Feeling Powerless Or Ineffectual In This World? Try Loving-Kindness Meditation

A few months back, I started doing a loving-kindness meditation in addition to my daily mantra meditation, and it has been so powerful in changing my perspective of this world. My feeling of powerlessness are slowly dissipating, which feels really good.

Transcript

Hello everyone! I hope that you guys are doing amazing wherever you are in the world. My name is Bhoom Shekha and I welcome you to this audio recording or video recording wherever you guys are listening or watching me. I really appreciate your support. In this one, I want to speak to you guys about a loving kindness meditation and how I think it's the antidote to this feeling of powerlessness that has permeated humanity at this moment in time. I don't know about you guys, Where you are in this moment or how you're feeling about the world or what is your awakening status if you want to say. But in general, I'm noticing that as time is passing by, We're kind of moving closer and closer to that Kali Yuga. Maybe we are already in that dark age as they call it in the Hindu scriptures. I already feel like there is a lot of stuff happening in this world right now. I'm sure you're feeling it as well. It makes you feel like we're at the precipice of something major happening, Not only just spiritual awakening but just something major is coming our way. Whatever it might be. Some people call it World War III, Some people call it a spiritual awakening, A massive mass spiritual awakening. Whatever it is, It feels like it's getting closer and closer. Not only because of the madness of the Australian bushfires where half a billion animals were killed because of it. Number is not even perceptible to us. The magnitude of it is a little bit crazy. But also the idea that Iran might be going into war, The idea that people are going to be bombing each other in that matter, Are already doing that. The fact that people are being put into cages, Are being deported. So many things happening. I don't want to spell it out for you guys. You probably have it in your mind. There's a lot of good things happening as well. I'm not doubting that at all. There's always good, There's always bad. And what is really good and bad, Right? I mean, How can we tell? But in general, If you are feeling, As I am, I know I am, That I look at everything that's happening and I wonder to myself, What can I do? What positive change can I bring into this world that can help the universe and the world around me in a certain way? I don't want to sit there in a corner bawling my face off because of all the atrocities and the madness that's happening in the world. I don't want to feel like, Oh, I'm just one person. What can I really do? I don't want to be that person who says, Well, I can't really do anything, So I'm just going to pretend like nothing's happening. I'm going to bury my head in the sand. I'm going to pretend like I'm an ostrich or I'm going to pretend like everything's just going to work out. Or, Well, It's not really affecting me, So I guess it doesn't really matter. I live somewhere where it's not really bothering me, So fine, Everything's good, Everything's dandy. I don't want to be that person. I feel like there is something that every one of us can do. Every single person on this planet has a capacity to change the world around them, Even if it's in a very minuscule way, Even if it feels like, Wow, I'm not really doing anything, What's the point? I feel like there is something that we can all do, And what I've found is, As I said, Loving kindness meditation has been that antidote for me particularly to that feeling of powerlessness. All throughout my teens, All throughout my younger years, I felt this powerlessness, And I felt this sense of, Wow, I am ineffectual, I am nothing, I am a nobody, What can I really do? I don't have millions of dollars to save the world, Even if that could. I don't have a big following to save the world, Even if that helped. There's nothing I could really do, And I felt more and more my powerlessness, And more and more my ineffectuality, More and more my smallness. And we are not really small, We are magnificent spiritual beings, And we have the power, But we don't actually end up using it because we think we're just one person. And as soon as I discovered meditation, Obviously, I love meditation, I've spoken to you guys about this many times before, But as soon as I discovered meditation, But a particular kind of meditation, Loving kindness meditation, I instantaneously felt like my power as a spiritual being really came into me. I really realized that obviously love is the most important thing on this planet, And the way we can actually bring more love onto this planet and use this love in order to change, Transform, And just magnify our impact on the planet is through loving kindness meditation. It's such a simple thing, And that's really one of the reasons why I dismissed it for so long. I heard about it a while back, I'm sure years ago, But I just didn't imagine that me saying a few phrases of, May the world be happy, Or may all beings be happy, May all beings be safe, May all beings be healthy, And may all beings live with ease, Or whatever those words might be for you, You can change according to your own needs and desires. I couldn't believe that these few phrases could actually make an impact on anything. I didn't imagine that it could change or would change anything, And what's the point, And I should just crawl into my hole and die, Basically. Of course, I'm being a little bit too exaggerated, But at some point, Moments in time, I would feel like that. I felt like I was just sitting there, Just taking up space, Taking up oxygen, Taking up food, Where many people on the planet don't have food. I'm lucky enough to have all these things. Why am I so lucky? Why are other people so unlucky? All these thoughts would come into myself, And I would always think to myself, I shouldn't be taking up this space. I am just taking up nonsensical space on this planet. What's the point of me being alive? What's the purpose of me being here? As soon as I discovered loving kindness meditation, I realized, Truly realized, What my purpose, And what every being's purpose on this planet is, To bring more love onto this planet in their own special, Unique, Small way. Because if millions of people started doing loving kindness meditation at the same time, Billions of people started doing it, I can imagine that the Australian brush fires would have no chance against it. I can imagine that the World War III would have no chance against it. I can imagine that all of the different things happening on this planet would just qua-, Would just kind of shiver and die in the presence of all of this love. All the atrocities, All the madness would