Loving Kindness Meditation - Relationships (30 Mins) 1.30.23

Thank you so much for joining me here today. We are taking 30 minutes to complete a traditional Loving Kindness or Metta meditation as I know it. We repeat phrases to ourselves, sending them to different groups of people. I use the phrases: May you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be safe, may you live with ease. I believe with these practices we can change the world together.

With Love, Namaste - Abbey

Live Recording: 1.30.23

Transcript

Hello and welcome.

Thank you so much for joining me here today.

My name is Abby and I'm a yogi Salesforce engineer and creator of Consider Volunteering,

My personal brand of community empowerment.

During the session,

We will be completing a loving kindness meditation from start to finish.

No prior experience necessary.

I will walk you through the entire process.

No worries.

I greatly appreciate you taking this time to connect with me here today for my loving kindness meditation,

But also for taking this time for yourself in order to gladden the mind,

Maybe prepare for the week,

Hopefully right.

It's Monday while I record these and we're going to have a good week as we transition months here in 2023.

I know I'm looking forward to my changing person myself and can't wait to see the person I end up at the end of the year.

And today,

Hopefully through our loving kindness meditation,

We will find more positive outcomes through our compassion practice,

Finding ways to connect with all beings everywhere.

And so the first part of our practice today is we find our way into a comfortable seat.

So you see me here in my yogi Salesforce room on my meditation cushion somewhere that will be comfortable for the next 30 minutes.

So find your way to a comfortable seat for the next 30 minutes.

Then our practice consists of two parts.

There are two main parts to our practice after we find our comfortable seat.

The first is we are going to repeat a short set of phrases silently to ourselves.

So we will repeat a set of phrases in our heads,

You know,

Mental words.

We will repeat a set of phrases to our selves.

The phrases I will be using today are may I be happy,

May I be healthy,

May I be safe,

May I live with ease,

Do feel free to select your own phrases.

But these are the ones I will use as my examples.

I promise the rhythm comes in time.

I learned these from Sharon Salzberg.

And I definitely recommend you go listen and learn from my teacher,

The source Sharon Salzberg.

But the first set of our loving kindness practice consists of these phrases that we use to focus the mind kind of this visualization type activity,

We set our intention with these phrases we when I hear Sharon talk about them,

She says,

Hold them in your heart.

So I really appreciate that right we're channeling kind of gratitude,

Compassion,

Right loving kindness,

Metta,

And hopefully right combating those negative thoughts I know run too rampant in my head and maybe just maybe run rampant in yours.

The next part of our practice is we send these phrases,

Or we hold as we repeat our phrases,

Different groups of people in mind,

We will send five different groups of people are loving kindness phrases,

Spending five minutes on each group,

Taking up the next 30 minutes together.

The first group will be ourselves.

So we will send our loving kindness phrases to ourselves.

First and foremost,

Filling up our cup before we continue our journey on ending with all beings everywhere.

But we start with the self kind of anchoring in this self,

This physical experience that hopefully lends us to the present moment.

Then we move on to a loving relationship,

A loving relationship that you can call on when times are tough.

So when times are tough,

We cherish this loving relationship during our loving kindness meditation with our sending of the phrases,

Then we move to a neutral relationship,

Often described this as a member of the public.

So a loving relationship,

Then third is our neutral relationship.

Finding this still feeling of compassion,

But right for this more neutral person,

Somebody you don't know very well.

Because the fourth,

We move to a difficult relationship.

So a difficult relationship is our fourth group that we send our loving kindness phrases to.

You see how I call it a journey,

Because we have some ups and we have some downs.

But I promise we end fifth and fourth and finally with all beings everywhere we already can let go and hopefully just be in this realization that we are connected to all right,

I'm one fractal light of the whole being.

And so that's all our loving kindness meditation consists of for today,

Our phrases and our comfortable sitting position.

And we will start sending our phrases to the self.

So hold yourself in your heart,

Being so grateful for taking just short 30 minutes out of your week to cultivate your compassion towards yourself combating those negative thoughts and finding a more positive outlook.

May I be happy.

May I be healthy.

May I be safe.

May I live with ease.

May I be happy.

May I be healthy.

May I be safe.

May I live with ease.

May I be happy.

May I be healthy.

May I be safe.

May I live with ease.

Continue on your own.

My feeling on the self today is a pretty loose one,

As I feel like I've changed a lot in the last week.

I've checked a lot of boxes off my to do list.

I've taken a lot of steps forward.

So I really feel like I'm a shifting person today.

So how do I continue my loving kindness relationship when the self when I'm actively changing who I am,

And then I blow up that experience to my changing of the self throughout my whole life?

Because man,

I've sure changed a lot throughout that timeline.

But yet,

How can this new perspective on our shifting selves and our loving of our shifting selves make more positive outcome for the future?

Maybe that can be our contemplation for today.

May I be happy.

May I be healthy.

May I be safe.

May I live with ease.

May I be happy.

May I be healthy.

