today at the coffee shop or checking you out at the grocery store.
You might not even know their name.
But just visualize this person.
Visualize them and connect to this gentle smile on the face.
And we'll send them these well wishes.
May you be happy,
May you be safe and protected,
May you be healthy and well,
May you be free from suffering,
May you be free.
Allowing these well wishes to permeate your being,
Permeate outward,
Entering the collective,
Going toward this person who you held in your mind.
And now we'll extend these same well wishes to someone who you find difficult,
This might be a person who you have some tension or conflict with.
It might be a person in your life or it might be a greater person,
A leader,
Maybe a boss,
Maybe a political leader.
And you don't need to choose somebody too challenging.
There's no medal,
There's no award for your capacity to accept the greatest person of conflict.
It can be very small,
It can be someone who you've had a small disagreement with or someone who just slightly pushes your buttons.
It's a very good place to start.
This exercise can be challenging.
And so it's okay if you don't feel totally sincere as you say these words in your mind,
But it's a great place to begin just by trying them.
So holding this difficult person in our mind,
We say,
May you be happy,
May you be safe and protected,
May you be healthy and well,
May you be free from suffering,
And may you be free.
Seeing if you can open up just a little more space in your heart for compassion,
For understanding,
For patience,
As you send these well wishes out.
And finally,
We'll end by expanding our awareness to include all beings,
Near and far,
Known and unknown.
Imagine wrapping not just the world,
But the whole universe in your loving kindness.
All of the plants,
The animals,
The minerals,
The fungi,
All of the people,
All of the beings,
Wishing them well.
We say,
May you be happy,
May you be safe and protected,
May you be healthy and well,
May you be free from suffering,
May you be free.
Resting in this feeling of spacious love,
Resting in connection to all beings,
Everywhere.
You are one of those beings,
Just as you can send love out to everyone and everything,
You too are a part of everyone and everything,
And you too can and deserve to receive this love.
So receive it now,
Connecting once more to that gentle smile on the face,
Feeling the warmth of kindness,
Of acceptance,
Of benevolent well wishes.
We'll rest in this warmth for one minute,
Before closing the meditation.
And concluding this practice now,
Just taking a moment to notice how you feel,
What it feels like within your body,
What it feels like within your mind.
Connecting once more to this sense of kindness,
These well wishes,
And carrying them with you as you move through your day.
