So just taking all the time you need to land back into the silence softly.
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Cozy with the gentle rain outside.
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And taking time to settle into your body.
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Listening to your body's needs.
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Perhaps adjusting a piece of clothing that is tight or some place that your body's pinched or strained.
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Scratching any itches perhaps.
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Maybe slightly stretching your spine.
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Finding a comfortable place for your hands.
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Balancing your head so that you can let any tightness or tensions in the face start to drain.
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Draining down the spine into the ground.
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As you fully occupy your space on the mat.
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And the air around you connecting you to spiritual friends on either side.
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So I'm going to lead a guided metta meditation.
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But just follow along in your own way.
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At your own speed.
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Allowing the metta to flow naturally.
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Receiving my words as suggestions rather than a fixed way to do the metta practice.
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So to begin.
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Connecting with a person who is very easy to love.
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Connecting from your heart.
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Letting their face.
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Their image.
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The sense of their presence come to mind.
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Noticing any effect in your body.
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In your emotional world.
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When you bring this dear person to mind.
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Maybe a teacher.
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A benefactor.
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A guardian.
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A parent or a friend.
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And just gently connecting with your deepest wishes for them.
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Ways that they too would like to be.
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And just enjoying offering them this gift of your full loving kindness.
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Without any expectation or demand.
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Just trusting this metta to flow.
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And enjoying the beauty of giving.
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Allowing it to soften and melt the heart.
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Relaxing you deeply.
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And as the loving kindness starts to grow in your heart and towards this friend.
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It starts to spill over into this room to all your fellow meditators.
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Circling around us all.
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And growing stronger the more it's shared.
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Wishing all of us here in this room to be happy.
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Safe and free.
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Free from all our anger,
All our pain.
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Bringing peace and joy to our hearts.
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As though the whole room was starting to glow.
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Shimmer.
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With this beautiful soft warm loving kindness.
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Protecting.
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Healing.
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Relieving any pain.
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Imagining us all sitting with a smile.
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Soaked through.
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With goodness.
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With love.
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And soon the metta grows so strong it starts going out through the windows and the doors to all the beings outside this hall.
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Nimbus and Cimus.
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A little white cat.
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A spider.
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And all the insects in the earth.
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The slugs on the lettuce in the polytunnel.
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The birds perhaps asleep on the trees or in their nests.
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To those other people who have been part of this retreat.
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To Martha,
Sarah,
Tasha,
To the gardener Lucy.
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And all the beings who have helped make this possible coming before.
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Spreading down across the valley.
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Into the local towns.
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Top nests.
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Colouring this whole area with a golden hue.
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Shimmering.
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Carrying the message of peace.
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May all beings in the whole area.
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The whole of Devon.
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As far as it flows.
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Whatever they are doing right now.
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May they benefit from our loving kindness.
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May their hearts be at peace.
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And just as the sun rises it quickly spreads its glow.
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So the rays start to spread.
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All across the south of England.
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Up to London.
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Big cities.
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Where people may be living in the streets.
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Or in small crowded apartments.
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May be stuck on the tube.
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Or on the roads.
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May be with their families having tea.
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All beings throughout the south and the north of England just spreading this method to wherever there are beings who breathe.
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Bringing harmony to those who are arguing.
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Divided.
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Rejoicing with those who are at ease.
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All beings.
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Human or non-human.
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Throughout this whole UK.
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Even though it's dark outside.
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This golden light keeps spreading.
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In every direction.
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Up to Norway.
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Across Europe.
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Down through Spain.
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France.
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Africa.
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To all beings.
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No matter what they are doing right now.
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And further east.
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To the Middle East.
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To Palestine and Israel.
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Where there is so much conflict and devastation.
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Imagine the peace of your heart.
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Touching the hearts of those in conflict.
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In war.
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And for a moment bringing ease and peace.
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All beings who are hungry or scared.
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All beings who are happy and well.
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No matter where they live.
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What race.
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How rich or poor.
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All beings all the way into Asia.
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Russia.
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China.
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Lingering longer in those places where there is great suffering right now.
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Ukraine.
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Myanmar.
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Bringing a message of peace.
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As though everything temporarily softens.
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And people gain hope again.
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People correct their ways.
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And come out of this terrible fighting.
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Their hearts filling with love and with peace.
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And this metta just keeps flowing from each and every one of us outwards.
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Leaving no part of this beautiful planet earth untouched.
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Across Australia.
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Where I have many spiritual friends.
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New Zealand.
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To all the little islands between there and Hawaii.
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The North and South Pole across to the Americas.
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Canada.
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South America.
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Shining this beautiful golden light equally across and around the whole planet earth.
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Until your heart is as big as the world.
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And no one.
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No being is left outside.
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All beings.
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Human or non-human.
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Large or small.
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From big elephants in the jungles.
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To the tiniest little midges and mipes.
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All beings who suffer and desire happiness at this moment.
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May their hearts be at peace.
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May they have enough to eat.
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May their habitats stop being destroyed.
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And this loving-kindness soaks right through the planet earth herself.
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Helping the trees start to grow again.
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Fertilizing the soil.
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Calming any storms or hurricanes.
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Keeping all beings safe.
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May all beings know their highest welfare.
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Know what leads to peace.
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May they have the good fortune to practice.
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To benefit themselves and all those they meet.
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All beings.
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Those who are pure-hearted.
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Those who have lost their way.
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May they all hear the beautiful teachings of the Buddha.
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And find hope.
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Find peace.
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Find freedom from all suffering.
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Wherever there's life.
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Even beyond this planet earth.
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Outwards and unbounded.
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Free from hatred and ill-will.
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And just resting here for a while.
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It's as though the whole world has become quiet.
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Soft.
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Peaceful.
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As though wrapped in a white cloth.
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Calmed and soothed.
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At peace.
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All beings in harmony.
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Leaving your good wishes spread across the whole world.
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The universe.
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Gently gently bringing that peace back inside.
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Inside this country.
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The beautiful valley of the River Dart.
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And inside this room.
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Once again to each one of us.
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And gently back inside your own body.
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To your heart.
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Where all your emotions lie.
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The peace.
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The potential for joy.
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Maybe the sorrow and the pain.
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Right now your heart includes it all.
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With enormous tenderness you love.
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You cry.
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You laugh.
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And you try to live a really beautiful virtuous life.
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You yourself are so in need of your own loving kindness.
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So right now give yourself love.
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Accepting every part of you.
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Even the parts you've left outside.
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Bringing them in like frightened children in the rain.
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No more rejected.
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Giving them a hug.
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Whatever I've done.
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Wherever I've been.
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I forgive myself completely.
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And if there are parts of myself that I cannot accept or forgive right now.
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I commit to finding forgiveness.
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To being kind.
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Being really gentle with your own heart.
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Holding yourself in tender loving kindness.
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While I chant the final blessing of this retreat.
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Almost the final blessing.
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Just letting it soak
