And there's a joke that gets told amongst mindfulness circles,
Like it says,
If you think you're enlightened,
Spend a week with family.
And I always think of that quote when the holidays roll around,
Because family can be challenging.
So I thought for today's meditation,
We would do what's called a loving kindness,
Or metta meditation.
If you're new to the practice,
It's pretty simple,
But instead of focusing our attention on an anchor,
We focus our attention on particular phrases.
The phrases are something akin to may you be happy,
May you be healthy.
And I'll walk you through that part,
Don't worry.
This is different from affirmations.
Affirmations say that we are something like I am happy,
Which can kind of grate against us if we know we're not happy,
And we try to tell ourselves that we are.
So this is not an affirmation practice,
It's a loving kindness practice.
We will start with someone who is easy to care for,
We'll transition into saying the phrases for someone who's more neutral than someone who might be a little difficult in our lives.
Then come back to ourselves,
Wish ourselves well,
And end by wishing well to the world in this holiday season.
So go ahead and find a comfortable position where you can be upright and alert but still relaxed.
Closing your eyes if it's comfortable for you,
If not just casting the gaze downward to minimize distraction.
Taking a moment to come into the body,
Noticing yourself in this posture,
Adjusting as needed to find a place of balance,
The head on top of the spine,
Dropping the shoulders down and away from the ears,
Relaxing the belly.
And we'll start with a few intentionally deeper breaths,
Taking a nice deep inhale.
And at your own pace,
Letting it go,
Taking a few more,
Letting the exaggerated sensations of breathing,
Bring your attention inward.
Letting go of our worries about the future,
Concerns about the past and just be right here right now.
And once you've taken those few deeper breaths,
Go ahead and let go of any control around the breathing.
Just let it find its natural rhythm.
Asking that question,
How are you today?
And how do you know?
What are the physical sensations in your body that tell you how you're doing?
Knowing that there's no right answer,
We're not looking to solve or change or correct anything,
We're just observers.
And then having checked in to observe how you are,
Let's bring in a little bit of gratitude for our bodies for getting us here today,
For making it possible for us to sit here like this and even just take a few deep breaths.
It's a gift worthy of gratitude for sure.
And then notice if the gratitude shifts your experience of the present moment at all.
It might not,
Just be open to the possibility.
And then we'll let go of the gratitude practice as well.
And we'll begin with our loving kindness meditation.
So we start by bringing to mind someone who is easy to care for,
Someone who doesn't evoke any challenging feelings.
It can be a family member,
A close friend,
It can even be a pet.
Pets are great for this.
And holding the image of them in your mind,
We repeat the phrases,
May you be happy,
Truly happy.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you be safe and protected.
May you be free from suffering.
May you live a life of ease.
And again,
You can repeat these out loud if you want to,
But it's just as common to repeat them in your mind silently.
And you can change them.
If there's a variation that works better for you,
Please feel free to turn the volume down on this or just ignore my words and use the ones that work for you.
But for those who want the guidance,
I'll continue on.
May you be happy,
Truly happy.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you be safe and protected.
May you be free from suffering.
May you live a life of ease.
And then we bring to mind someone who is neutral in our lives.
And these are people that we know only by their titles.
The checkout clerk,
The mailman,
The gardener,
The nurse,
The receptionist,
And picture someone who we come into contact with on a regular basis and we wish them well.
May you be happy,
Truly happy.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you be safe and protected.
May you be free from suffering.
May you live a life of ease.
May you be happy,
Truly happy.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you be safe and protected.
May you be free from suffering.
May you live a life of ease.
And then we transition to someone who's a little bit more challenging.
Often this time of year it's not hard to come up with someone who might be a minor irritation in your life.
But if you struggle,
You can always turn towards global politics.
It's a great place to find someone for this practice.
Bringing to mind the image of somebody who is frustrating or challenging in some way,
We wish them well.
May you be happy,
Truly happy.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you be safe and protected.
May you be free from suffering.
May you live a life of ease.
And if you notice that this is challenging,
You're not alone.
A couple of things to try would be to maybe picture the person as a child,
Or you might try picturing what this person would be like if they really were happy,
If they really were free from suffering.
And then we'll do the phrases one more time.
May you be happy,
Truly happy.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you be safe and protected.
May you be free from suffering.
May you live a life of ease.
And then having turned our attention outwards,
We'll now turn it back on ourselves.
You can picture yourself in this space where you're sitting.
If you find it challenging,
Again,
You can use some similar strategies.
You can picture yourself as a child and wish yourself well.
Or sometimes I've heard it suggested that you can picture the best version of yourself,
If that's helpful.
Playing around with it,
Finding whatever works best for you.
May I be happy,
Truly happy.
May I be healthy and strong.
May I be safe and protected.
May I be free from suffering.
May I live a life of ease.
May I be happy,
Truly happy.
May I be healthy and strong.
May I be safe and protected.
May I be free from suffering.
May I live a life of ease.
And then traditionally,
We would do a little mental exercise where we zoom out from ourselves to picture our home,
Whatever building we're in,
Our neighborhood,
Our city,
Our state,
Our country,
Our continent,
Our globe,
The entire universe and every living thing in it.
We're dipping a little bit into the Buddhist practice here,
But yes,
Bear with me.
May all beings be happy,
Truly happy.
May all beings be healthy and strong.
May all beings be safe and protected.
May all beings be free from suffering.
May all beings live lives of ease.
May all beings be happy,
Truly happy.
May all beings be healthy and strong.
May all beings be safe and protected.
May all beings be free from suffering.
And may all beings live lives of ease.
And for the remaining few minutes of our meditation,
I'll invite you to choose just one of the categories,
An easy person,
A neutral person,
A difficult person,
Yourself,
Or the universe.
And just repeat the phrases again to yourself.
In whichever way feels right to you,
Don't worry too much about getting the wording precise.
Just do your best.
Happy holidays,
Whatever holidays you celebrate,
May you be happy,
Healthy,
Safe,
Free from suffering and living your best life.
Happy writing.
