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.
And today we are back with Meditation Monday.
So I'm really excited to be back with another session of loving kindness meditation or meta meditation.
Over the next 30 minutes,
We will complete one of these meta loving kindness meditations from start to finish.
No prior experience necessary.
I will walk you through all of the steps.
And the first step will be to find your way to a comfortable seat.
So I sit on a yoga cushion here in my or a meditation cushion here in my yoga office room.
But please do feel free to select whatever position feels good for your body that your body can maintain for the next 30 minutes.
So we will be together for 30 minutes.
So pick a comfortable position for your body in that amount of time.
And so that's the first part of our meditation.
As I have selected this particular loving kindness or meta meditation because I believe each and every session is worthwhile for us.
No matter how we show up today,
As long as we attempt to repeat our phrases as many times as we can,
To these different groups of individuals,
I believe it gladdens the mind by flexing our brains instilling these more positive intentions,
Combating those negative thoughts.
And so that's why I've chosen to share this particular kind of meditation because I think it is beneficial each and every time hopefully making the world a better place.
And if you've stuck with me for this long,
I greatly appreciate you.
As the meditation today consists of two main parts after we found our comfortable seat.
So after finding our seat,
The first part of our loving kindness met meditation is the set of phrases.
So I've alluded to this set of phrases many times.
And I will use this particular set of phrases as my examples today.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be safe.
May you live with ease.
These are just example phrases.
Do feel free to select your own.
I promise the rhythm will come in time.
But these example phrases kind of set our intention,
Give us something to focus on.
Just reminded of magic and that we have a focus towards things.
We like sci-fi in this house.
So laughing at this,
My particular magic with these phrases,
They're going to set my mood and shift my energy in our session for today more positively with these very light and hopefully beneficial phrases as we send these phrases to five different groups.
So we'll send these five groups of people our loving kindness phrases today.
First ourselves,
We fill up our cup before moving on.
Second is a loving relationship.
So loving relationship receives our phrases.
Second,
Really embracing that love.
So we can share it with others.
Third is a neutral relationship.
Somebody you don't know well,
But maybe see regularly,
A member of our community,
How we can't bring a more positive relationship to a neutral relationship.
Fourth will be a difficult relationship.
So fourth is my least favorite group,
But we must find balance in all things.
And so fourth,
We send our loving kindness phrases to a difficult relationship in your life.
And then fifth,
We end with all beings everywhere.
All beings everywhere that we share this beautiful planet and this ever expanding universe.
So we will finally send our phrases to all beings everywhere.
Hopefully all beings can find peace and love,
Just giving each other a chance to live for real.
And so that is the end of the instruction that I have for you today.
Our phrases that we repeat to our different groups of individuals after we found our particular comfortable seat,
As it is now time to shift into our first group of the self.
So the hardest part is getting here.
Pressing the start button is really the hardest and the hardest part.
Once I started,
The time goes by so fast.
So we are super grateful that we've taken this short 30 minutes for the self today to fill up our cup as we start the week,
Hopefully on the right foot in this beautiful season of spring,
75 degrees here today in beautiful Colorado.
I'm so grateful to live here.
And so we first set our intention for the self.
I'm holding myself accountable.
I'm supporting the self always.
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.
And continue on your own.
I find myself being very critical of the self today.
Like I'm not checking enough off of my to do list.
But what we must remember when we find ourselves in the state of mind,
Much as my reminder as it is for you,
We don't need to be productive every amount of the day.
I think it's not a good mindset to know your ROI for every second of the day.
I think we should have time to be bored to let creativity blossom,
To allow us space to connect with the world around us.
So this is a reminder where we breathe in.
I am enough.
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.
And with that,
My dear friends,
It is time to take one last notice of how the self feels.
Drinking it in as we transition into our loving relationship for this week.
Our loving relationship that we want to cherish in our short five minutes of loving kindness meditation today,
Your dog,
Your mentor,
Teacher,
Friend,
Family,
No matter the loving relationship,
We are going to fill ourselves up with this hopefully warm and light feeling as love makes this life worth living,
Or at least one of those factors.
We cherish it so and hope to spread it more.
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.
I'm getting a sense of a forced relationship today.
One in which you're meant to love this particular person as in family,
We love them.
Even though maybe it's difficult to love them,
Right?
