Loving-kindness meditation.
You can use this practice just to learn to be kinder to yourself and to also help you with your relationships with other people.
So let's start in a comfortable sitting position,
Making sure that everything is quiet and that you won't be disturbed and begin to bring your awareness simply to the feeling of breathing in your body,
Taking time to feel the anchor of your breath as you inhale and exhale,
Taking this time simply to enjoy and appreciate your own breathing.
And now in whatever way works for you,
Imagine that in a circle surrounding you are all your favorite people,
The people in your life that show care towards you.
It might be friends or parents or even your pets or perhaps even people in your life who are no longer with you but who have shown you care.
Imagine all these special people in your life just gazing at you,
Sending you love and kindness.
Can you imagine these people acknowledging the positive qualities that you have?
See yourself gazing kindly at them and them gazing kindly towards you.
And now bringing awareness into your own heart.
Can you send that kindness from you to you,
Taking some time just to acknowledge yourself for all your good qualities.
The times when you're kind or caring,
Perhaps your commitment to your schoolwork or your friends,
Just noticing and acknowledging any positive quality and sending kindness from your heart to each and every cell of your body.
And now imagining in your mind's eye just one special person in your life,
Whether it's a parent or a close friend,
Allowing your mind to come up with whoever you need to and taking some time just to send kindness and care to them in your own way,
Wishing them well.
And now letting them go in your mind's eye and calling into your awareness or your attention or your imagination somebody who's neutral in your life.
It might be a teacher that you don't know very well or somebody you see in your local shop,
Somebody that you notice every day but you're not too familiar with.
And from your heart to theirs,
Just sending them that kindness,
Acknowledging them for any qualities that are positive,
Wishing them well.
And now if you like,
Try and bring into your mind somebody that you might be having difficulty with at the moment.
This is not always easy to do.
Take time to see who comes up and in an act of kindness,
Seeing if from your heart to theirs you can acknowledge them.
And of course,
You don't have to make this up.
You can just notice whatever comes up for you as you imagine this person.
Perhaps with an understanding somewhere that whatever they have done to cause you pain or difficulty,
They too might also want a sense of calm or kindness in their life.
So just noticing what comes up around that and on your next out-breath letting them go.
And now in your mind's eye,
Making the circle wider and imagining that you're sending that kindness outwards to your family,
Your friends,
The people in your class,
Your school and in ever-widening circles to the people in your city,
This country.
And then see if you can expand your awareness and become aware of sending kindness to this continent and all the other continents on this globe.
Holding in your imagination all the different inhabitants,
The animals of the land,
The sea,
The air and the entirety of this planet and wishing from your heart to all beings,
Wishing them well,
Wishing them peace and taking time just to thank yourself for this practice and for taking this time.
