Loving kindness or metta is in meditation of care,
Concern,
Tenderness,
Loving kindness,
Friendship,
A feeling of warmth oneself and others.
The practice is the softening of the mind and heart and opening to deeper and deeper levels of the feeling of kindness,
Of pure love.
Loving kindness is without any desire to possess another.
It's not a sentimental feeling of goodwill,
Not an obligation,
But comes from a selfless place.
It doesn't depend on relationships,
On how the other person feels about us.
The process is first one of softening,
Breaking down barriers that we feel inwardly toward ourselves and then those that we feel toward others.
Take a comfortable posture.
One of the aims in this meditation is to feel good.
So make your posture relaxed and comfortable.
Begin to focus around the solar plexus,
Your chest area,
Your heart center.
Breathe in and breathe out from that area.
As if you are breathing from the heart center and as if all experience is happening from there.
Anchor your mindfulness only on the sensations at your heart center.
Make a long,
Deep breath and then exhale all that air.
Breathe in and breathe out.
Breathe normally.
Inhale and exhale.
And now set your motivation for doing this meditation that could help you to start to generate more positive loving energy.
Take just a couple of moments to think about it and choose just one word that will describe your motivation for today.
We start by imagining all living beings surrounding you.
Your mother is on your left,
Your father is on your right,
Your other relatives and your friends are all around and behind you.
Then visualize in front of you those you dislike or who has caused you some form of harm and extending in every direction all the way to the horizon are all other beings.
Really try to engage and sense that they are actually there.
All in human form,
Sitting quietly like you.
If you find it difficult to visualize all being,
Just think of as many as you think comfortably.
Stay relaxed.
Don't feel crowded or tense,
But imagine the sense of harmony and peace.
Stay relaxed.
Don't feel crowded or tense,
But feel the sense of harmony and peace reaching everyone in your visualization.
And consider how nice it would be for yourself and for others if you'd be able to love all living beings.
And for the few moments just contemplate that everyone wants to be happy and to avoid sufferings just as you do.
Everyone is trying to make the best of their lives,
Even those who are angry and violent.
Now see if you can generate a feeling of love in your heart.
You can do this by thinking of someone whom you love and letting your natural good feeling for the present arise.
You might like to imagine this love as warm,
Bright light,
Not physical one,
But pure positive energy glowing in your heart.
But before you can truly love others,
You need to love yourself.
Loving yourself means accepting yourself as you are in your present forms and shortcomings and recognizing that you have a potential to free yourself from all of your problems.
So in your heart and mind really generate the strong wish that you have all the happiness and goodness there is.
And imagine that the warm energy in your heart expands until it completely fills your entire body and mind.
Then in your mind say to yourself,
May I be happy,
May I have everything I need to feel happy,
Safe,
Loved and satisfied.
May all my thoughts be positive and all of my experiences good.
May I be free of all problems,
Sickness and sadness.
May my life be long and peaceful and may I quickly reach enlightenment.
Now move this sense of love to friends and relatives who are sitting near you and say in your mind as you can feel them around you.
May you be happy.
May you have everything you need to feel happy,
Safe,
Loved and satisfied.
May all your thoughts be positive and all of your experiences good.
May you be free of all problems,
Sickness and sadness.
May your lives be long and peaceful and may you quickly reach enlightenment.
Now imagine the warm luminous energy radiates from your body touching your friends and your family and filling their bodies and minds bringing them every happiness that they wish for.
Now bring to mind some people whom you are not close to.
They could be people you work with,
Neighbors,
Other shoppers in a supermarket,
Other drivers on the road.
But reflect that they are just like you,
Want to be happy and deserve to be happy.
And see if you can generate this wish that they would be happy.
And in your mind say to them,
May you be happy,
May you have everything that you need to feel happy,
Safe,
Loved and satisfied.
May all your thoughts be positive and all of your experiences good.
May you be free of all problems,
Sickness and sadness.
May your lives be long and peaceful and may you quickly reach enlightenment.
Now imagine the warm luminous energy radiating from your body touching them,
Filling their bodies and minds bringing them every happiness that they wish for.
Now turn your attention to the people in front of you,
Those you dislike,
Have difficulty with or cause you harm and contemplate that they also need and deserve your love.
Really trying in your heart and mind to reach them to be free of the confusions,
Anger and self-centeredness that drive them to act the way they do.
See if you can generate a wish that you really want them to find peace of mind,
To find happiness,
To find enlightenment and say to them,
May you be happy,
May you have everything you need to feel happy,
To feel safe,
Loved and satisfied.
May all your thoughts be positive and all of your experiences good.
May you be free of all your problems,
Sickness and sadness.
May your lives be long and peaceful and may you quickly reach enlightenment.
And imagine the warm luminous energy radiating from your body,
Touching them,
Completely filling their bodies and minds,
Bringing them every happiness that they wish for.
Then continue to send your positive warm feelings out to all other people around you,
All way out to the horizon.
Love is unlimited spring of good energy.
So don't worry that it will run out.
Simply open your heart and imagine your love flowing every direction,
Reaching all living beings who are lonely,
Sick,
Hungry,
Confused,
Depressed,
Frustrated,
Frightened.
Imagine the warm luminous energy touching them,
Completely filling their bodies and minds.
Their suffering disappears and their mind becomes peaceful,
Clear and full of happiness.
And generate a wish that every single one of them has every good experience from the satisfaction of the ordinary needs and desires all the way to enlightenment.
And concentrate on this feeling of love that extends as far as the horizon.
Every single one of us definitely has the potential to love everyone,
Even those who are annoying or causing harm and those we don't even know.
So we can generate a strong wish that we continue to work at our anger,
Impatience,
Selfishness,
Self-centeredness and all these other things that prevent us from having this kind of love.
We can generate a strong wish that we keep open mind,
Trying to overcome ego,
Prejudice attitudes so that we can have the space in our heart for pure universal love.
We find happiness above ourselves and for others.
As we draw this meditation too close,
Dedicate any positive energy,
Any loving kindness,
Any warmth that we have experienced to all beings with a wish that they will find happiness and its causes.
We are free of all sufferings and its causes.
