Hello and welcome to this meditation on loving-kindness.
Please find a comfortable posture.
Take a moment to close your eyes and rest your attention inward.
Notice how your body is feeling in the present moment.
Take a deep breath in and take a deep breath out,
Let go of any tension and stress and continue breathing normally and rest your mind's eye or attention to your heart area in the center of your chest.
Notice if there is any tension or gripping in your muscles in the chest area and if so just take a deep breath in and on your exhale start to release and relax into your heart space.
To begin this practice of loving-kindness,
Start to send goodwill and good intentions toward yourself today.
One thing you may find helpful is repeating phrases.
So you may choose to say to yourself,
May I be happy,
May I be peaceful,
May I be free from suffering.
Continue to repeat these phrases,
May I be happy,
May I be peaceful,
And may I be free from suffering.
And as you do this,
Visualize different scenarios in your heart area where you are smiling,
You're happy,
Peaceful,
And free from any kind of burdens or stresses in life.
If you find that your mind has wandered,
Which it typically does,
Simply notice that your attention has wandered and gently guide your attention back to the heart area once again without any kind of judgment and then once again bring back the intention of wishing yourself well by repeating the phrases,
May I be happy,
May I be peaceful,
And may I be free from suffering.
Once again you can strengthen these intentions by visualizing different scenarios in your heart center where you are smiling,
Where you're happy,
And free from any kind of distress.
Further strengthen this pleasant abiding.
Actually put a smile on your face and begin to observe that the physical act of smiling combined with the positive visualizations and the phrases you say to yourself further strengthen this feeling of goodwill towards yourself.
Have you forgotten to smile?
So it's a very subtle pointer,
But just by bringing a smile onto your face once again and repeating the phrases,
May I be happy,
May I be peaceful,
And may I be free from suffering.
While visualizing scenarios in which you are happy,
Peaceful,
And free from suffering,
Further strengthens this feeling of goodwill towards yourself.
So continue to enjoy this feeling of goodwill towards yourself.
With your attention still rested in the heart area,
Now bring forth an image of a close mentor to you.
Someone who has supported you and has uplifted you throughout your life.
Really see them in your heart area and thank them for supporting you and for being kind to you on your journey in life.
You can visualize both of you in your heart area and see yourself thanking them.
You can mentally note in your mind,
Thank you.
And to further strengthen this goodwill towards them,
You may say the phrases in your mind,
May you be happy,
May you be peaceful,
And may you be free from suffering.
To further strengthen this intention,
Visualize different scenarios in which your mentor or kind teacher is in a scenario in which they're happy,
Peaceful,
And free from any kind of distress.
You can see them smiling and laughing.
They're surrounded by their loved ones.
And once again,
To further strengthen this intention,
Begin to put a smile on your face while sending out goodwill towards your kind teacher or mentor.
If your mind wanders,
Gently guide your attention back to your heart area and once again start to send out goodwill toward your mentor,
Teacher,
Or guide that's helped you in life.
And once again,
You may strengthen this by repeating the phrases,
May you be happy,
May you be peaceful,
And may you be free from suffering.
With your attention still rested in the heart area,
Now bring forth an image of a good friend and see them smiling and happy.
You can even visualize in your heart area the two of you together and see yourself thanking them for being such a good friend to you and sharing this experience of life with you.
You can further strengthen this goodwill toward your friend by repeating the phrases,
May you be happy,
May you be peaceful,
And may you be free from suffering.
Further strengthen this goodwill by visualizing different scenarios in which your friend is happy,
Is peaceful,
And free from any kind of distress.
Really see them in your heart area,
Smiling,
Laughing,
And being very joyful.
And also begin to thank them for all the great shared experiences you've had together.
And while visualizing and sending these phrases out,
Remember to keep a smile on your face and notice how this uplifts the mind and the heart.
As your mind wanders,
Gently guide your attention back to the heart space.
Once again,
See your good friend in the heart area and wish them well.
By visualizing different scenarios in which they're happy,
Peaceful,
And free from suffering.
You can supplement this intention by repeating the phrases,
May you be happy,
May you be peaceful,
And may you be free from suffering.
And to further strengthen this intention,
Put a smile on your face.
With your attention still rested in the heart area,
Now bring forth an image of an acquaintance.
Someone who you may meet occasionally,
But don't know them too well personally.
This could be a waitress at your local restaurant,
Or a barista at your local cafe,
Or a co-worker that you may say hi to,
But don't know too well.
See this person in your heart area.
See them smiling,
Peaceful,
And free from any kind of distress.
And while you may not know the details of their lives personally,
They do share the intention to be happy and peaceful in this life.
You can see them in your heart area,
Surrounded by friends,
Or by their family during their birthday or holidays,
And really see them smiling and enjoying their lives.
You can further strengthen this intention of goodwill by repeating the phrases,
May you be happy,
May you be peaceful,
And may you be free from suffering.
Continue to repeat these phrases while keeping a smile on your face.
And notice how this uplifts the heart and the mind.
Now with your attention still rested in the heart area,
Bring forth an image of a person you find challenging in your life,
And begin to send them good intentions.
This part of practice may be a little bit more difficult.
However,
We can keep in mind that those that cause us suffering in life are often hurting as well,
And they too wish to be happy given the choice.
But by causing suffering to others in life,
They too suffer,
And perhaps they're not even aware of it.
So can we at least wish them freedom from suffering?
You can see this person in your heart area.
If this is too difficult,
You can see them as little children that have been hurt by life,
And start to send them intentions of goodwill.
You may repeat the phrase,
May you be happy,
May you be peaceful,
And may you be free from the suffering that you experience.
Now with your attention still in your heart area,
Begin to zoom out and bring forth images of people living in your city,
Town,
Province or state.
And while you may not know everyone personally,
In the same way we send good intentions to our acquaintances,
We can start to send goodwill out to everyone in the area that we live in,
Understanding that they too wish to be happy,
Peaceful,
And free from suffering,
Just like us.
So in your heart area,
Begin to see groups of people,
Various landmarks all over the area in which you live in,
Going about their day,
And really enjoying their day,
Being happy,
Peaceful,
And free from suffering.
You can further strengthen this intention by repeating the phrases,
May you all be happy,
May you all be peaceful,
And may you all be free from suffering.
You can further strengthen this intention by putting a smile on your face as you see all beings in your area,
Happy,
Peaceful,
And free from distress.
In your heart area,
Begin to see all beings in the world living happy,
Peaceful,
And free from suffering.
See a variety of different human beings being in remote villages,
Rural farms,
Small towns,
Big cities,
And everything in between.
Begin to also see all beings may differ in occupations,
Ages,
Lifestyle choices,
And see the shared humanity and how they too desire to be happy,
Peaceful,
And free from suffering,
Just like you.
And allow this good will to emanate from your heart area to all beings everywhere.
And you may further strengthen this by repeating the phrases,
May all beings be happy,
May all beings be peaceful,
May all beings be free from suffering.
And remember to keep a smile on your face while you send your good will out to everyone in the world.
And now take a moment to bring your attention back inward.
Notice how you feel in the present moment and observe how you feel now compared to the beginning of this meditation.
This expansive love that you feel all started with you.
And this feeling can be accessed at any time throughout your day.
Bring your hands to your heart center.
Take a very slight bow inward and thank yourself for taking the time to practice today.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings be peaceful.
May all beings be free from suffering.
Thank you.
Thank you.