just disappear. Now, Of course, Maybe I'm being a little too idealistic, And maybe I'm thinking, Wow, I'm just going to change the world by saying a few phrases, And you're thinking, What is she talking about? Well, I've actually practiced it in my real life, In my, In the physical realm recently, And I realized how powerful it is, And so that's the reason why I'm sharing that I think it has the power, Especially if many people start doing it, To change the world in general. Now, My family was having a few issues with misunderstandings, And a few issues with things that were happening in my family that caused a lot of us to drift apart, To drift apart, To our relationships to be broken in a certain way. And I realized that there was really nothing I could do unless everyone around me changed their viewpoint, And that seemed like an impossibility to me. I was thinking to myself, How am I going to do this? I felt like I was the only one looking at it clearly, And I'm sure I wasn't either, And so I felt really powerless in the situation. I really love my family, And I wanted to fix this rift. I wanted to make sure that we went back to the point where we loved each other without misunderstandings, Without all of this delusional thinking. And so I realized the only thing I could really do, I couldn't do anything else. There's nothing I could do because no one was listening to me. They were all mired in their own thinking and unable to listen, And you know, I'm sure you've gotten to that point as well at certain points. I have. And so I realized the only thing I could really do was send them love. And what I started doing a few months back, Two or three months back, Is that I just started doing loving kindness meditation with my family in mind and with the beings on this planet in mind every single night. So whenever I wake up in the morning and before I go to sleep, I have these thoughts in my mind. I wouldn't put a lot of effort into it. I would just, It wasn't as if I was really trying. I just thought about these phrases, And I put my mom's face in my mind when I would think about her, And I'd be like, May my mother be happy, May my mother be safe. And then I would put my father's face in my mind, My brother, My sister, And then my sister-in-law, And then I'd do it for the entire world. I would think about all the beings on this planet, And I would be like, May all beings be happy. And I would just do this simple exercise, No big deal. Maybe it took me 10, 15 minutes. Sometimes I would do it for longer. I would repeat it over and over again, Depending on how much strength I had, How much, How exhausted I was from the day, Or how much stuff I had to do during the day. But in general, Sometimes I would do it for 15 minutes, 10 minutes. Sometimes I did it for an hour, Depending on my mood. And I did it for a few months, Two months, Maybe three months, I think, Before I was going to go visit my family in December. I just came back from that visit. And I realized that, You know, I felt, Myself, I felt better. I felt like at least I was doing something. I felt like, Okay, Cool, I'm not really doing anything physical, Anything tangible, Really, But it feels good. I feel good about my relationship with my family. I love them a lot. I feel good about my place on this planet. I feel like I'm doing at least something. I'm not just sitting around being an effectual. And I went to visit my family. And for the first time in a long time, In a couple of years, I would say, I felt like our relationship had transformed. I went into my house and I felt the atmosphere in my house had transformed. Perhaps it was just me that had changed. Perhaps it was just me going into the place with a lot more love in my heart, Instead of fear and exhaustion and not wanting to deal with the whole situation. Perhaps it was just me. But either way, What happened was I went into my family home, Into my parents' home, And my relationship with my parents was transformed. It was easy. It was filled with love. It was abundant. My relationship with my brother and sister transformed. My relationship with my sister-in-law transformed as well. And I felt like my relationship with everyone on this planet, Whenever I walk through the world, I feel like my relationship with the world in general has transformed. Now, I don't want to say this as, You know, I'm not saying this to say, Oh, Just start saying these phrases and everything in the world is going to change. Even though I believe in it right now myself, Because it hasn't worked for me, I really truly believe that it is our intention that really matters. And I believe that if millions of us start just thinking about this and using loving kindness meditation on a daily or regular basis, I can't imagine what powerful changes would take place on this planet. So I just wanted to share this with you because I really truly believe that we have the power to change this world. And I think one of the tools that we can use to do this is through loving kindness meditation. It's a very easy meditation, As I've said. I'm sure you've done it in the past. If you haven't, A brief gist of it is that you sit down or you're laying in bed, However you feel comfortable. I usually do it laying in bed, Close my eyes, And I just imagine the person's face in my mind and imagine it being happy. So if I imagine my mother's face, I imagine her being happy and exuberant and glowing with joy. And I send all these phrases over to her. May my mom be happy. May my mother be happy. May my mother be safe. May my mother be healthy. May my mother live with ease. And after each phrase, I really feel it in my heart area. I really feel it in my heart chakra. And I really send these words to her with intention. And again, I repeat it with some other person. I repeat it for everyone I want to. And I take my time with it. And then I just let go. That's it. I don't think about it again. My relationship might have transformed, Might not. My love for them might transform, Might not. But I've sent my words to them. I've sent my love to them. And that's all you can really do. And so I hope that this will kind of motivate you or inspire you to try it for yourself, Especially if you're having a difficult time with a particular person on this planet. If you're hating someone at this moment in time because they've done something to you that you feel deserves this hatred, Whatever it might be, Use it for whoever you feel you need it for. People you love, People you despise, People you are fighting a hard time with, People that you think you want to build a better relationship, Whatever it might be for you. I hope that you will take this incentive to try it out in your own life. Again, Thank you so much for listening. I really appreciate your support. And I shall see you guys the next time around. Bye for now.