J Imagine yourself as a tree.
Imagining your spine as the trunk and the roots growing down from the base of your spine,
Deep into the ground below.
Imagining your roots growing outwards,
Intertwining with the roots of significant beings in your life.
Some nourishing relations,
Some neutral relations,
And some difficult or demanding relations.
Think of someone in your web of roots that you like and care about.
Imagine your intertwining roots and the tree that is that person.
Breathing in,
Recollecting the qualities you appreciate about that person.
Breathing out,
Connecting with the wishes within you for their well-being.
Breathing in,
Just feeling your appreciation of him or her.
Breathing out,
Feeling your kindness towards them.
Breathing out,
Feeling your kindness towards them.
Breathing out,
Feeling your kindness towards them.
Don't worry if you find it difficult.
These are feelings that might take some practice to connect with.
Welcoming our creativity to help us find a way to generate warm feelings,
Even if we're not actually with the other person.
Also,
Don't worry if you're feeling mixed feelings towards him or her.
Love isn't a state of perfect caring.
It is an active noun like struggle.
To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way they are,
Right here and now.
If you like,
You might visualize the breath as signals of bits of light that travel between you through the roots.
You might even feel the breath flowing up and down through your spine,
Kind of like when you get to chills.
Breathing in,
Feeling the nourishment you get from that relationship.
Breathing out,
Feeling your warmth for the other person.
Breathing in,
Feeling the calm and gentle joy of the loving mind.
Breathing out,
Imagining the past and smiling.
Breathing in,
Feeling the calm and gentle joy of the loving mind.
This kind of meditation is sort of like starting a fire.
When starting a fire,
First we find something that ignites easily.
Then,
When we have a small fire going,
We might start adding some little twigs.
Similarly,
We start with someone we find it easy to feel kindness towards.
And when we've got it going,
We might attend to slightly more challenging relations.
So,
Assess the state of your fire and proceed accordingly.
Either staying with whoever you're already thinking of,
Or moving to someone more demanding.
Or someone more suitable as kindling.
Breathing in,
Being aware of your interconnection.
Breathing out,
Giving the beautiful gift of kindness.
Don't worry about getting it all right,
Or with following all the instructions.
These are touchy-feel estates.
Inviting your breath to be as delicious as can be.
Allowing yourself to enjoy this gentle little wind,
Caressing your insides.
Breathing in,
Feeling their embrace.
Breathing out,
Embracing the other.
Breathing in,
Imagining your tree leaf.
Breathing out,
Imagining their tree blooming,
Like a cherry tree in the spring.
Acknowledging the vast interconnectedness of us all.
Imagining how your roots intertwines with the roots of all the people and animals in your life.
How your moods,
Words and lives mutually influence.
Imagining how their roots again connect you to a rapidly expanding network of roots.
Actually,
In just six steps,
You are connected to most of the people in the entire world.
Breathing in,
Feeling this interconnectedness.
Breathing out,
Feeling how goodness is rippling out through the web of roots.
Breathing in,
Feeling this interconnectedness.
Breathing out,
Feeling this interconnectedness.
Love is not liking somebody.
Love is loving things that sometimes you don't like.
Breathing in,
Feeling this interconnectedness.
