Metta Meditation: Practicing Loving Kindness (66)

Hi everyone and welcome back to how the Wise One Grows. Before we dive into today's meditation, I want to take a moment to share one of the core values of this podcast with you. So one of the core values of this podcast, and one of my motivations for showing up for this, is Donna, and Donna is a Sanskrit and Polly word that is all about giving from the heart. It's a practice of giving from the heart and, honestly, it's at the heart of this journey we're on together. One of the intentions of this podcast is to shed light on the ways we can support each other as a collective community. So throughout this podcast, I'm going to continue to shine light on inspiring people and nonprofits in our community and share practical ways you can practice Donna by supporting their work, and it's my deepest intention and desire to grow and build a strong foundation and stable funding for this podcast so that we can support not only this podcast but also use this platform and our dream team to make meaningful contributions to various nonprofits and people doing impactful work in the community. If you have the financial capacity, you can practice Donna by joining the dream team for as little as $3 a month. This is going to help to establish that foundation, so that the podcast can have stable funding and so that we can also support organizations in the community. And if you don't have financial capacity, you can still practice, donna, by sharing an episode that you love with a friend or a loved one and leaving a review. Thanks for listening to that, and now for the heart of today's meditation. So, as I was reflecting on episode 65, one of the key elements and benefits that I came to understand about the Enneagram is the ways that it helps us to understand and have compassion for ourselves and others. So this conversation about the Enneagram and the ways it can inspire understanding and compassion reminded me of one of my favorite meditations, which is a meta, a loving, kindness meditation. This practice has personally helped me heal myself and helped heal challenging relationships for me as well, and I'm really grateful to share this one with you today. This is when you can practice again and again. You can honestly download this episode, the timestamps in the show notes, and practice this every single day. So settle in, find a space that feels safe and supportive for you. Let's get started. Begin by using your sense of sight to notice where you are right now. If it feels safe. You can gently rest your eyes, or soft in your gaze, soft in your shoulders, down the back Notice where your body connects to the earth and take a big breath in and a big breath out, two more like this Inhale, fill your chest, fill your belly with air, exhale, let it out. One more inhale and exhale and then just surrender to the natural rhythm and intuition of the breath as it moves in and out of the body. If there's any tension in the body, maybe you send the breath to that point. Notice if it can soften any amount. And we're going to begin by cultivating compassion towards our self. So just imagine yourself where you're seated right now and if you're feeling really low about yourself and you don't feel like you can give yourself compassion in this moment, and if offering yourself compassion right now feels impossible, imagine yourself as a child, kind of. Take a bird's eye view of yourself here and repeat the words in your mind May I be safe, may I be happy, may I be healthy, may I live with you. Repeat the words again in your mind Now. Call to mind someone that is really easy to love. You just have overflowing feelings of affection and warmth to this being. For me, it's my dog, luna. So picture that loved one in front of you as clearly as you can and look that soul in the eyes and say may you be safe, may you be happy, may you be healthy, may you live with ease. And repeat that one more time in your mind. Now call to mind someone you feel pretty neutral about, someone you don't have really overwhelming feelings for. This can be the cashier at the grocery store or someone you pass on the street and imagine yourself looking them in the eye and repeat may you be safe, may you be happy, may you be healthy, may you live with ease. Repeat it one more time in your mind. Now call to mind someone that you have more challenging, complex feelings towards, and picture this person standing before you, look them in the eye and repeat May you be safe, may you be happy, may you be healthy, may you live with ease. Repeat it again in your mind May you be happy, may you be happy. Now imagine this compassion extending to everyone in your community, in your country and for all living beings on the planet. So picture this giant cluster of life around you and look at it in the eyes or, if it's an element of nature, something that feels like an eye and repeat May you be safe, may you be happy, may you be healthy, may you live with ease. Now, perhaps, bring one or both hands to your heart and repeat in your mind May all beings be happy and free, even me. Inhale and exhale, and then you can slowly open your eyes as you return to this space.