Looking Lovingly At Harm

What about looking for ways to not cause harm? And every time we see them, not only not causing harm, but doing something kind? Including for ourselves: what about looking for ways to do kind things for ourselves (which for me, anyway, feels easier when I’m not harming others)?

Transcript

So finding a comfortable posture,

Settling in,

Dropping in,

Sensing into the body,

Sitting in the chair,

Lying on the couch,

Lying on the floor,

Sitting in the car,

Wherever you are,

Closing the eyes and seeing if the breath is available to be located or sound,

Whatever would best support you in settling and stabilizing the mind,

Mind-heart.

And then inviting this very gentle,

Please be gentle inquiry,

Am I causing any harm to myself?

Maybe put your hand on your heart,

Maybe just do that in your imagination or put your hand on your belly.

And if I am,

If I am causing some harm to myself,

How can I shift that?

Would I be willing to just take one action today to change any harm that I'm causing to myself to mitigate that or to end that?

And then very gently,

Am I causing harm to others or to the earth,

To the non-human world?

And just gently,

Gently,

Because maybe we can all come up with something.

And being careful and kind to ourselves right here,

Making sure that we don't cause harm to ourselves in seeing this,

That really important difference between taking responsibility and blaming myself.

And then is there one thing that each of us can do to mitigate or to end some harm that we are causing?

And taking that with you,

Take that with you today and the piece about not harming yourself.