So just sitting comfortably,
Just relax and bring your attention back to your breath.
Allow your body and breath to settle and become calm and centered.
And now start to imagine a feeling of love in your heart.
You can do this by thinking of someone you love and letting your natural good feelings for this person arise.
You might like to imagine your love as a warm bright light,
Not physical,
But pure positive energy glowing in your heart.
See if you can notice a color or a shape of this energy.
Before you can truly love others,
You need to love yourself.
Loving yourself means accepting yourself as you are with your present faults and shortcomings and recognizing that you have potential to free yourself from all your problems.
So start by really wishing yourself all the happiness and goodness there is.
Imagine that warm energy in your heart expands until it completely fills your body and mind.
Think to yourself,
May I enjoy happiness and the causes of happiness.
May I be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
Now imagine someone for whom you feel sincere goodwill and tenderness.
It might be a friend or a family member or a pet.
Let your love flow out to them.
Imagine the warm luminous energy radiating from your heart and your body touching them and filling their body and minds.
Think and feel sincerely.
May you have happiness and the causes of happiness.
May you be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
Now imagine a neutral person or stranger.
Perhaps someone in a shop that you visit or that you've passed on the street.
Bring that person to mind.
Consider that they also want to be happy and to be free from suffering.
Imagine the energy of your heart touching them and think.
May you have happiness and the causes of happiness.
May you be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
Now imagine someone that you find a bit challenging in your life.
Perhaps someone who irritates you or annoys you.
Bring them to mind.
Consider that they also want to be happy and free from suffering.
Imagine the love in your heart touching them and think.
May you have happiness and the causes of happiness.
May you be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
Now let your loving-kindness grow to include all these people and extend it to the other people in this room.
And now imagine expanding out further to everyone in the Buddhist center,
To all the animals in the center,
Maybe under the ground,
To the birds in the trees.
And now expand out further to the street we're in,
In the suburb.
Can you expand your loving-kindness to include all the living beings in this suburb?
And now see if you can expand out further to all of Sydney,
Out across Australia,
And the oceans around Australia.
And imagine as you expand further,
You get more energy and more love to expand even further across the whole of the world.
And out further into the universe.
And just sit for a little while.
With that feeling of loving-kindness in your heart.
Imagine love flowing in every direction,
Reaching all the beings who are lonely,
Sick,
Hungry,
Confused,
Frightened,
Oppressed.
Their suffering disappears and their minds become peaceful,
Clear,
And full of happiness.
Think to yourself,
May all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness.
May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
Stay with this feeling for as long as you can.
Conclude the session by thinking that you definitely have potential to love everyone,
Even those who annoy or hurt you,
And those you don't even know.
Generate a strong wish to work on your own anger,
Impatience,
Selfishness,
And other problems that prevent you from having such love.
And finally,
Dedicate the positive energy of your meditation to all beings,
That they find happiness and enlightenment.
If you want to,
You can dedicate it to anyone in particular who you know who might need some care or some love.
I'll just finish with a quote from Kathleen Macdonald,
Another Buddhist teacher.
Love is wanting others to be happy.
It is a natural quality of the mind.
But until we develop it through meditation and other practice,
It remains limited,
Reserved for a select few individuals.
Genuine love is universal in scope,
Extending to everyone without exception.
And when you're ready,
Just bring your attention back to the room,
Back to your body.
Notice your body sitting on the chair.
You might want to give your fingers and toes a bit of a wriggle.
When you're ready,
Just open your eyes.