Some relationship are just forced,
You know,
We like different things,
We have different vibes,
All of those.
Some people are just easier to meet.
But what if it's the opposite where it's somebody we're supposed to love,
But it isn't so easy?
How can't we be more present to let the love that's naturally there between all living beings come through?
So we don't need to force this love anymore,
Because it's already there between all of us.
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.
How do you feel most loved by me?
And with that,
My dear friend,
It is time to notice how this loving relationship has made you feel today.
Maybe what you notice most is how it's different from last week,
From last time.
Those shifts are the beautiful pieces to notice.
And with that,
We transition to our neutral relationship for this week.
Maybe it's one face that comes to mind or many faces.
I like to almost feel the community around me,
Those I see regularly but don't know so much.
As I hope that everybody in my community may have the same opportunities that I do,
I hope more of that parity comes about.
And in a small way,
These loving kindness phrases support that.
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.
I have more general advice for you at this moment in that I stumble over my words in these meditations because I don't necessarily pre-plan everything I have to say.
I don't want to pre-plan everything I have to say.
I want to be authentic in the moment,
Hopefully connecting with this energy that shows up.
But what happens is this run-on of thoughts,
Right,
Where we get too fast,
And we get lost,
And we're not too sure where we're going to go,
And we start to overthink things.
And so one thing that I chose to do was no longer speak the words in my head.
I turned off the inner monologue so that I don't need to berate myself a second time with the thoughts.
I feel them,
They come and they go.
And there's a beauty that's come to my life in this time.
Maybe this beauty can come to yours.
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,
We take one last pause to notice how our relationship with community has shifted in this last five minutes.
And we start into our difficult relationship for this week.
Doesn't have to be the most difficult relationship that you have,
But if it is,
I find that many small movements is always beneficial.
So maybe today is that first step that you take in this most difficult of relationship.
But either way,
Whatever difficult relationship you pick,
We will find a new perspective on it today,
Tomorrow,
Next week.
No need to add those second arrows.
We want to give ourselves the best shot to move past this difficult relationship.
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.
I feel as though I'm in a shifting phase of my life.
These happen more and more regularly,
Which is scary and terrifying,
But hopefully with enough practice,
They will be better changes for the future.
But in this particular shift,
I have kind of felt as though I've regressed in some ways.
Forever changing my mind about how I feel about things and changing it again.
As I learn more,
I gain new perspectives.
I contemplate what I want in life.
Forever the balancing act between it all.
And so know that progress is not linear.
We have the ability to change a million times over many more times than we can possibly fathom.
And that's the beauty of life.
It's immense possibility.
But with these phrases,
I hope maybe just maybe the energy might move you into a place where you're more happy,
More compassionate,
More in love.
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 without my dear friends,
It is time to take one last notice of how you feel after sending our loving kindness phrases to our difficult relationship.
How have you felt throughout your different check-ins today?
How have you shifted and moved?
I for sure know I'm a new Abby.
As we transition into all beings everywhere,
I really want you to let go of any of those maybe uncomfortable thoughts that we've just had and really release into these many billions and millions of possibilities that we have in front of us for the future.
I hope those many possibilities may lead you to love and happiness.
May it lead us all,
All beings everywhere,
To love and happiness.
May all beings.
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.
When I think of living life,
I often think of big events.
Lots of people,
Taylor Swift concerts are definitely on that list of activities.
But life also comes in these very small shifts and changes.
Ants,
Microns,
Atoms,
You know,
Things we can't even see.
And so how can't we find joy?
Not only these big,
Huge,
Stimulating things,
But also can we find that same electric joy in the rustle of the wind and the trees?
May all beings.
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,
Our practice is through.
Do try to take that one last notice.
How you've shifted,
Hopefully opened up into all beings everywhere.
Those many possibilities that we have for each and every one of us.
Oh,
How I crave a slower life.
Man,
These 30 minutes go by so fast and I'd really love to savor all of the 30 minutes without needing to fill my thoughts with anxiety.
It gets better.
Together,
We can hold each other accountable each and every week.
We come back to practice.
And so all we can do is ask for a try.
We practice the best we can.
Do be gentle with yourself as you get up from your seat.
I know my legs are always falling asleep.
But until next time,
With love,
Namaste.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be safe.
May you live with ease.