May I be safe.

May I live with ease.

Without my dear friends,

It is time to transition away from the self,

Setting down that intention and shifting into our loving relationship for this week.

What loving relationship would you like to remember today to call on when times are tough?

As I know the world seems like a dark place.

But these loving relationships even as light,

Even as deep,

Even as complicated,

Even as breezy,

They mean so much to me,

I believe they contribute greatly to our satisfaction with life.

And so I'm grateful I get this five short minutes.

I'm grateful I get this five short minutes to cherish this loving relationship so I know that it will live on with me forever.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

I laugh because I encourage somebody today to watch a Hallmark movie,

Even though it's probably fashionably a past when we would listen to such holiday movies.

But it is a beautiful snowy day here in amazing Colorado.

What a picturesque place to be,

Very Hallmark-y.

But I believe chocolate,

Hot chocolate is good for the soul.

You know,

This easy breezy warmness that can kind of come after drinking a cup of hot chocolate.

Can that warmness,

Can you call on that whenever?

We can use that as our visualization when we feel like we've lost touch with this loving relationship.

The warmness is always there.

It may dull,

It may change,

But I promise with a pause we can remember.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

And with that,

My dear friends,

It is time to transition away from our loving relationship.

Half of our practice is already gone.

It's practically over by the time it begins.

And we start into our neutral relationship for this week.

A member of the public,

Somebody at the grocery store,

Beside you on the train,

In a public space where you may not feel so connected to the people around you.

Maybe you're just aware of their presence,

But we can take this time to intentionally cultivate some compassion for these interactions with the public so that we can interact with more compassion,

Spreading that small act of kindness,

As I believe that domino effect can change the world.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

I'm thinking about how easy it can be to transition this neutral relationship into a loving one,

Or I guess we should be fair and say how easy it is also to transition it into a difficult one.

But I'd like to think I'd make more friends.

As I was answering a community message today,

Somebody who wants to transition into the Salesforce community,

Do what I do,

And they wanted advice,

Supporting other women through the Denver Women in Technology group.

It's lovely to see a short message turn into virtual coffee,

Turns into turns into attending community events,

Turns into co-hosting community events together.

Such a small seed could blossom into something beautiful.

So cultivating compassion for our neutral relationships does make a difference.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

And with that,

My dear friends,

It is time to set down our neutral relationship for this week.

Taking in that new perspective we've cultivated,

Shifting things slowly but surely,

As all of these sessions work just by moving the energy in our brains with our phrases.

When we take my least favorite part of the practice,

Our difficult relationship now,

Maybe today is the day where you don't have to take on the biggest mountain that you have in your life.

But I promise it's okay if it's all you can think about.

But we take these five minutes to continue to shift these perspectives.

We're really working with ourselves,

Hopefully still able to call on that loving relationship,

That warmth and compassion that we had then.

Now that we're thinking about our difficult relationship,

How can we channel that how can we channel that same warmth?

Maybe a new perspective as there is humanity and all.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

My thoughts for you today on this difficult relationship are some encouragement to never let it hold you back.

What I've learned most from my difficult relationships is who I don't want to be.

But what I found thus lacking when finally finding a new perspective on my difficult relationship is then who do I want to be?

I've spent much more time shying away from what is difficult than leaning in to what feels good,

Even if it is scary,

Even if it's unknown.

And so today I encourage you to continue on,

No matter how difficult this relationship may feel,

You are worth it.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

And with that,

My dear friend,

It is time to transition away from our difficult relationship.

We can set it aside,

Worry about it for next week's practice,

And we open up to all beings everywhere.

How amazing is it that we could possibly be connected to the billions of other living beings on this planet,

To the planet itself,

To all that is energy?

It's quite baffling the mind,

Right?

Can you feel how big the universe is?

No,

No,

I cannot.

Too big.

But I find great release in this kind of massness.

That's why I like cities because you're anonymous in a city.

Nobody knows who I am.

I'm from small town Indiana.

City is,

Nobody knows who I am.

And so channel this freedom,

This ever expansiveness as we cherish our connection to all beings everywhere.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

We've really been on a journey today.

I know I've sure felt it in my body.

Have you felt it in yours?

Can you feel if there's any place in which we could let go a little more?

Is there any lingering tension from any of these uncomfortable moments you might have felt?

Breathe into those areas.

Slowly letting it go into Mother Earth.

Replenishing that energy.

We can call on this always as we are part of the infinite.

One fractal of light of the infinite whole.

We cherish that relationship in the short five minutes with all beings everywhere.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.

With that my dear friends,

We have come to the end of our practice.

Amazing,

Amazing work.

You are a changed person.

You're not the same person as when you sat down.

I like to think I'm a better person when I get up from these meditations.

I can go about the world with more patience,

More love and kindness.

As I hope the world will treat me with such so I practice really hard to send it the same,

Right?

The golden rule.

Until next time my friends,

I hope you're well.

With love,

Namaste.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you live with ease.