Hello.
In today's meditation,
We are going to nurture loving-kindness for yourself.
So we practice unconditional compassion and loving-kindness metta for ourselves in this meditation.
So we try to direct the attention to ourself to start and we may extend the love and kindness to others later on.
So let's settle in in a very gentle,
Compassionate way that you can get comfortable in your position.
Whether you are seated,
Cross-legged,
Or seated on a chair,
Or even lying down.
Let's take a few breaths and focus on our breath.
Inviting the exhalation to be soft and slow.
Or perhaps we can gently extend the exhale.
Maybe gently just settling in and breathing comfortably.
Keeping a soft,
Relaxed body.
It might feel like we are surrendering our body to the gravity of the Earth.
It might feel a little bit heavy or just fully relaxing.
Let's think of a word or a phrase that we like to offer to ourselves today.
It might be pertaining to something that has happening in your day,
In your life.
It could be more general invitation.
You can say,
My eye be happy.
My eye be joyful.
My eye be patient.
My eye be kind.
My eye be forgiving.
So offering that to yourself.
Offering loving to yourself.
This kindness and love that we are offering to ourselves is completely unconditional.
It does not to be earned.
We don't have to have a perfect behavior to be qualified for it.
Just knowing the truth that you deserve that.
You deserve that unconditional love.
That you're entitled to it as you are.
So if you don't like to use these words,
My eye be happy,
Joyful,
You can use your own words,
Your own image that speaks to you.
And make you connected to that unconditional love.
You can close your eyes if you find it easier to relax.
This reduce the visual stimulation and increase the concentration.
So when the positivity is present in the body,
Connect with that.
Connect with that sensation that are arising from your positivity,
From your sensation.
So if you right now feeling some love and compassion and kindness,
Joy and tenderness arising,
See if you can locate where in the body you are feeling that.
Sometimes we feel it in our chest,
In our belly,
Sometimes we feel it in our neck and shoulders,
Or it could be globally anywhere in your entire body.
But there will be some sensations that are expressing these feelings of compassion and conditional love.
Sometimes these feelings and sensations might grow,
Become big and feel really comfortable.
And sometimes they might become small and maybe shrinking.
And that is okay.
We use our equanimity,
We let them come and go.
We don't judge,
We don't ask why they're becoming big,
Why they're small.
Just let it be,
Wherever it is.
And if they go,
We go back and offer ourself that love and kindness again.
It might be easy to connect with this love and kindness in certain times in our life.
If you are intending to create this positivity and if you find it's not happening,
Find you're struggling through it,
It's okay.
Allow it to be as it is.
Begin developing your equanimity,
Just accept it.
So we keep going back and offering ourselves invitation to renew that love and kindness,
That unconditioned love and tenderness,
A friendliness to ourselves.
We keep trying.
And if you have a little voice in your head saying or having a conversation in your mental chatting box saying,
But you were so bad earlier today or yesterday,
You don't qualify for all this.
And there is a feeling inside you that feels you did something that wasn't kind and you deserve none of this.
Somehow you feel like you are not entitled to this love and kindness and some bad thoughts come to your head.
Don't believe it.
Don't listen to it because it is not true.
Of course,
We are not perfect.
We are only human.
We could make mistakes.
And we learn from our mistakes.
We offer forgiveness to ourselves.
Or perhaps there are some other sensations on the body that you are connecting and they might be feeling opening lightness.
Or it could be the opposite.
You might feel some heaviness due to some emotional feeling.
So we are practicing here and we want to practice to cultivate this loving and kindness,
Love within ourselves,
For ourselves.
But if this is not coming online today,
It's okay.
Just stay connected with your physical body sensation and your emotional and just use your equanimity.
So we are very humble and we are continue looking toward that little connection to that mettal of and kindness that can pass through.
Try to catch it even if it's very small.
You might imagine a smile is happening on your face.
You might feel the chest and heart is opening.
You can even put your hand on your heart caring for yourself.
Maybe you can connect to that just a little bit of feel of kindness that is passing through and you want to catch it.
If a negative emotion,
Thought shows up and stay around with some challenging emotions,
We have a choice.
We may turn our intention to that loving kindness again,
Approach staying and saying all the positive and joyful words to ourselves.
Or we might choose to face the challenge,
The negative thought,
Not the story of that thought,
But the experience of it in our body.
So when we connect with our emotion in the body,
We are completely present and open to it.
That actually helps us unblock it.
This may allow to feel the experience of purification.
So we accept it,
We see where it is in the body,
Not interested in the story and just hold on there.
So you always have the opportunity and options to practice any technique that work for you in this moment.
You can just stay there or move to other intention that brings you that love and kindness.
So we know the mind will wonder,
Maybe some sensation in the body that has no relation to the practice that can get your attention.
So when you notice that,
Gently bring your attention to your practice and that we are offering ourselves unconditional love and kindness to all of you,
To all your experiences to yourself.
We are not here to argue or push anything away.
We are not going to engage in any thought like that or give them any consideration or any values that's taken us away from our love and kindness.
Or perhaps we can make these experiences pointing to the love and kindness to ourselves.
Or we can also make these experiences pointing to love and kindness to everyone so we can extend this love.
Meta kindness to others,
To people we care about,
People in our community,
To all beings.
We all become one,
Sending that love and compassion.
I came across beautiful words that I like to share with you in today's meditation and it says this,
Use your voice for kindness.
Use your ears for compassion.
Use your hands for charity.
Use your mind for truth.
And use your heart for love for yourself and others.
Love and compassion and conditioned love offering to ourselves,
Offering to others.
Take your hands,
Place them in your heart and just repeat to yourself.
I am full of unconditional love and kindness that I deserve.
I am full of joy,
Happiness and contentment that I deserve.
I am full of blessed unloved.
I am full of kindness with no judgment that I deserve.
I am full of happiness.
I am full of love.
And this brings us to our end of our meditation.
May love be always in your heart,
Guide you through your days.
Thank you so much for your practice.
Have a wonderful day.
Namaste.
