Welcome.
This is a loving kindness meditation.
I got some rainy weather behind me so I'll add to the ambiance.
So first find a comfortable seat and start to close your eyes.
Start to bring your attention inwards.
And just pay attention to the rising and falling of your breath.
And as you hear the sounds of the rain,
Just feel yourself getting more and more calm.
Now start to direct your attention to yourself.
And just start by visualizing or seeing in your head,
May I be happy,
May I be well,
May I be peaceful,
May I be filled with loving kindness.
While you visualize,
While you see these words in your head,
You want to visualize yourself feeling happy,
Filled with love and kindness.
So just repeating again,
May I be filled with loving kindness,
May I be well,
May I be peaceful,
And may I be happy.
And just continue to repeat these sayings to yourself.
You'll notice feelings of well-being well up.
Then slowly start to bring your attention to your mind's eye and think of,
You know,
Someone you deeply care about.
It's going to be a family member or even a pet.
Start to evoke good feelings.
And bring your attention to this person or animal.
You can start to say,
May you be filled with loving kindness,
May you be well,
May you be peaceful,
And may you be happy.
Really visualize all of this.
And what adds a little bit more strength is if you make it a bit more specific.
So if you know that this person is looking for a job,
For example,
You can imagine this person receiving a job offer and see the happiness on their faces.
So really hone in on this visualization of them getting what they want.
And again,
Just repeating,
May you be filled with loving kindness,
May you be well,
May you be peaceful,
And may you be happy.
And now slowly bring your awareness to someone that you don't know too well and is an acquaintance.
This could be someone in your work or school that you may have talked to once or twice,
Don't have a particular connection with.
This could be someone who you met in an elevator,
Talked to for two seconds,
Or the person that was bagging your groceries last week,
And bring them to your mind center.
Just realize that there are people just like you who have wants and desires and start to bring your attention to them and say,
May you be filled with loving kindness,
May you be well,
May you be peaceful,
And may you be happy.
Thank you.
Now slowly bring your awareness now to someone in your life that you haven't particularly been getting along with.
This is classified as a difficult person.
In reality they're a person just like you.
So even though there's some tension,
You'll notice that they all have feelings and desires and goals in life just like you.
So you want to wish them happiness and loving kindness as well because they're no different from you.
So when you're thinking about this person in your mind's eye,
Maybe if you have a lot of tension associated with this person,
It can be helpful to first visualize them doing mundane activities such as eating or driving or doing groceries.
Then start to apply this loving kindness technique on them.
Start to visualize them being happy,
Full of life.
And say may you be filled with loving kindness,
May you be well,
May you be peaceful,
And may you be happy.
And now start to extend these feelings of loving kindness to everyone in the world.
If you find that this is a little bit more difficult,
You can start with your country.
Just visualize everyone there happy and fulfilled in life and free of any suffering.
And start to imagine each town and city and all the residents being very happy in life.
And start to imagine each town and city and all the residents being very happy in life.
And then now feeling these joyous emotions,
You can now direct your attention back to yourself.
Feeling this good energy in your body well up.
Make an intention now to carry out this loving kindness energy to everyone you interact with today.
And if your eyes are closed,
You can slowly open them and go about your day.
Thank you.
